69

Adam

Can I Watch?

At eight o'clock at night, last semester, I would've been in the middle of downing a shot and getting ready to hit the next party with some of my teammates. This semester? I walked out of the elevator with a five-foot-ten blonde on my back with her arms wrapped around my neck. Giving her a fucking piggyback ride. It wasn't even a negotiation. Piper asked and I caved in. For each and every lockout and all the other stupid shit we were called for.

I sighed outside of the dorm where the door was practically shaking off its hinges from the music. I slammed my fist against the door.

It opened wide and a lanky kid with horn-rimmed glasses stared at me. "Uh…"

"Turn the damn music down," I snapped.

Piper leaned up on my back and hiccupped. "Yeah! Turn the music down!"

"Adam…Russell…?" the guy trailed off as I snapped my fingers at the stereo. He leaned back and turned down the volume. Good. Fucking kid, playing his shit music like he wanted the whole dorm to hear it.

I took my place back at the elevator and ignored the resident, gaping at me in surprise. It'd been like that for a couple of hours. When Kassie had brought the drinks over for our Christmas trip, I'd been shocked at how long the alcohol had taken to burn off.

I'd opened up every can and poured them down the sink in the five minutes of free time we had.

Beyond that? No free time. No minutes to rest. The moment we settled in Piper's room, her phone rang again and we had to go yell at someone for a noise complaint or two soccer players who broke a TV or the hockey girls that snuck fireworks into a lounge. My energy was shot. First, football practice, and now, herding athletes like cats. This shit was exhausting.

"You're so pretty," Piper murmured, shifting down to kiss my cheek.

I grunted and pressed the button for our floor.

"You have so much hair, " Piper continued. She ran her fingers through my hair and my cock throbbed in my pants, for the fucking thousandth time. I was so stiff, my whole body ached.

"Don't do that, Piper," I told her through gritted teeth.

"Why not?"

Her fingertips grazed my ear and ran alongside it. God. Dammit. I had to bite back a groan and squeeze my eyes shut to concentrate. "Piper, knock it off. I can't walk around with three legs."

"What does that mean?"

"You know what it means."

"I want you to say it," she whispered.

Drunk Piper ordered me around and she brought me to heel every time. There was nothing I could do about it.

I couldn't grab her by the throat and fuck her in the elevator. One, she was drunk. Two, if I fucked her how I wanted to after hours of having a boner, it wouldn't be gentle. Piper would pass out for the rest of the night and there would be questions about where their RA had disappeared to. I still needed the residents to see her around for a little longer. Just a little longer. And then she could sleep.

The phone jingled from her hand and I could've chucked it at the wall. Those fucking residents. Couldn't they give us a break?

"Answer it, ice princess," I grumbled.

"I want you to say it."

Don't make me say it .

"Adam, what do you mean? " she purred.

"God fucking dammit." I hit my forehead against the elevator twice. "My cock is hard. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Yes. Thank you." Piper answered the phone. "Hello—what? What? "

I sighed and exited the elevator. That was enough. I walked into the lounge and lowered Piper down to the couch. She tried to argue against it, but I was firm. I had a red ring around my neck and I was afraid I'd drop her if she kissed my ear or did something else that made my cock throb in my jeans.

I didn't even know my balls could hurt this bad. I was being edged for hours. The punishment had to stop.

"Wait—I don't want down—" Piper complained, but I plucked the phone from her grasp.

"What is it, Harry?" I muttered, running my hand over my face.

"There's a couple on the sixth floor that are having a…good time…together…?"

"They're fucking?" I asked impatiently.

"Um…yes."

Well, at least somebody's getting some fucking relief around here .

"It's not even quiet hours, Harry." I swore under my breath and put a hand to Piper's forehead, pushing her back to the couch every time she tried to stand up. "Come on, how loud can they be?"

"Look, man. I don't call unless I get three complaints."

"Jesus fuck. I'm buying duct tape for this fucking dorm. What room is it?"

The moment the call ended, I sighed and thumped onto the couch next to Piper. I already finished one of the rounds, but I had two more before the shift was up. I was tired. I was horny. More than horny, I was aching like nothing I would've ever believed, fucking sore, and nothing was going to fix either of those things before five o'clock tomorrow.

"You okay?" Piper slurred, pulling up her knees on the couch. When I didn't say anything, she gingerly shifted over and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, hugging me close.

"It's so hard to concentrate on any of these bullshit problems," I admitted, leaning my head back and gazing up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes. "I'm the hardest I've ever been. I didn't even know you could die from blue balls—pretty sure I'm losing my mind here. I have to take five to jerk off in the bathroom or I'll lose all feeling in my legs."

"Can I watch?"

I cracked open an eye and stared at her. "I'm trying to open up to you about my problems, Piper. Be considerate."

"I'm sorry." She pouted.

"This hurts like hell."

Her fingers trailed along my arm. "I could make it better. You could come in my mouth."

Fuck.

"Can you pretend to listen to me for five minutes and not ask about my dick?"

"Oh. Okay." Piper nodded. "Can I listen to you jerk off?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, working on focusing on the pain instead. "Why are you doing this to me? What did I do to you?"

" I could jerk you off."

"Well, that's enough." I pushed myself off the couch and held out a hand. "Come on, we have college kids to pry apart." Her lips raised for a suggestive smile and I shook my head. "You're not jerking me off. We're not doing anything you'll regret later."

"You're so beautiful—"

I grabbed her hand and hauled her up, walking her back to the elevator. She knew how much she was poking and stroking my buttons too. She was unraveling me. This was psychological torture in its worst form. It was fucking insane. Only a couple of hours ago, I threw down half a dozen football players, and now a drunk girl telling me I looked nice brought me to my knees.

"Are you flustered? " Piper asked, shocked.

"I have literally been flustered around you since the moment you met me," I muttered. "Damn, Piper. It's feels nice to be noticed."

"It's so cute," Piper said, leaning against the elevator, watching me with those seductive gray eyes of hers.

"Don't look at me like that."

Her eyebrow raised. "Like what?"

"Like a piece of meat," I said, only half-joking. "It's making me self-conscious. It's hard to focus."

A cat-like smile spread across her lips, and I had to look away while the elevator doors opened. "Good."

This girl's going to be the death of me .

I strode over to the room with a firm hand on Piper's back. "This is the last thing you're doing." I rapped my knuckles against the door and turned back to her. "After this—the mind games are over—you're going to bed."

"To bed with you?"

"No," I said, exasperated. "To sleep ."

"I don't want to go to bed." Piper sulked. "I want to dance."

"Congratulations. I don't give a shit. You ate dinner, you did three hours of your work, and now you're going to bed. That's final."

Piper crossed her arms over her chest. "You're no fun."

" Good . One of us has to be the responsible one here." I shifted back and wallopped the door with my fist. All those stupid fucking athletes needed to know they had to shut the fuck up for the rest of the night.

The paper on the door rustled, and I frowned, staring at it.

Elijah.

My eyes widened. "Holy shit, is this Elijah's room?"

" Ruthless, " Piper belted out.

"That nickname gives me hives. It's just stupid. And inaccurate." I stopped my words and frowned.

Someone was fucking in this room? Wow. Elijah finally got over his weird obsession with Sloane. Good, that was one less brick off Zariah's shoulders. Bad, it meant Elijah was getting laid and I wasn't. I didn't like that at all.

"Oh—wait—Adam—" Piper's arms flew to her side. "Um—Adam—"

"What is it?"

I started to ask my question when the door opened. There he was, the dumbest player on the hockey team, completely shirtless. Who opens the door, shirtless? What a prick. I shook my head and geared up, ready for the spiel about how he and his lady friend needed to close their legs and shut the fuck up when I heard the shout from the other side of the room.

"No—Elijah!"

All four of us stood frozen for a second and I adjusted to the scene, trying to put it together. Because there was Elijah, standing in front of me, looking like a surprised ape, as usual, but behind him was Sloane, hurrying to throw a shirt over her bra. I opened my mouth to say something, then shut it.