85

Adam

You Make Me Feel Better

Thomas Sullender, resident dickhead of the Kennedy Young University football team, crashed through two card tables and smashed into the bar. His head was mostly lead and concrete - it made sense.

I strolled across the ground and gathered up his shirt again in my fist, letting another punch fly. It'd been a long time since I legitimately beat someone's ass. Those had always been justified, but this was a special one. With each blow, I counted another reason.

One , for cheating on Piper.

Two, for making her feel like shit.

Three, for making Piper think she wasn't worthy of someone spending actual time and effort on her.

Four, for lying to me.

Five, because fuck him—that's why.

There was a crowd around me, but I didn't give a shit. This guy disrespected Piper, and he had to learn his fucking lesson. If he ever did that shit again and decided to waltz on my campus without a football game to go to, he'd have to answer to me. Because he didn't get to pop up like a weasel and antagonize Piper like that.

"What is going on here?!"

I jerked up with Thomas in hand, to see Cleo and Miles at the door frame with bags of popcorn and a giant stuffed Marrs helmet from one of the prize booths. Cleo looked anything but happy about the day's event. She stared at me, stricken. And between us, was Piper.

Oh, shit .

Blood dripped from Thomas's nose, and my knuckles were bruised. I shoved him to the ground again and pushed myself up, dusting off my pants, like that'd clean up the scene.

"Adam?" Cleo demanded, striding forward. She ushered for Miles to start dispensing the crowd, but there was only so much he could do. "Tell me what's going on. Right now."

"I called campus security," someone said.

"Oh my god." Cleo put her hand over her mouth.

"Uh—" I blanked on an explanation. What could I say? Thomas was being mean to me so I broke his nose? In what world was that even? But I couldn't give the actual reason.

I cared about Piper. This guy hurt her.

Ergo, I hurt the fuck out of this guy.

I stood in front of her without an explanation as Cleo searched my face. Running my hands through my hair, I tried to think of something. "See…what—uh—happened was—"

"Thomas has been harassing me for months," Piper blurted out.

What?

Everyone turned over to stare at her and Piper blushed hard, staring down at her shoes. But I couldn't believe it. Piper had been keeping quiet about it for so long. It'd taken her being shitfaced for me to even tell the guy off. Why would she…?

She's protecting me .

I stared at her, stunned. Piper Fontaine was keeping me out of trouble and putting herself in the spotlight in the process. My knuckles throbbed, but the only real thing I could feel was my tongue, thick in my mouth. A grin lifted my face, a weightless, enormous grin.

"Thomas Sullender? " Cleo demanded in the kind of voice that made me think she had some personal history with the blonde jackass. The head intern whipped back to look at me and Piper. "Are you telling me someone on my payroll has been harassed and nobody bothered to tell me? "

Cleo could be a lot of things, but the iciness dripping off her voice, I'd never heard that before.

And there was Miles, grinning off to the side.

Campus security walked through the doors and Cleo snapped her fingers at them, gesturing them in close. "Please take Thomas Sullender to the security office. I'm calling Coach Lawson." Shifting over to me, she nodded at Piper. "Adam, get her out of here."

The magic words .

Strolling over, I put a hand on the back of Piper's back, leading her out the doors of the saloon. I couldn't keep the grin off my face. Piper finally told somebody. Thomas was heading off to get some kind of punishment from his coach. And I was expected to escort Piper out of the saloon, her final volunteering shift for the night.

"Fuck, he's got a head full of rocks." I chuckled, flexing my fingers.

Piper didn't say anything, just grabbed my hand, taking me into the space between the makeshift buildings that'd been put up for the rodeo.

Night was starting to set, and the rodeo was ramping up for the band that came to play on the other side of the park. People were streaming on both sides of the alleyway and I glanced to the side, trying to see what was open beyond, when Piper grabbed my chin and yanked me forward, crashing her lips to mine.

She threw her arms around my neck and yanked me down as best as she could, kissing me wildly. Oh fuck, exactly what I needed. I wrapped my arms around hers and curved her body to mine, kissing her back.

My split lip hurt, but my cock throbbed hard enough for me not to give a shit about that.

Just as quickly as she'd kissed me, Piper pushed me away, panting heavily.

"Damn," I muttered, touching my lips. "I should've kicked the shit out of Thomas a long time ago."

She took a step back, catching her breath. "Oh my god. That was—"

"You were fucking great," I said. "I can't believe how…I'm fucking proud that you told them." My words were blocked in my throat. It was hard to talk to Piper like this.

"You were going to get in trouble," she explained, panting.

My grin widened. "I—uh—got you a stuffed animal."

"You got me a stuffed animal?" Piper repeated, a little dazed.

I nodded. "The camera guys had me throw a pitch at one of the games for a TV spot and I got a prize. And yours are at Thomas's—so I figured—you know. "

"Adam?" Piper blurted out and caught herself, standing quietly in front of me for a moment. She turned away from me. "You make me feel so…brave. You make me feel brave. I couldn't have done that without you."

When her eyes turned back to me, it was more intimate than the kiss. Her gray eyes were soft. Holding all the trust in the world in them. What did I do to deserve this girl like this?

"You would've done it anyway," I said simply.

Slowly, she shook her head. "Not now. Maybe later. I don't know. I—I just feel so much more…courageous."

A beat passed between us and I swallowed.

"You make me feel better," I admitted.

It wasn't a game-winning scrabble word like courageous and I couldn't articulate it as well as she could but it was the truth, plain and simple. Being with Piper made me feel better, like I'd been playing a game with a broken bone for so long, I didn't realize it. She made me feel good again.

People passed through the alley and we had to step back to allow them to leave.

I dropped my voice. "Everybody's going off to the concert right now."

"That's right." Piper nodded.

"But I figured…big crowds…not really your thing." I shrugged. "If we wait until everybody heads over there, I bet we could sneak out after." I contemplated the extra time, watching the people file out on either side of the alleyway. "I'd bet you anything the rides are quiet."

She gave me a long look and tilted her head to the side, searching. Her blonde hair spilled over her shoulder. Completely distracting. She smiled. "You want to ride rides with me?"

"Oh, yeah." I nodded and drew closer. "Then you can ride this ride. Free admission."

" Corny ."

"You must be this wet to ride this ride—"

Piper laughed, grabbing the opening to my cowboy jacket, and tugging me along with her. "What am I going to do with you?"