Page 61 of Necessary Roughness
Sloane:[kissy emoji]
I smiled at the exchange, then glanced over at Logan across the aisle. He was grinning at his phone. Sloane must have texted him during the game, too.
When our team buses arrived on campus, students along the roads waved and cheered and shouted encouragement at us. There was a crowd waiting at the stadium, throngs of students who had been tailgating all afternoon while waiting for us to return. As we stepped off the bus, they showered us with praise like we were war heroes coming back from overseas.
God, it felt good to win.
The party that night was celebratory, and I let myself get drunker than normal. I was bombarded with women who were not shy about touching and whispering promises in my ear, but I politely declined all of them. I’d done plenty ofthatthe previous few years at school, but this year I was totally focused on eliminating distractions. Focusing on football before next year’s draft.
It was much easier to turn down sex knowing I had Sloane to fuck whenever I wanted. And based on the way Logan wasshaking his head at a pair of Sigma women, it was the same for him.
We spent the next day relaxing and recovering. Roman’s ass was glued to the recliner in the living room, staring intently at his textbook.
“You didn’t come celebrate last night,” I said while getting a soda from the fridge.
He shrugged without looking up at me. “Not much for me to celebrate.”
I sat on the edge of the couch. “You had a bad game. So what? We still won, so it didn’t affect anything.”
Roman’s grunt might have been agreement, or dismissal.
“You all right?” I asked. “You seem off. And not just because of the game performance.”
He sighed, closed the textbook, and rose from the chair. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
As he disappeared into his room, I wondered if there was something he wasn’t telling me.
Going to class on Monday was like walking through a gauntlet of attention. My palm actually hurt from all the high-fives I was giving my fellow students on the way. Such was life when you were the big man on campus.
But none of them mattered to me until I got to Art History.
I was early, but Sloane was already seated. The sight of her stopped me in my tracks; head bent over a textbook, furiously taking notes, her blonde hair obscuring her face. It was like a spotlight from heaven was aimed down at her, making everyone else appear dim by comparison.
She glanced up, smiling when she saw me.
The rush of joy that filled my body was better than any drug.
Yeah. This was the only woman on campus I cared about. I hadn’t realized it until this exact moment, but I’d been looking forward to seeing her in class.
And I could already tell it had nothing to do with sex.
26
Sloane
I hadn’t realized it until that moment, but I’d been subconsciously counting down the minutes until I got to see Knox and Logan again.
So when I glanced up and he wasright there, standing in the classroom doorway, smiling at me?
It brightened up my entire day.
“Hey,” he said casually while sitting down. There were plenty of seats available since we were both early, but he still chose the desk next to mine.
“Hi there,” I replied, his scent invading my nose and mind immediately.
“Great job, Knox!” one of the guys behind us said. “Feels good to put those Orange Coast assholes in their place.”
“Sure does,” he agreed.
