Page 48 of Dirty Roulette
“Why are you sneaking around?” He asks with a chuckle.
Gulping, I glance at my chest and face the bitter truth that my nipples do indeed poke out. Sexy girls do the whole smoldering lip bite so I give it my best shot, but I’m sure I look like a ridiculous buck tooth rabbit.
Ryder is shirtless, wearing a pair of gray sweats. A whiff of his woodsy body wash sends a foreign warmth between my legs. There is no buzzkill from the faintness of sweaty socks or his dirty clothes stacked in a pile the size of Mt. Everest. I want to run my hands over his muscled chest, arms, and anything that he can flex. A light in the hall flickers off, and the distant sound of a toilet flushing fills the quiet room, snapping me out of it.
“Hungry?” He asks.
My voice is tangled up in my throat, and I jerk my shoulders in a sloppy shrug. He stands up, and his sweatpants ride low on his lean hips and reveal a hard, flat belly. The tip of his penis is dangerously close to peaking out, and a match is thrown, setting my thighs on fire. The torment won’t go away. I’m blushing all over. He closes his door slowly with a light click.
This is it. He’s walking over. With his six-pack and glorious muscles. I’m like jelly. My knees are going to buckle any second now. Somethingbetween my legs is about to burst, and my heart pounds. It’s the charcoal eyes. No wait, it’s his messy hair. I like how dark and thick it is. No, I love it. I wanna run my hands through it, maybe pull it.What is wrong with me? He’s a drug that won’t stay down. I’m anticipating him grabbing me by the waist and stripping me to nothing, and my mouth waters.
But that’s not what he does. He slugs onto the mattress and pulls out that bottle of Hennessy, twisting off the cap. “Want some?” He holds it out, and it’s like he dumped a bucket of ice water all over my desire. Now I’m depressed, and he’s drinking.
“Sure...” I say, mad at myself. I stupidly tried looking gorgeous for him. He’s staring at the floor when my nipples are poking out of this damn loose shirt. I’ve been making myself hot every night for him. All he has to do is peek underneath my shirt and he’ll see my entire rack, but I take a shot. I let myself gag as it coats my throat and burns when it reaches my stomach.
The phone on his nightstand goes off, and out of the corner of my eye, the name Brittni pops up. Ryder slides it open, and it’s messages from her, but no responses from him. He reads it, then tosses it.
He runs a hand over his face and groans. Without hesitation, he grasps the liquor and takes another swig. “I’m exhausted. I got a paper to write, and it’s due in two days. I’ve kinda been putting it off.” He points the bottle at the computer.
Shoot. I’m awkward.Say something.“I have a French test coming up and I haven’t really studied and so far I suck at algebra. I failed my first quiz today.” It slides off my tongue, attempting to make conversation. I mentally facepalm. Wrong thing to mention. There is no way he’s gonna get a boner now.
Ryder dips the bottle to his lips. “You failed your first quiz?” He hands it back to me, and I take a swig.
“Yeah, I wasn’t very good at it in high school either.”
“You should have said something. I went through calculus and got an A. Bring over your work tomorrow, and let me help you.”
“Really?” I ask.
The cell buzzes on the nightstand again and her name appears. Ryder yanks it from the charger and holds the power button. When the screen turns black, another shot slips down my throat.
“I’m sorry...” he says and runs a hand through his hair. I pin my arms over my chest.
“Why is she calling you?” I ask.
“It won’t click in her head. We aren’t getting back together, and she’s having amoment.” He uses quotation marks with his hands.
The tip of his tongue runs between his lips.
“Did you two talk or something today?” I let out a nervous laugh with the question. Ryder scoffs with a grin perking up on one side of his face as he shakes his head. “She hassled me after practice. You were long gone.” His mouth sinks into a sad smile.
“Oh...” A knife rams right into my sternum and it hurts hearing he talked to her, and I didn’t see it. Something about not knowing the unknown is unsettling, and I don’t like the bitter feeling accompanying it.
“She’s used to always being told yes. I am not gonna give her that satisfaction.” He puts his hands on my knee. “So the algebra... come over tomorrow and I can help you with it, yeah?” He whispers under his breath. I nod my head, biting my bottom lip. The doorbell rings, and footsteps scurry down the hallway.
“Finally,” he says.
I follow him out into the kitchen where Scottie P holds five gigantic boxes in his hands and puts them on the table.
“Dog, you think you ordered enough?” Scottie P asks and opens one of the boxes with melted cheese all over the place. The pepperonis look delicious and coated in the perfect amount of grease.
“Bruh, I got wings too!” Jared digs into another box. Other football players huddle at the table fighting for the plastic plates and the liters of Pepsi.
Ryder lifts the pizza over his head, the cheese sliding right off into his mouth. “Want to watch a movie?” He asks, mid-chew. “And you need to eat more than that.” He stares down at the tiny slice on my plate and snatches a fatter piece. “Eat this one too, and this one.”
“Bossy much?” I ask.
“Guess you’re going to have to listen.” I follow him back to his room, and he props his computer on the edge of the bed, skimming through the different movies on Netflix. First, it’s action thrillers, then horror and he skips romance entirely. After ten minutes of his brain not making a decision, I crawl over and cover his eyes with both hands.
