Taming Eastyn (Stampton College Boys Series Book 1)

by Dawn Doyle

  “Yay!” Rebecca squeezed the toy hard and spun in a circle, her face lighting up with joy. “Pika.”

  I turned back to my brother. “I have two words to say to you, Mason.”

  He cocked his head to the side, his brows dipping. “What’s that?”

  “Crunchy boogers?” I asked. He burst out laughing as did Sabrina. “Disgusting, Mason. I’m nauseated just thinking about it.”

  “Hey, she’s five-years-old. Booger talk is the highlight of her day.”

  I smiled but shook my head. “That’s one conversation I can do without.”

  Eastyn

  I stood in the center of the hook-a-duck game, having a clear view of the green. Campus was swarming with people, and the sounds of kids laughing with their families filled the air. One in particular.

  Shay was running in circles, chasing a smaller girl than before, her hands shaped like claws while she pretended to be a monster. The toddler squealed when Shay caught her, then lifted her up in the air to swing her around. The other girl, Rebecca, played with the huge Pikachu, her face lighting up from the reflection of the yellow fabric. It felt good to be just a little responsible for that. Shay looked so happy and relaxed there, and it hit me square in the chest to see her like that.

  I leaned back against the post and crossed my arms over myself, my brows dipping low. For the past two and a half years, I’d never seen her smile like that, not even once. Sure, her family had been here—I’d seen her brother before—but I’d never seen them stick around on site.

  “Excuse me,” a voice said, the same one that had tried to get my attention a couple of times.

  “Yeah,” I replied, pushing away from the pole.

  “We’d like to play.” Three young girls stood in front of me, their eyes wide and mouths open with their grins.

  “Five bucks for two shots,” I said, gesturing to slots to put their money in.

  “I wouldn’t mind a hook up,” the one on the right said to the girl in the middle. All three giggled and I had to force myself not to roll my eyes.

  “I know, right? He’s fine as fuck,” the girl on the left whispered, but she definitely meant for me to hear it.

  All three had blonde hair, definitely enhanced from a bottle, and looked to be high-school age—probably seniors. “Here.” I handed them all a rod with a hook on the end when they’d paid.

  “What do we win if we hook you?” middle blonde said, darting her tongue over her bright-pink lips.

  I stared at her, giving her the answer.

  Her smile dropped and her cheeks turned dark pink. “God, sorry I fucking spoke,” she snipped.

  The three of them took their turns, but I wasn’t watching. They could’ve been cheating for all I cared. All I was interested in was watching the girl I’d kissed an hour ago, play with her nieces like they were the most important thing in the world to her.

  That fucking kiss. The second she stood in front of me, looking up with those fucking big eyes of hers, I knew the rules would go right out of the window. The moment her lips touched mine, they were forgotten. Damn, they were sweet and soft against mine. Her quiet gasp ran right down to my cock, and I had to dig my fingers into the wooden surface in front of me to stop myself from reaching over and taking her into my arms.

  “I got number four!” One of the blondes squealed. “Do I win a prize?”

  I checked around and found a mini minion toy. “Yeah, here.” I tossed it to her then looked away.

  “I got a seven.”

  “And I got a nine.”

  I checked around again. “Yeah, there you go.” They got minions too. They stared at me, three pairs of eyes questioning. “What?”

  “Jeez, no need to be such an asshole,” the left one said, then all three filed away like the clones that they were.

  “East!”

  “Yeah.” My eyes slid to Linc, who leaned on the edge of the surround, grinning up at me like a lunatic. “What’s so funny?” A smile tugged at my mouth when his eyebrows pumped up and down.

  “Your turn at the booths, my friend,” he replied with a chuckle and I groaned, my head falling back. “I hope you’re ready for the second round of death stares. There were a shit ton of complaints after Shay kissed you and nobody else could get the same.”

  He had my attention then and, as usual, I didn’t show it. “Rules are rules, so…” But those had fallen on deaf ears. Some people thought they could pay ten bucks and get a mini make-out session, but I put a stop to that when the first girl came and tried to shove her tongue down my throat. I’d pulled away and she went for it again until I told her to back the fuck off. That didn’t go down too well, and Lara had to explain the rules again. “Not my problem if they got confused.”

  “How was that by the way? It sounded… Intense.”

  “It wasn’t anything,” I replied, coming out of the stall.

  Linc took my place behind the counter. “That’s not what I heard, man. It was said that there was tongue when we all agreed against it.”

  I shrugged. “No need to discuss something that’s not worth discussing.” I walked off before he could question me again. I’d successfully avoided the guys, but not Max, who’d seen everything.

  ‘I saw tongue, East. Lots of tongue. What the fuck?’

  My only reply was, ‘I was caught off guard.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s not what it looked like from where I was standing.’

  And it wasn’t. Hell no, it was not. After controlling myself for so fucking long, I’d gotten a taste, and now I wanted more. So much fucking more.

  I rounded the area to the booths, the stalls empty but the girls and guys already lining up with Lara talking animatedly to a few of them.

  The moment she saw me, she walked over. “Oh, good, you’re here.” She glanced back over her shoulder, then spoke quietly as she faced me again. “Listen, if this does as well as expected, we’re going to have a party tonight.”

  “We’re having a party regardless,” Max said as he slapped his hand down on my shoulder, then draped his arm around me, his wrist cuff next to my face.

  “Sh!” Lara said, raising her hands to get him to shut up. “We don’t want everybody thinking it’s a damn free for all, Max. Just the ones helping out, and maybe a couple of friends. Besides, it’s going to be in the bar, so not everybody can come anyway.”

  “It’ll be a blast,” Elise purred as she sauntered over to us, her eyes sliding from Max to me. “Personally, I can’t wait. I already know we’re crushing our target, so it’s well-deserved.”

  “At last count, we’ve raised over five-thousand dollars,” Chloe said as she bounced on her tiptoes, doing that damn twist thing again. “We’re not even two hours in and we’re halfway to our goal.”

  Max grinned, and when I saw where his eyes were fixed, I shook my head. Elise wasn’t as amused as I was, but I guess she wouldn’t be. The guy she’d fucked had his attention on another girl’s tits.

  “Chloe, let’s go,” Elise snapped, practically dragging her away from Max.

  “Okay, so let’s get this show on the road!” Lara cheered, her excited grin wide, hiding her annoyance. It might convince other people, but I saw through the fake smile and the bright eyes that hid a declining patience for crap.

  We all sat down and Lara began the show. A tall girl came up to me, slid her bill in the slot and placed her hands down on the surface. They had to do that so they couldn’t grab and refuse to let go. It reminded me of a bad time where I was in a strip club, a faceless woman draped over me, my hands under my legs so I wouldn't touch while she promised to make my dreams come true. I hadn’t gone there to find release for my adolescent hard on… Fuck, I’d been too wasted to do anything but close my eyes. When I did wake up, though, I was out on the street with no money and no phone…again.

  “Hey!”

  The voice brought me out of my thoughts. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

  “Okay, well, snap out of it and kiss me, Eastyn.” She
puckered up her lips, her dark eyes fixed on me.

  I stood and leaned forward, then covered her hands with mine, making sure she couldn’t move them. I pressed my lips against hers, and I counted down, the five seconds an eternity. I pulled away and saw the red-head grinning at me.

  “I’ll be back again,” she said, then bit on her lower lip. Before she turned away, she winked at me, her false eyelashes dipping as she did.

  And I felt absolutely nothing.

  Shay

  I helped Mason bundle two tired little girls into their car and kissed their sleepy heads. “I got this,” I whispered to him while squishing the cuddly toys into the trunk. “Get in the car.”

  I waved as my family drove away, grateful that I had a chance to see them before Sabrina got too big to travel. They would be on their last vacation during break, so it was likely I wouldn’t see them again until after Sabrina gave birth.

  “Thirty-thousand dollars.” Lara whispered the amount, her gaze off in the distance. “Shay, we’ve tripled what we need and we have a half hour to go before we wrap up.”

  “That’s fantastic, Lara!” I wrapped my arms around her, congratulating her fierce efforts. “Do you think you’ll raise much more?”

  She grabbed my arm and pulled me over toward the kissing booths, and stopped next to Elise who was monitoring. “Look, Shay.” She gestured to the ropes where a lengthy queue was formed. “We’ve made almost twenty-thousand on this alone.”

  With the time Lara has said the participants would be taking, I did a quick calculation in my head. “That’s around two hundred and fifty kisses each.”

  “Wow, Shay, I wasn’t keeping count, but okay.”

  Elise rolled her eyes, then looked away.

  “I guess sex does sell,” I mumbled. Lara held back a giggle, but Elise’s head whipped back around.

  “What? Shay, that was uncalled for.” Her anger showed in her narrowed eyes and her pursed lips. Her mouth formed a snarl, and I regretted the words from slipping out of my mouth. “We didn’t have to do this, you know. We could’ve turned it down just like you did, but we didn’t. Lara even took over your stupid place so we didn’t have to find somebody else,” she spat as though it was a huge sacrifice on her part. “We made an effort to put ourselves out there, knowing we would get people we wouldn’t look twice at coming to us and paying to have us put our lips against theirs, and we all saw our fair share of those—me more than the others. We did that, Shay. What did you do?”

  “I spent over three hundred dollars on my nieces’ enjoyment,” I snapped. “I purchased smiles and laughs that I won’t have the pleasure of seeing for the next few months, I ensured that my heavily pregnant sister-in-law was comfortable, bringing her drinks and snacks when she required them. I gave my brother a break from his fatherly duties by taking my nieces off to play so he could relax with his wife without worrying of their whereabouts.” I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have said that about the booths—my comment wasn’t intended how it sounded, but don’t you dare accuse me of being a malingerer, Elise. I contributed financially to the college’s funds today, when I have zero obligation to.”

  Elise stared at me with her mouth wide open, shock lacing her sun-reddened face. “I’ll have your money returned if that’ll make you happy,” she snipped.

  I snorted. “No, I don’t want my money back, I wanted to help in any way that I could—I told Lara that. Attempting to manipulate my emotions to make me feel guilty is highly passive aggressive of you.”

  Her jaw dropped again and she jerked back, a soft burst of air escaping from her mouth. “Passive aggressive? How was I passive aggressive?”

  “You said I didn’t do anything, then when I told you that I did, your answer was to return any monies paid, negating my own efforts.” When she didn’t reply, I continued. “Your redundant help only benefits your argument.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” she asked, lifting her hands to the side. “Why the fucking hell do you insist on speaking to people like they’re fucking stupid?”

  Her eyes bore into me, and all I saw there was a memory I’d tried to lock away for years. My fists balled at my sides and my teeth ground together, the enamel squeaking as they moved over each other. “Did you understand me, Elise, huh? Did you understand the words that came out of my mouth?”

  “Yeah, I did,” she fired back, crossing her arms with such force it was as though she was stabbing herself in the armpits. “Every fucking word.”

  “Then what’s your fucking problem? Did I speak to you as though you were a child? Did I enunciate every word to spell it out for you, explaining each meaning as I went?”

  “No, but that—”

  “Then get off my fucking back!” I yelled. “Take it as a damn compliment that I speak to you like a fucking adult!”

  The area around us was still, the silence only broken by the steady beats of the music on the other side of the area. All eyes were on us, even the ones inside the booths hung out to watch. I looked up, meeting Eastyn’s eyes. A girl I’d never seen before stood in front of him, staring up at his mouth. I couldn’t look away from him, his eyes hard and his lips still tinted with whomever’s lipstick or gloss that had transferred.

  “I have to go,” I said, breaking eye contact with Eastyn.

  “Shay, wait,” Lara said, taking my hand, but I yanked it back.

  I didn’t turn back; I didn’t want anybody to see my face and the tears falling from my eyes. I’d screwed up, yet again, and in front of a crowd.

  *****

  Clean-up wasn’t any better. I stayed out of everybody’s way, but I still had stares and whispers aimed toward me, and I could only imagine what they were saying about the episode earlier. Not one person asked me if I was okay as I continuously wiped my eyes, but I understood. Why would they? Casey and then Mason practically confirmed my social ineptitude, and it hurt. My chest still ached from hearing the truth.

  I finished clearing up the trash I was picking up from the western side of the green, and collected my other trash bags to put in the dumpster before I started on a new one. I’d half-filled it when I heard somebody approach. I swiped my cheeks again and turned so they wouldn’t see my face.

  “What are you doing out here? A clean-up crew was hired for this.”

  I paused at Max’s voice. “Um, I thought I’d help out a little. There’s so much mess it’ll take all night to clean up.” I continued stuffing empty chip bags and ketchup and mustard-covered hotdog napkins in the bag.

  “You seriously want to help?”

  I glanced at him, noticing his clothes were changed from the worn-out T-shirt to a clean gray one. His dark-blue jeans rested on top of his white sneakers at the ankle. I was still wearing what I’d put on this morning. “Yeah. They have homes to go to, too, so if I can help get them there faster…”

  “Love the gloves,” he said with a smirk, gesturing to my hands. “Nothing’s getting through those, huh?”

  I looked down at my filthy hands. Bright yellow gloves covered them, followed by a pair of clear gloves on top. I’d still be washing my hands thoroughly afterward. “Better to be safe than sorry.” My reaction to other people’s germs wasn’t normal, but after tasting the last thing I’d ever thought would end up in my mouth and on my hands, I’d spiraled downward, and came up to the surface again with an OCD that could be crippling some days.

  “Well, okay. See you later, Shay.”

  “Yeah, bye, Max.” I watched him walk slowly away and take his phone out of his pocket as it rang.

  “Yeah, coming right now,” he said to whoever had called. “I can’t think of anyone to invite off the top of my head, but I’m sure I’ll think of a few people in a little while.” He laughed, then continued. “Hell, yeah. A celebratory party is what we need for raising more than we thought. See you later, I’ve gotta grab something from my dorm.”

  A party?

  I didn’t know anything had been arranged, and even when Lara went off wi
th the other girls and a few of the guys to collect the takings, she never mentioned anything. She knew I wasn’t the party type, so it was probably why it was never mentioned to me.

  Well, my night would involve me catching up with my next chapter. Oh, and I had to figure out a way to get an unasked for article in the paper about the successful fundraiser.

  Yeah, I was going to be busy.

  Eastyn

  The guys and I walked through the doors of Stampede, the bar on the other side of campus. It wasn’t far, maybe a fifteen-minute walk, but far enough to make getting back to the dorms and houses while wasted an almost impossible task.

  “East!” My name was yelled, and I turned in the direction it had come from. “Come over, guys, grab a beer,” Kev, another player on the football team said as he beckoned for us to go over.

  Casey pressed his hands on my shoulders from behind and gently pushed me forward. “Come on, dude, it’s party time.” He slapped his hands down once more, then released me, moving around to weave his way through the crowd, dancing and gyrating against people as he went.

  A bottle was thrust into my hand by Justin. “Drink up, East. There’s plenty more with your name on them.” He raised his bottle and tipped it back, downing half of the contents.

  “Thirty fucking grand,” Will said as though he couldn’t believe it. “And all we had to do was lock lips with almost half the college and local girls.” He laughed then shuddered. “Actually, there were some I’d rather forget, but thirty grand!”

  I scanned the room, noticing that not everybody was here.

  Linc stood next to me and moved close to my ear. “Have you seen Shay since your little scene?” he asked, his voice shaking as he quietly laughed.