by M L Sparrow
As she studied him, she frowned to see several little, round marks dotting his torso and wondered what they were. Chickenpox scars, perhaps?
Without a word, he turned and headed towards the showers and Chloe didn’t even attempt to stop her eyes from ogling his backside as he walked away.
A few minutes later, when he returned with a white towel wrapped around his waist, he no longer looked quite so grumpy; he even arched a brow and teased, “Are you gonna watch me dress too?”
“Do you mind?” she asked candidly.
“No.” Finding the locker with his surname on it, written on a piece of tape, he spun the combination lock until it popped open, grabbed the fresh clothes that were stashed inside before shutting it again with a reverberating clang. Once he was dressed, he came to sit beside her on the bench, leaning forward so that his elbows were braced on his knees and turning his head to look up at her. “I overreacted earlier, right?”
“Just a little.”
Lips pressed firmly together, he nodded, looking at the floor before returning his gaze to hers. “I’ll try not to do it again, but Luis was being a prick.” Not quite an apology, or even an admission of wrong doing, but still…
Hiding her smile, Chloe rested her head on his shoulder. “Luis isn’t going to be the last person to piss you off and he’s definitely not the only person with something to say about us. You told me to give it time to die down, you need to do the same.”
Chapter Twelve
Luis was a fucking dick, Parker decided, and it made him very happy to see the other guy walking around with tape on his nose and dark circles under each eye. It also made him happy that the other guy avoided him during practice, going out of his way to keep his distance. Dawson found the humor in the situation, too, but he knew Chloe wouldn’t see the funny side.
Apart from all the jackasses that thought they could stick their noses in, their new relationship seemed to be working out well… apart from the physical stuff.
They had been dating for three weeks now and nothing had happened. He wasn’t an expert on relationship time frames, but three weeks seemed like a long time. Hand holding was fine. Kissing fine. Touching above clothes. But as soon as he made a move to go further she hesitated. He wondered if she was a virgin and tried to be patient, but fuck he hadn’t had sex since the night he met her on the stairs and his balls were beginning to turn blue. They’d fucking fall off soon; there were only so many times he could jerk himself off.
That night they were going to Jenkins’, instead of one of the frat parties, for a change of scene and atmosphere. As usual, he collected the girls from their room and they met Jet and Terri at the bar. Riley hadn’t been hanging out with them as much lately, preferring to be with her boyfriend, but tonight both she and Joey were there when Chloe pulled open the door. The stench of weed immediately wafted out. He frowned – he couldn’t exactly judge, he hadn’t been a fucking angel in his teenage years, but the thought of Chloe doing something illegal didn’t sit right with him. Lifting her hand, she coughed into her fist, going red faced and he realized she shouldn’t be smoking anyway because of her asthma.
“You smokin’, sugar?”
Still coughing, she shook her head and gestured over her shoulder to where Joey and Riley lounged on Riley’s bed by the open window, sharing a joint between them, smoke rising up to swirl around the ceiling.
“Hey, mate,” Joey grinned, big and stupid, giving him a two fingered salute. Parker really hated him… even worse than Luis.
Pulling Chloe out into the hallway, he strode into the room and snatched the roll from between Joey’s fingers, dropping it into the glass of water on the bedside table. The sizzle in the shocked silence was very satisfying. Not as satisfying as punching him in the face would be, but Chloe didn’t want to date a thug.
“Yo, what you doin’?”
“She’s asthmatic, dickhead. Smoke in your own fuckin’ room.”
“Parker, it’s fine…” Chloe protested from the doorway.
“No, it’s not.” He shot her a look over his shoulder. “This is your room, too.” Turning his scowl on Riley, he held it until she looked down at the bedcover, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.
“My purse is in there,” she said as they walked towards the stairs.
“You don’t need it.”
“But my ID…”
“Jenkins won’t ask.”
“Ok-ay,” she stretched out the word, walking with her hands pushed into the pockets of her skin-tight jeans, and he realized that he was acting like the dickhead he’d just accused Joey of being. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why, either. He was sexually fucking frustrated. If they were having sex their relationship would be damn near perfect. He didn’t want to sound like a typical guy only ever thinking about sex, but it was fucking important. And those jeans… he loved those jeans, they clung to every curve. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to fit his hands down them even if she’d let him, but he wanted to find out.
By the time they got to Jenkins’ he had a feeling Chloe was fuming mad at him, and he didn’t even blame her; he’d barely spoken a word to her all the way there.
They found Jet and Terri sitting around a rickety table in a dark back corner – he knew better than to think something was going on though, since Jet was lusting after her twin. Chloe sat down and by wordless agreement he went to get the drinks. Leaning against the bar, he drew patterns in a puddle of spilled beer as he waited for Jenkins to make his way over. A girl at the other end of the bar smiled invitingly at him, but he turned away.
It was no surprise when Jet appeared by his side. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Fine,” he shrugged, turning to leave, “screw up on your own.”
“Wait.” Ignoring the smirk on his friends face, he told him what was bugging him. Usually Dawson was the one he talked to about shit like this, but he wasn’t here and Parker couldn’t ring him up to moan about his problems; that’s what chicks did.
When he was done, Jet just looked at him. “Do you want to know how long it’s been since I had sex?”
“But that’s just ‘cos you’re always fuckin’ writing.”
Shrugging unapologetically, he stated, “I’m new to the scene, I have to keep producing books so that I’ll stay in people’s minds. I can’t afford to let it slide this early in my career.”
“I get it,” he nodded, “but I’m sure you could take ten minutes away from your laptop.”
“If it only takes you ten minutes, maybe that’s why Chloe doesn’t want to have sex with you.”
“Fuck off, you’re no help.”
Laughing, Jet left.
Heading back to the table with their drinks, he didn’t sit down, looking down at Chloe instead as he asked, “Want to play some pool?”
“I don’t know how to play pool.”
“I’ll teach you.”
Leading her over to the empty pool table, he racked the balls and selected a pair of cue’s, before walking back over to where she was leaning against the table, sipping at her drink and watching him with solemn brown eyes, waiting for him to make the first move. Handing over the cue, he leant beside her, their hips touching.
“I warned you I’d fuck up.”
“You haven’t completely fucked up…yet.”
“In that case,” he grinned, “let’s get down to playing pool.”
He explained the rules and she nodded along, her eyes focused on him the entire time – he loved how she gave everything her full attention, there was no fiddling with her cell, or glancing over at other people, all her attention was centered on him.
Taking the first shot, he smiled as the balls clunked together, scattering across the table. The solid yellow sailed off into the back right corner, followed closely by the red, and he glanced over at her with a cocky grin. Hooking her cue into the crease of her elbow, she clapped, tilting her head at him.
This was the be
st idea he’d ever had, Parker decided a couple of minutes later as he taught Chloe how to shoot, his body pressed flush against hers as she bent over the pool table. Instantly, his body responded to the heat of hers and he totally forgot that he was supposed to be teaching her something as all the blood left his brain and headed south. Distracted, he kissed her neck, sliding one hand around to her stomach, caressing her smooth skin beneath her top, moving it upwards.
“Parker,” she whispered, “people can see.”
“So?” he huffed, nibbling a line up to her ear.
“So? People can see!” She squirmed beneath him and he sighed, moving off to the side and letting her tug her top back into place.
“It’s your shot,” he reminded her.
Once they’d played a couple of games, they returned to the table where Jet and Terri were still sitting, now joined by Riley, who was perched on Joey’s lap, despite the spare chair at the table. Motioning for Chloe to sit, Parker pulled over another chair, placing it close beside hers so that he could drape his arm across the back of her chair, playing his fingers through her long hair.
Jet and Chloe were talking books, when Joey suddenly yelled out to someone across the room and jumped up, knocking his chair over and almost landing Riley on the floor. Not bothering to pick up the chair, or apologize for spilling their drinks over the table, he all but pushed Riley out of the way to get past, calling over his shoulder, “Be back in a minute, bae.”
“Bae?” Terri repeated once he’d gone, “Seriously? Dump him now, he’s a loser. He’s obviously no good if he can’t even commit to that last syllable.”
“Don’t be so judgmental,” Riley snapped, picking up the chair and standing it back up with a hard thud, “he’s a nice guy once you get to know him.”
“He deals cannabis,” Terri hissed, leaning across the table so that the people around them couldn’t overhear, “and don’t think none of us noticed that you stink of it too.”
“That’s cannabis?” Chloe gasped and for a second they all turned to look at her incredulously.
Chucking, Parker squeezed her into his side, just as Terri asked, “Where were you raised, in a freakin’ convent?”
He loved the blush on her face, but he couldn’t abandon her to Terri’s sharp edged teasing. “Says the girl who only says freakin’ and jeez.”
“Just because I was raised properly, unlike some,” she sniffed back.
“Silver spoon in your mouth, more like.”
Bracing her forearms on the table, she narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth – Parker was actually anticipation her response; Terri was great to argue with – but Jet cut her off. “You’re getting off topic.”
At the reminder, Terri swung back around to her sister, the copper in her eyes sparking. “I can’t believe you’d be so stupid. Smoking weed is illegal in Texas, do you want to get thrown out of college? What would Mom and Dad say?”
Riley’s glass slammed down onto the table with enough force to rattle the bottles. “I don’t care what Mom and Dad would say,” she snarled vehemently, “and I didn’t want to come to college in the first place.”
“Then why did you come?” her sister demanded.
“What other choice did I have? What else was I supposed to do after…” she trailed off, her anger quickly disappearing to be replaced by despair, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
Parker felt his body freeze in the presence of female distress. He prayed someone else would deal with her.
Terri softened, reaching out to clasp her sister’s hand. “Riley…”
Ripping her hand away, Riley jumped up from the table as if she’d been electrocuted. “Don’t. I don’t want your sympathy. I know you don’t want me here.” And with that she stormed off.
A deathly silence fell over their table as they all tried to avoid looking at each other.
“Maybe I should go after her,” Chloe murmured uncertainly.
“Let her go,” Terri muttered, the anger back once more. Standing up, she chugged down the remains of her beer, slamming the empty glass down on the table. “I’m going to go to the party after all.” She turned to Jet and demanded, “Are you coming?”
“Don’t you think you should go after your sister?” he protested.
“She’s just being a drama queen. It’s what’s she’s good at. She always got her way as a kid because she could turn on the water works and throw a tantrum, but I’m not falling for it.”
Without waiting to see if Jet would go with her, Terri stormed off and out of the bar. Sighing, Jet said goodbye and followed after her, leaving his drink behind.
“I should go after Riley,” Chloe repeated.
Which is what they did. After scouting around inside and out, they headed towards Willow in case she’d gone back there. She had. Opening the door, Chloe stepped inside, gasped and quickly retreated, slamming the door.
“Oh my God,” she squeaked, one hand covering her mouth, “I did not need to see that.”
Having been standing just behind her, Parker had seen exactly what she had and his surprise mirrored hers. The guy Riley was screwing definitely wasn’t Joey, not unless he’d dyed his hair blond in the last few minutes. He had to hand it to her, she worked fast. It had taken her less than half-an-hour to meet a guy, take him to her room and get to it.
“I think she’s working off her issues,” he commented dryly and Chloe shot him a dark look, though he could see the amused twitch of her lips. “Since she clearly doesn’t want to talk, let’s go back to the bar, I fancy another game of pool.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed lightly, taking his hand as they headed back down the hall, towards the stairs.
“You know the lift’s been fixed for almost a week?” she said conversationally, swinging their clasped hands as they walked.
It was his turn to laugh, but his response was cut off by a sharp voice demanding, “I can’t believe this, you’re still with her?”
“Fuck,” Parker muttered to himself, bracing for a fight as he saw Karla stepping out of the lift, her minions flanking her, identical sneers on their faces as they looked down their noses at him and Chloe.
“Seriously Parker,” Karla stood there with her hands on her hips, “why are you wasting time with someone like her when you could have me? Can she do what I can do?”
“What, suck like a whore?” His temper flared and the words were out before he even realized what he’d said. Shit, shit, shit. Shouldn’t have said that…
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Karla purred, stepping in close and placing a hand on his chest, fingers splayed, “as if you didn’t enjoy every single second of it.”
Before he could move back, Chloe shoved Karla’s hand away, stepping between them. “Back off,” she snarled, her words vibrating with anger. “You had your chance and you blew it, despite your… skills.” Looking her up and down scathingly, she spat out the last word.
“You think you’re so much better than me, with your stuck-up accent, but you’re just another notch in his bedpost, like all the rest of the girls he’s fucked over.”
“Oh, so now you’re giving me a friendly warning? Well, let me tell you this, if all the other girls he’s fucked are poisonous bitches like you, I can understand why he didn’t want to settle down.”
Parker whistled, that sure put Karla in her place, but still her accusation rang in his ears – did Chloe think she would be just another notch, was that why she was hesitant to have sex with him?
Pretty face twisted with rage, Karla’s hand lashed out. Acting on instinct, his arm shot out over Chloe’s shoulder and grabbed Karla’s wrist before her hand could connect with Chloe’s cheek. Using his hold on her to push her back a few steps, he used his free hand to move Chloe out of the way, though she stayed close at his side.
“You should go now,” he said evenly, though his blood was boiling. He’d never hit a girl in his life, but Karla was really pushing him. Baiting Chloe with words was bad enough, but
trying to physically hurt her… unacceptable.
Trying to regain some of her composure, Karla flipped her hair and shot them both a filthy look, before spinning on her high heels and stalking away, her followers doing the same, as if the whole thing had been choreographed.
Once they were out of sight, disappearing into what must have been one of the other girls’ rooms, Parker turned to Chloe. “Wow, I had no idea my girl was a badass.”
“Whereas I already knew you had awful taste in women.”
“That was before I met you,” he felt the need to explain, to apologize, “it didn’t matter what they were like as long as…”
“They could suck like whores?” she finished for him, tilting her head. He was in dangerous territory, very dangerous territory.
“I didn’t mean that.” It was a pathetic excuse, probably one of the stupidest things he could have said.
“Yes, you did and I don’t blame you. Isn’t that exactly what every guy wants?”
It pissed him off that she grouped him with every other guy, but it wasn’t like he could blame her because it was true.
“I have an idea,” she said, “instead of going back to the bar, let’s go to your room.”
Okay… Now he was confused. Was this some kind of trap? Punishment?
Warily, he let her take his hand and lead him down the stairs, across the quad and towards his own dorm. All the way, she didn’t say a word, just cast him flirty smiles over her shoulder when she caught him watching her.
When they reached his room, she wasted no time, kissing him boldly as soon as the door was closed, her hands dislodging his hat and sending it to the floor so that her fingers could sink into his hair. She kissed him like she had something to prove and he let her. Urging him over to his bed, she pushed him onto it and he pulled her down with him, her weight pressing down on his chest.
Breaking away, Chloe straddled him, stripping her top off over her head and releasing her hair from its ponytail, letting it fall around her shoulders in thick waves. The next thing to go was his t-shirt, dragged off over his head and thrown to the floor.
