Offside (Pro-U Book 2)

by Ali Parker

  "Good. Take keys, and don't let anyone start that swingers shit they tried last year. You remember what a nightmare that was?" I snorted, trying not to think about it.

  "Yeah. Cops, blood and a strict warning to shut us down. Why would anyone think that a few beers would change the rules of relationships? I'd never let a girl I was dating touch another man. People are fucking stupid." Micah bent down and grabbed a cold beer out of a cooler, tossing it to me before getting his own.

  I popped the top and drank half of it down in a few gulps. "It's the Kappa Alpha assholes. They share everything, including women."

  "God, that's nasty." Micah's face distorted in disgust. "I would ask if you could imagine it, but you've probably done it."

  I shrugged. "There isn't much I haven't tried."

  "Save it for someone who wants to like you less. I'm as low on that pole as I can go."

  "Fuck off." I smiled. "Hey, did you invite Brody and his guys?"

  "Yeah, but I don't know why you want him here. He's a bigger asshole than you are."

  "I don't want him here. I wanna eye-fuck his pretty girlfriend from across the room." I licked my lips at the thought of seeing Emily Campbell. My cock stirred in my jeans just letting her name brush across my mind. She was the finest fucking cheerleader in all of Providence and should have been mine. Brody being quarterback of the football team had some odd advantage over me. He was as big of a whore as I was, and yet had the best looking girl on campus.

  "Come on, man. You know Emily is a good friend of mine."

  "Yeah, and I wish you would hook a brother up. What's wrong with you anyway?" I turned as some of the waitresses from Mersky's walked down the stairs and called my name.

  "That's what's wrong with me. Emily is a great girl with a good heart."

  "And huge tits." I glanced over at him and wagged my eyebrows. "Let's not forget all of her assets."

  "Fuck," he mumbled and popped me in the chest. "You're on your own with her. She's too much woman for you or that cock she's dating."

  "Yeah, I hate that guy," I called after him as the girls moved to stand around me. "Hi ladies. You ready to help us make this party a hit?"

  "Anything for you, Jacob."

  Lacy, Margaret and Casey. My favorite trio.

  "You're so sweet. Walk around and see what the guys need help with." I reached out and popped their asses as they walked by looking like something I'd like to sink myself into later that night.

  The back door opened, and Smith waved, catching my attention. "Your dad's on the phone."

  "All right. I'm coming." I jogged toward the house as Casey turned and smiled.

  "Not yet you're not, but you will be later tonight."

  "Promises, promises, sweet girl." I licked my lips and let my eyes drag down the back of her. Where being promiscuous my freshman and sophomore year gained me more than enough attention to last a lifetime, it was getting old. I wanted something else out of my senior year, but I couldn't figure out what just yet. A committed relationship sounded like hell, but sleeping around with a million women for the next year didn't seem much better.

  "Dad?" I put the phone to my ear and nodded at Darren to thank him.

  "Hey buddy. How are the party plans coming?"

  "They're great. We're about to kick things off. You okay?" Worry raced through me as I walked to the kitchen and leaned against the stove, cupping my hand around my ear to hear him better over the noise.

  "Oh yeah. I got a letter in the mail for you this morning. One I think you've been waiting on."

  Excitement burned through me. "From PDL?"

  He chuckled. "It says Premier Development League, FC Boston on the front."

  "Yes. Fuck yes!" I turned in a circle and thrusted my hips, dancing like a fool. "Tear it open and make sure I made the team."

  "No. You can come by and-"

  "Dad. Shit. Tear it open. Don't make me wait."

  He laughed again. "All right, buddy. Hold on."

  I bit my lip and smiled as Micah moved up beside me and whispered, "You all right?"

  "Yeah. I think I got-"

  "Here it is. You got in, Jacob. I'm so proud of you. Come by and get the letter tomorrow and we'll talk about how we're going to pay for it."

  "Yes! All right, Dad. See you soon." I dropped the call and lifted both hands into the air. "I got onto FC Boston's team for PDL this summer. I can't wait to start playing again."

  "Congrats. Was there any doubt that you would?" Micah hit my hands and gave me a smirk. "You're captain of the Friars soccer team and won a medal in the Olympics. You're kidding, right?"

  "I knew man, but it's still fun to get excited, right?"

  He shook his head and lifted his beer. "To you, buddy. The best and worst guy I know."

  "Amen." I hit my beer against his.

  Chapter 3

  Emily

  The Omega House was packed from one side to the other with people drinking and laughing. I glanced around as Brody reached back and grabbed my hand tightly, pulling me through a large crowd on the front porch.

  "Let's find Jacob and give homage before we get a beer."

  "You know I don't drink," I mumbled and turned to watch some girl take a tube of beer and drink like a champ. My stomach contracted in disgust. What the fuck was I doing here? I hated drinking and how people acted when they were drunk.

  He pulled me roughly into the kitchen and moved to stand behind me as we stopped in front of Jacob Wright, the king of all man-whores on campus.

  "Brody. My buddy. What's up?" Jacob shouted loudly and wagged his tongue as he and Brody shared a laugh. I had no clue why anyone would sleep with him. He was beyond hot, but everyone knew that he'd tapped just about every girl at Pro-U. The only ones he seemed to steer away from were the taken ones, which was the only good thing anyone could say about him.

  "Just hanging with my girl and we decided to come check out your shit." Brody pressed his hand to my stomach, locking me to him as he reached around me with his free hand and gave Jacob a high-five.

  Jacob turned his light blue eyes onto me, as if just realizing I was standing there. His light brown hair was a little long on top, and his five o'clock shadow made him look like he didn't give a fuck in the world what anyone thought, which he didn't. Why should he? He was a whore.

  "Emily. I'm Jacob. Not sure we've met." He extended his hand toward me as a sexy smile pulled at his lips.

  "We haven't for a reason." I moved out from between them and weaseled my way into the living room in hopes of finding one person that I could talk to for the rest of the night. "One night. One damn night."

  I stopped by the back door and took a deep breath as I let my eyes run across the hordes of people spilling out onto the lawn.

  "I take it Brody doesn't know about us?" Jacob stopped behind me and smiled as I glanced over my shoulder.

  "There's nothing to know. I was young and dumb, and you kept refilling my cup." I pushed the screen door and walked down the stairs as heat danced in the center of my stomach. Where Brody was pretty good in bed, Jacob Wright was fucking amazing.

  One night. I rolled my eyes and stopped at the bottom of the stairs to glance around again.

  "I'm not sure why you're so pissy after three years, Emily. It's not like I forced myself on you." He moved up to stand beside me and took a long drink from his red solo cup. "If I recall, you were the one that came up to me."

  "I was drunk. It was the only time in my adult life I've been drunk, and I'll never do it again."

  "Drink or hit on me?" His smile was contagious, and I hated myself for wanting to unlock some of the pent-up feelings I had from my freshman year. I'd learned a lot since then, namely that Jacob was a whore and would sleep with a stump if it had tits.

  "Both. Neither. However you say it." I turned back toward the crowd.

  "Well, if it's any consolation..." He leaned closer, pressing his thick chest against my arm, his mouth just beside my ear. "You’re the best I've ever had. So sof
t and sweet. Almost like making love."

  I turned and the tip of my nose brushed by his. "Fuck you, Jacob."

  "Anytime you wanna fuck me. All you gotta do is ask."

  "Not in a million years." I turned and walked away, trying to ignore the way my heart raced in my chest.

  "But you want to. You're just denying yourself which is so stupid. Isn't it guys?" His voice rose as half the people in the yard turned to cheer for him.

  Bile rose in my throat and I turned to walk back toward campus. It was too far of a walk, and leaving Brody would just have me answering to him the next day. I stopped by an old oak tree and pulled out my phone before leaning against it.

  "Emily? Yeah, it's her. Come on guys."

  I turned to see four of the cheerleaders from the squad walk toward me. Where I didn't feel like I belonged in the middle of them, I'd come to fake it as best I could.

  "Hey girls." I plastered a fake smile on my face and reached up to run my fingers through my hair.

  "Were you just talking with Jacob Wright?" Nancy Bullock glanced over her shoulder and turned back with a shit-eating grin on her pretty face. Her black hair was bobbed and her brown eyes filled with far too much excitement.

  "He was just looking for who he was going to use as a blanket tonight. I told him to fuck off, and you should too." I reached out and brushed something off her blouse.

  "Agreed. He's put that stirring straw he has in his pants in just about everyone's cup of coffee." Jasmine Lee gave me a tight smile and shook her head. "And to think I almost dated him."

  "We all have almost dated Jacob Wright." Nancy crossed her arms over her chest and turned her attention back to me. "Where's Brody? You know leaving him alone during the full moon is a horrible idea. Not only does he turn into an animal, but every girl in this place is looking for you to get hit by a bus."

  I snorted. "This is true. I'll go find him in a few minutes. I needed to breathe fresh air."

  "It does smell like pot in there, doesn't it?" Jasmine moved back and Sharon and Daniella moved into the circle with us.

  "Pot, sex, cologne." Sharon wagged her eyebrows. "It's definitely an Omega party."

  I reached out and gripped Jasmine's hand. "You excited about graduation?"

  She let out a soft sigh and shrugged. "I don't know. I'm scared to start life beyond college, but at least I have a job in my dad's firm. I heard a lot of the people we're graduating with don't have anything set up yet."

  "Yet? Graduation is next week," Nancy spoke up.

  "Speaking of me graduating," Jasmine squeezed my hand and released it, "have you thought about trying out for cheer captain? You know Coach Rhodes is expecting to see your name on that short list."

  "I know. I'm going to do it. I have nothing else to do with my time, and it would seem like a waste not to push myself a little." I glanced up toward the house to see Jacob laughing with a few girls.

  "Hey. You guys scatter. I wanna talk with Emily for a minute." Jasmine waved her hands around and the other girls groaned and walked off.

  "What's up?" If I was close to any of the girls on the squad, which I wasn't, it was Jasmine. She was the most reasonable and level-headed of all of them.

  "I just wanted to give you a heads-up on a couple of things."

  "All right. Go for it." I turned my attention back to her as butterflies danced around my stomach. Fucking Jacob Wright and his perfect body and great smile. He was just like the guys I hated in high school. Hot, greedy and everybody's best friend.

  "Coach is allowing a few other girls to try out from some of the surrounding schools."

  "What? Why?" Ice water ran down my veins. I'd killed myself on the cheer squad for three years and been a solid example for everyone below me. I deserved the captain position without a tryout.

  "Because of some politics bullshit she's having to deal with. You'll hear more about it as you go through your senior year, I'm sure, especially if you get the captain position. She pulled me in close this last year, and for the first time in a few years, I didn't hate her completely." Jasmine chuckled, and I smiled to be polite.

  "So nothing against me being a shitty cheerleader and her needing to have a few more girls to choose from?" I hated to show any type of weakness, but Jaz would be gone soon anyway.

  "No. Not at all." She reached out and gripped the top of my shoulder. "The other thing is that Brody hit on me at Mersky's last week. I didn't wanna say anything, but my roommate mentioned him flirting with her in their marketing class all year too when I brought it up. I know it seems catty, but you're too good of a person to be hanging out with that asshole. Find someone better for you. Seriously."

  I was grateful that she walked off after delivering her news. Embarrassment raced through me in deafening waves, but indecision silenced my thoughts. Brody was a flirt. What was the big deal? Had he been making out with one of them, or slept with one of them, then I would have reacted, but flirting?

  "We all flirt." I turned and walked back toward the house, ready to find him and get out of there. He would be pissy about having to leave, but I'd offer him a blow job on the way home, which would more than please him.

  Jacob moved to the side as I walked up the stairs, and didn't say a word. I was impressed and a little disappointed, but there was no way in hell I would ever show it. He was a one-night mistake that would forever live in my past where he belonged. Scary enough, it was a night I brought up a bit too often when having sex with my boyfriend. It was all I needed to push me over the edge.

  "He's over there. Looking like the ass he is." Micah Sanders stopped beside me and shook his head. "Why are you dating him again?"

  I smiled and slid my hand around the back of his waist as he wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a warm side-hug.

  "Because I'm a helpless romantic."

  "This isn't beauty and the beast, though it sure as hell feels like it." He pressed his cheek to my head and squeezed one more time before releasing me. Micah and I had ended up in at least two classes per semester together since freshman year. He was my only guy friend.

  "He's not that bad." I poked him in the side. "At least he's better than Jacob."

  "Is that a joke?" He gave me a silly look. His dark green eyes were filled with a warmth I didn't see too often.

  I reached up and rustled his mop of brown hair. "You need to cut this before basketball season starts. It'll get sweaty and you won't see a thing coming your way."

  "I could see Tasha coming from a mile off." He lifted his beer to his lips and glanced around. "She here?"

  "No. I couldn't drag her with me." I smiled and glanced down to the floor as sadness rushed in and stole the warmth of the moment. Brody had three girls dancing up against him like he was a god. He motioned for me to join him and I shook my head, unsure of what else to do.

  How much of an idiot did I look like to everyone standing around me?

  Chapter 4

  Jacob

  I turned and watched her walk back up the stairs, ignoring me as best she could. There was no way in hell I would ever rat her out to anyone about the night we shared freshman year, but fuck if I didn't think about it often. Out of all the women I'd taken to my bed in the last three years, Emily Campbell was the only one that had stained my soul in a way to leave me weak and needy.

  Where most of them would bend over sideways and offer up their asses and any other hole they thought I might want, Emily made love to me. She was soft and sweet, considerate and held me against her in a way that made me think something might become of us, but it didn't. Her embarrassment and denial of anything happening the next day was just another reminder - women were bitches and used men. All of them.

  I walked away from the crowd and pulled out my phone, dialing the number I called as much as my dad's, and put the phone to my ear. Layla Roberts answered on the first ring.

  "Hey asshole."

  I smiled. "Hey squirt. Where are you? You here and just hiding from me?"

&
nbsp; "No. I'm not coming." The deadpan tone of her voice worried me.

  "What? What the fuck do you mean, you're not coming? This is the biggest party of the year. You and Aubrey always come to this thing."

  "I know, but not tonight, okay?"

  I brushed my fingers by my lips and let out a soft sigh. "All right. You're okay though, right? You don't sound so good. I swear to God I'll kill a mother fucker if he-"

  "Hey, crazy. I'm okay. Promise." She laughed softly, and the tight knot in my chest eased up a little.

  "All right. I just wish you were here." I pursed my lips and glanced around to make sure no one heard me talking sweet and shit.

  "Is Emily coming? Is that why you're being so sensitive?"

  "No clue what you're talking about." I turned and glanced up toward the house. There were a zillion people filling up the place and covering the front and back lawn. If the cops didn't get called it would be a fucking miracle.

  "Yeah, yeah. Keep playing the part, Jacob, but I know the truth of the matter. You like her."

  "Yeah. I wanna have her babies, okay?" I walked toward the house. "You sure you're okay?"

  "Yes. I'll call if I need you, but I'm good. Just hanging out with Aubrey, all right?"

  "Okay. Stay safe, squirt." I put the phone back into my pocket and jogged up the stairs. I must have had to speak to forty people by the time I reached the edge of the living room and laid eyes on Brody. He was dancing provocatively with three girls, none of them his beautiful girlfriend.

  "Asshole," I mumbled and reached down to grab a cold beer from the bucket beside me. I walked out to the floor and handed it to him with a huge grin on my face. "Last room on the left upstairs is available. The big one like you like."

  "Thanks brother." He glanced around. "Where's Em?"

  "No clue, but she's not in here." I shrugged and turned to walk back toward the kitchen, feeling like shit for setting him up. He wasn't the right guy for my girl, but she couldn't seem to see past his perfect blond hair and bright white teeth. The idea of her taking care of him or holding him at night left me sick to my stomach. She couldn't have been that dense. There was more to the story.