AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She paused, not sure what to do as she looked between his offered fist and Ryan. “Aren’t you the one who’s been giving my boyfriend a hard time?”
Ryan made an amused sound.
“Your boyfriend made me walk naked through freezing weather,” Rush told her.
“Then you probably deserved it,” Rory shot back.
Everyone laughed, including Rush.
“You gonna leave me hanging?” he asked, shaking his fist.
“You gonna keep being an ass to Ryan?”
“Probably.”
“As long as you understand Rory is off-limits to your assholery,” Ryan rumbled.
They told me Ryan was extremely protective over his girlfriend. I even got the impression that was why the swim team was a man down, but it was something else to see it.
“I don’t hurt women,” Rush said, voice tight.
I knew he came here because something happened back at his old school, but I still didn’t know what it was. He never told me, and I never felt like it was my place to ask. Plus, If I asked him why he ran here, then it would be fair game to ask me the same. It didn’t really matter anyway because, in the couple weeks we’d been rooming together, I’d yet to see anything about him that made me think he was a bad guy.
And I have experience in that department.
Ryan nodded, and Rory smacked her fist against Rush’s. Then Rush did the same with Madison.
“My nipples be puckering in this cold-ass winter air,” Kruger exclaimed. “I need a beer and a woman to warm me up!”
“Maybe you should go find a barnacle,” Prism joked as he tugged the AirPods out of his ears to push them down into his jeans pocket.
There was a long line to get inside, but we were waved ahead of everyone.
“Elite perks,” Wes said, leaning in toward my ear.
As loud as the music was outside, it was ten times louder in here. My veins throbbed and pulsed as a heavy beat took over my body, making me feel like I was vibrating. The massive space was lit with blue neon lights, which swung around the room, creating an almost strobe effect.
Off to the front of the space was a huge platform where the DJ stood in the center behind equipment of some kind. Instead of a blue light above him, there was a red one, this one not moving and serving as more of a spotlight. He moved to the music, one hand in the air and the other on whatever was in front of him. Large headphones covered his head with one side pushed back off his ear.
Prism stepped up beside me, his gaze following mine. “He’s cool, right,” he said loud over the pulsing music.
“Yeah,” I said back because I had no idea what else to say.
Kruger bounced between us, throwing an arm over our shoulders. “Let’s drank!”
Prism laughed as Kruger steered us toward the side where there were several kegs and… Was that a plastic kiddie pool filled with red liquid?
I stared. People couldn’t possibly drink—
Yep.Yeah, that’s what they’re doing.
I watched as people grabbed a plastic cup off the table and scooped up some of that mysterious liquid to chug.
As I stood there, I watched Wes snag a cup off the stack and lean down toward the pool. Max appeared, hauling him up by the back of his neck. They yelled something at each other, something I couldn’t possibly hear, and then Wes rolled his eyes.
The next thing I knew, Wes was beside me, and Max was glowering at us both. “Don’t move,” he yelled over the music.
I watched him go back behind the pool toward some boxes I hadn’t noticed before. Someone tried to stop him, but he said something that made them look our way. The guy backed off, and Max reached into the box to pull out a clear glass bottle. On his way back to us, he snagged another plastic cup and handed it to me.
