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Halfway through our meal, I noticed Natalie sitting across the restaurant with her friend, Lizzie. A few minutes later, two guys were hovering over their table, one of them Jake and the other one, that fucker Trey. What part of the message to stay away from her was he not understanding? And Jake, too, for that matter.
More importantly, why the fuck did I care so much? Why did I feel like burying every guy who got near her? Including my friends. It was the same way yesterday when I saw Tank talking to her. I’d never felt an inkling of jealousy in my life. Never had a girlfriend, so I never had to worry about this nonsense. Never cared enough to think about it. In fact, I’d never felt jealousy over anything.
Never in football either, because I was too busy making my mark instead of worrying about someone else’s glory. Never. It seemed like a waste of time and energy. You made your own luck. If you were jealous of something, then that was on you. You were worried about the wrong thing. You weren’t focused on the big picture.
It was never my intention to drag her down a vacant aisle in the library and dry hump her until she came either. I swear my intention was taking her to lunch and being on my best behavior. But as soon as I got near her, my fucking brain apparently shut down.
All this rationalizing didn’t mean shit because my blood was boiling, and my hands clenched, imagining how satisfying it would be if I strangled the life out of Trey.
“You’re crushing that sandwich,” Nick intervened in my thoughts. “And I mean that in the literal sense.”
I glanced down, seeing my bread mangled and mayonnaise oozing all over my hand. Fuck! Dropping it, I licked my palm as I continued to keep my eyes focused on her table and saw Trey say something, causing both girls to laugh. If my asshole friends weren’t here, ready to bust my balls, I’d already be at her table. Fuck crushing sandwiches; I’d be crushing windpipes.
“This is a new color for you,” Roman said with eyebrows raised before glancing over his shoulder at Natalie’s table.
“What the hell does that mean?” I already sensed the punchline.
“Jealousy.” His lips twitched as if he were a damn comedian, which was a joke in itself. “It’s your new color,” he added.
Then Dmitri’s resting bitch face perked up as he lifted his mouth into a semblance of a smile and slammed his hand on the table. That was an overreaction if I’d ever seen one. “About time this joker lost his chill over something.”
Wiping my hands with a napkin, I forced a grin. “That’s cute. You’re projecting your irrational feelings on me.”
“Hey, if the shoe fits,” Dmitri added.
“Whatever that means,” I mumbled flippantly and glancedherway, noticing how she was beaming up at Lomas again. My right shoe dug into the floor as I was about to set off toward her table. My fucking shoe fit just fine, and I was about to put it in Lomas’s stupid ass.
Roman nudged Dmitri. “Look at him. He’s about to lose his shit in three, two—”
“Lay off him, man,” Nick interjected before finishing off the last bite of his sub.
“Ah, look at Nicky defending his buddy,” Roman pointed out.
“Shocker,” Dmitri deadpanned.
“At least someone around here does.” I fist-bumped Nick and stood up, about to make a beeline for her table because my patience had run out.
“Where are you going? Gonna talk to your non-date?” Roman asked.
Regardless of what my friends thought, I was going to shut this down once and for all. “Not my date. My project.” Finally, I saw my two teammates walk away from her table. The tightness in my chest started to ease. “Our project. We’re working on a project this semester,” I added and stalked off, hearing laughter behind me as I’m certain Roman and Dmitri got a kick out of that, but I didn’t care at the moment. They could take it however they chose. They could also go fuck themselves, for all I cared.
When I reached her table, she was gathering her trash. I swooped in and took it from her. Giving a quick greeting to Lizzie, I helped Natalie stand. “Come on.”
“Axel?”
I didn’t give her time to stall. I wanted to get out of here and take her with me. “You’re coming with me.” Turning to her friend. “See you later, Lizzie.” I caught Lizzie’s shocked face before I tugged Natalie along with me.
I only stopped to dump her trash into the restaurant trash bin, and once outside, she glanced up at me. “Where are we going?”
“To my house, and don’t ask why.”
She contemplated asking, regardless; she did, but then she closed her mouth and followed me. Well, she really didn’t have much of a choice because I was tugging her with me. Hell, I was one step away from throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her to my car because her little legs were having a hard time keeping up. That sounded a little creepy, didn’t it? I knew I was being irrational, but I couldn’t seem to help it.
“What if I had another class this afternoon?”
“You don’t.” I opened the passenger door for her. “I know you’re done with classes today.”
Her eyes widened. “How?”
