AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She laughed and nodded, then carefully walked down the bar toward Wystan. I ducked to the edge of the dance floor to spy on the chaos in progress. She tipped his head back and poured booze into his mouth while the guys lost their minds and shouted and laughed.
Wystan almost fell off his stool when she was done, and I grinned. There, rotten deed done for the night. I was bored and out of cash, so I stood around for a while watching the guys rather than joining them, which made me feel creepy. I was about ready to go home when the strangest thing happened. Wystan stood up and wobbled out toward the dance floor, and the rest of the team followed. I shook my head as they found a spot and started to move. Some of them weren’t bad, but they were mostly laughing at each other and not trying to be sexy.
Something drew me to Wystan. He was clearly drunk. Even from here he appeared flushed and sweaty. He stumbled over to a wall and leaned against it with his head down, and a tall man with a snooty smile came up to him.
My heart lurched. Fuck, I’d wanted Wystan to have a hangover tomorrow, but I didn’t actually want anything bad to happen to him, and that guy was twice his size. My gut churned as I watched the man say something to Wystan, and Wystan nodded, then started moving along with his hand in the man’s.
I bit my lip and smacked a hand to my face hard enough that it stung. Fuck, what if I didn’t stop this and something bad happened to Wy? Would I get blamed? I should. Goddamn it. I was used to taking care of the guys on the team, being the one who looked out for them, and even though I’d started this and fucking hated Wy, I couldn’t stand the idea that something awful might happen to him. I charged after Wy and the man and reached them just as they made it outside onto the sidewalk.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing the stranger’s arm. He swung around and glared.
“What?” the guy snapped.
“He lives with me,” I said, waving a hand at Wy, who was sort of staring at the ground as if he was going to lose the booze in his stomach. He rubbed his gut with one hand and didn’t seem to notice the discussion.
“So?” The guy widened his eyes at me. “He said he wanted to go home with me.”
“That isn’t happening. He’s drunk.” I glared at the stranger, then snagged Wy’s hand and dragged him against my side.
Wy began to snicker. “Hey!” he said, patting my chest. His fingers grazed my nipple under my shirt, and I bit the inside of my bottom lip as I stared down at him. “Your dad will be so pissed off if you leave me here. He likes me. You don’t, but he does. Maybe better than you,” he singsonged before he rested his forehead against my shoulder. Fuck, I should’ve let him go with this guy, but I couldn’t. I just fucking couldn’t.
“Fuck off,” I snarled at the man.
The guy huffed and beelined toward the entrance of Black Out, but Barnes made him go to the back of the line, and he stood there with his arms crossed, scowling at us.
“I should’ve let that guy take you. He would’ve already been plowing your ass by now.” I shook Wy hard. “Don’t you know what he wanted with you?”
Wy walked his fingers up my chest, then slapped my face lightly, and I nearly shoved him to the ground. “That isn’t your business.” He smirked at me, and on anyone else the expression would’ve been adorable. As it was, I was very close to walking away from him.
With a hum, I hoisted him closer as his knees wobbled.
He rested his cheek on my chest, snuggling in like he thought I was the world’s best teddy bear. “You’re so grumpy. You have a great life. What d’you have to be mad about?” he asked, and I shook him again.
“Did you drive?” I demanded.
“I don’t have a car,” he said with a sweet, dreamy smile.
“Fuck, I knew that.”
“You’re pissy for a little rich boy. You have a car.”
Growling, I dragged him toward the parking garage where I’d ended up because all the street parking was ridiculous tonight. It was a nightmare walking with Wy, and halfway there I gave up and hoisted him into my arms bridal style, which had him laughing like an asshole. When I finally got him to my car, instead of putting him in the passenger side, I pulled off an amazing balancing act and opened the back door, then tossed him in across the back seat. I thought maybe he clonked his head on the door on the other side, but he only snuggled in and didn’t say a word about it one way or the other.
Once we were back at my house, trying to wrangle Wy inside reminded me of the time I’d gone big-game fishing with Dad. When we’d caught a swordfish, it had flopped and fought on the deck and there was no way to contain it—and that was exactly how Wy moved. As soon as I had him inside the front door, I admitted defeat and scooped him up again. Even though he wasn’t exactly light, he was smaller than me, and I made it work.
“Stop moving or I’m going to drop you on your head on the stairs,” I threatened as we were making our way toward the second floor. Once I was upstairs, I turned toward the room Dad had given him.
“Hey!” Wy said, slapping my chest. It was as if he’d been asleep and had just woken up. I had no choice but to set him on his feet or we would both fall, but the second I put him down, he almost crashed to the floor anyway. I caught him around the waist to keep him standing. “You chased off that guy!” He scowled at me. “I liked his shirt.”
“Is he your type?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. I couldn’t help it. The man had obviously been a sleaze, but then again, I’d been the one to pay for the booze that put Wy over the edge into too fucking drunk, so what did that make me? Anger rolled through me because not only did Wy take my spot as captain, now he was making me a shittier person. I wanted him to run away, though, and if he showed up tomorrow puking—or worse, didn’t show at all—maybe Coach Hill would realize he’d fucked up by letting Wy be voted on to begin with.
Wy sniffed like a prissy bitch and somehow it had me grinning. “I’m a fan of nice guys, and he was verynice. He asked if I was okay. The total opposite of you.”
“I drove your drunk ass home,” I snarked.
He shook his head as if he didn’t hear me.
All at once, I was offended, and I wasn’t sure why, because he was drunk and hadn’t been making much sense this whole time, but I was taking this bullshit to heart.
