My Brother's Best Friend (Crazy in Love Book 1) (11 page)

“You know that there defense can’t handle your offensive plays. You’re ready for them, Colin. You’re only feeling nerves cause its the first game. Please don’t let it get to you. Even if you mess up this one, it’s not the end of the world.”

Aghast, I look at her. “Reagan, baby, you know how important this first game is for me. I need this. The scouts need to see me perform under pressure, or they know I won’t be able to handle playing for a major university. I thought you knew this.”

She sighs and explains, “I do know that it’s important. But you still hadn’t decided a few weeks ago whether you wanted to pursue a football career or become a doctor. You’re not just a dumb jock. You’ve got a future either way. You’re second in our class, Colin. And that’s because you don’t do any extra credit assignments. If you did, you know you’d be way ahead of Susan Morris who’s never gone to a social event. Keep your choices open, don’t force yourself to decide now.”

I get up and start to slide my clothes back on as I tell her, “I decided that I want to pursue a football career. You don’t date a super model and expect to keep her being upper middle class and working eighty hours a week. I want to be able to give you your dream house and take you on exotic vacations. I can do that if I can make it with football. I choose you everytime.”

Looking disappointed, Reagan gets in my face and says adamantly, “I don’t care how much money you make, Colin. I only want you to be happy and love what you do. If that’s playing football, fine, but please, don’t do this for me. I want you to be happy and enjoy your job. I promise you that happiness can not be bought by a nice house or vacations. Those things don’t matter. Love means way more than those things ever can. My family has always had money but has never been happy. Please know that I’d be with you whether you were famous or not. After years of us being together, I’d hope you already know that.”

Doubtfully, I look at her before explaining, “I’m doing this for me still, Reagan. I love football, and if I can get paid to play it, I want to.” That’s the truth, but I also know how beautiful she is, and I need every advantage to keep her by my side. I know that they’ll always be men that want to take her away from me. We’re dealing with Decker right now, and Blaine’s been in love with her since before we even got together.

After we get dressed and try to casually stroll back down the hall, I tell her, “Thanks, baby, you don’t know how much I needed that.” She winks at me and says, “I think I do cause I needed that too. See you at lunch.”

The next two classes are two damn long, and Brittany and Eva try to flirt with me which pisses me off. They’re supposed to be close friends with Reagan but both of them are bitches. I can tell Reagan knows she doesn’t have good friends here at Carmen Beach, and it bothers her. But I don’t know what else she can do. Anyone that would make a good friend is too intimidated by her to make an effort.

But I’ve told her that her friends attempt to flirt with me, and she tries to shrug it off. I know it hurts her though. Anna has become a good friend to her though, and I’ve tried to encourage that despite the fact that Decker is her stepbrother. I want my girl to have a friend that loves her other than me, Wallace, or Blaine.

I shake off Eva trying to touch my arm for the tenth damn time and walk out the class and right into Stanton. “Damn, man, you’re not messing around today. Feeling the pressure about the game tonight, huh? Do you need anything that might help you relax a little.” Annoyed, I look at my friend and ask him, “Are you now to the point of not just taking drugs but dealing them?”

He shakes his head adamantly, “Nah, man, I was trying to help you out. I’m not dealing or anything.” Frustrated, I push by him. “I want to get to my girl so I can relax for a little bit, Stanton.” Helpfully, he tells me, “She’s already got your and her food at the table. We got out early so Reagan tried to get everything set up for you. You’re damn lucky.” I grin at that, “Don’t I know it. She’s the sweetest thing in the world.” He nods in agreement and adds, “It doesn’t hurt that she’s alright to look at too.”

I chuckle as I walk away and decide not to even put my books up before going to her. I walk into the cafeteria and glance at our table where she’s sitting and talking to Blaine and her brother. Blaine’s never gotten over how he feels, but he seems to understand that it’s not gonna happen for him and has left us alone.

I can’t be angry at him for how he feels about her, only when he acts like a dick about it, which he normally doesn’t. They’re laughing over a story about how Anna took Wallace to her house and he barely fit in it. He’s finishing, “I felt like a giant that took up the whole damn room. I kept waiting for her foster parents to ask me to leave, but they didn’t. The chairs were the smallest I’d ever seen, and when I sat on one, I prayed that it wouldn’t collapse under me.”

They’re all chuckling about it together when I sneak up behind Reagan and turn her towards me for a quick kiss. “Hey, baby, I missed you.” She laughs and says, “Wow, was calculus that long?” “Yeah, it felt like forever.”

Eva and Brittany walk up to the table now. “Hey, guys and Reagan, I love your dress. You look absolutely gorgeous in red.” Reagan says thank you sweetly and gives them both a friendly smile while all I want to do is ask them to leave the table. Reagan shouldn’t even have to breathe the same air as these two bitches, but I don’t want her to feel any worse by trying to explain to her again how bad they flirt. I know that Reagan would try to pretend it didn’t matter, but it hurts her to hear it. And I don’t want that.

I keep my mouth shut and say hi to both of them. Harrison, Stanton, and Laurel join us too. I pull Reagan on to my lap, and we whisper to each other back and forth as everyone talks loudly around us. Sometimes, we’d both be happier at a table by ourselves. But we put up with the crowd cause most of them are our friends or pretending to be.

Chapter 7

Palmer

My poor Colin still looks tense as the football team takes the field. I’m grateful that since I’m on the cheerleading team, I get to be right here on the field with him and Wallace. But sometimes it’s hard to be so close when one of them gets hurt or like now is dealing with nerves that I can’t help him with.

I did everything I could today to keep him distracted and relaxed, but I couldn’t have sex with him between every class. I even wore my red dress that I’d been saving for a special occasion, and he’d be distracted for a little while but not long.

Feeling anxious for him, I’m praying that when he gets out on field all the nerves will go, and he’ll be his usual controlled self as he quarterbacks the game. Our eyes meet as he takes the field, and I start a cheer as Brittany signals us.

As I’m cheering, he gets in the huddle and calls the play. His voice sounds loud and confident. When he catches the ball in his hands, he dodges several tackles and lines up to make a long pass which a fast junior, Jackson Dawdry, smoothly catches. I breathe deeply in relief and study Colin’s gorgeous face as it lights up with a cocky grin. He gained thirty yards on the first play, and I can tell he’s focused and not too tight for this game.

At halftime, Carmen Beach is up 26-7. Wallace is yelling at his defense for letting Ryder high score on them, and Colin is running off the field straight to me. He lifts me into his arms and pushes me against the wall behind me.

Shocked, I look at him, and he kisses me sweetly before gently biting my lip. I gasp and my body responds swiftly to his kisses. Even sweaty, he’s so gorgeous and muscled as I grip on to his shoulders and arms as he doesn’t stop his powerful assault on me.

Finally, I become aware of the crowd that must be watching us make out like we’re alone, and I pull back reluctantly. Gasping for air, I force out, “Colin, you’ve got to go see what your coach says for half-time. I’m so proud of you.  You look so confident and sexy out there.”

His deep eyes look straight into mine before he says, “Couldn’t do any of this without you, baby. You kept me calm all day, and my nerves went away as soon as I glanced over and saw you cheering for me. You’ve made all this possible.”

His love is so intense that I have to look away. Sometimes, he can overwhelm me with how strongly he shows his emotions. I was raised to hide and pretend not to have any weakness, but he owns his in front of me. And I love it but don’t know how to handle it. I want to show him that I feel the exact same, but I’ve never been able to look at him and let the love I feel show through me.

Feeling and demonstrating pleasure comes easy, but the emotions that makes me feel truly vulnerable are still too hard to own or express. I tell him that I love him, and I do. But I don’t know if he ever really believes it. I know that it can sound wooden and unemotional, and I think that’s part of the problem of him feeling uncertain about Decker and our future. But I do love him, more than anything else in the world. He’s the sexiest and kindest guy I’ve ever met.

“Baby, I lost you, but I’ve got to go see what Coach has planned for the second half. But I needed you more than I needed him when I came off the field.” I let out a giggle and tell him teasingly, “Maybe don’t tell him that. Blame it on me. I delayed you.”

He chuckles and says, “I don’t think he’ll believe that if he caught the kiss, but I’ll give it a try and throw you under the bus.” He turns and jogs to the locker room, and I turn to the rest of the cheer team. Most are following my boyfriend with envious eyes that piss me off. Colin gets so jealous of how guys watch me, but I deal with the same from the girls. His sexy body and gorgeous face with sculpted cheekbones and long lashes make all my friends bitchy with envy.

At least some of the guys are loyal to him and don’t flirt with me. Not one girl at Carmen could I trust not to make a move on Colin. They all want him and hate me for having him. Most days, I deal with it and am okay. But tonight, I wish that there was at least one girl that I could trust not to stab me in the back. I wish I could let my guard down with someone other than my boyfriend or brother.

Brittany saunters over to me, “Colin is so freaking hot, Reagan, you’re such a lucky bitch!” I glare at her, “We’re both lucky to have what we do. We love each other.” She smiles unrepentantly at me before adding, “Don’t I know it. What I wouldn’t have done to make Wallace love me like Colin does you. But your brother wanted to dick around with every girl that smiled at him.”

Sweetly smiling back at her, I reply, “I don’t think he was the only one who was hooking up with other people. I think he was waiting for someone he could be serious about that wanted him more than playing games. He seems so happy with Anna now.”

Entertained now, I was watching Brittany strive to keep herself under control and not shriek at me as she did other people that piss her off. She knew she didn’t want to take me on, but she hated me for bringing up Anna.

“I think Anna seems sweet and all, but I don’t think she’ll have enough backbone or fire to handle a man like Wallace. He’s a man that needs a lot from his women.”

“If you’re referring to Wallace’s sexual preference, I’d prefer to not know. And Anna’s more of a lady that the rest of you, she hasn’t slept with him yet.”

Thankfully, it was time to do the halftime show, so we didn’t finish the rest of our passive aggressive argument. I couldn’t stand Brittany, but she’d been one of the first girls to befriend me when I first came to this school in the eighth grade. It didn’t even seem worth the effort to try to develop other female friendships my senior year when I had Colin and Wallace at school, and Anna to hang out with afterwards.

We finished our halftime show, and the boys came back out to the field. I watched nervously in the third quarter, but Colin threw two touchdowns and ran one in. They were so far ahead in the fourth that the Coach pulled Colin and Wallace out and put freshman in to finish out the game.

Afterwards, I walked out with Colin and Wallace to the cars where we were headed to Blaine’s for a huge party. As I was climbing into Wallace’s Range Rover, Brittany asked, “Hey, Reagan, do you think Eva and I could hitch a ride. We can’t find Stanton, and we were supposed to ride with him to the party.”

“Bullshit,” Colin says under his breath. Pulled in two directions, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want them to ride with us, but I also wasn’t wanting to piss Brittany even more before the party even started.

Wallace walks back over to his car, he’d been talking to Blaine. Bluntly, he asks Brittany, “What do you want?” Sexily, she leans in and flashes some cleavage before saying, “I was in the middle of asking Reagan if we could hitch a ride to the party with you, Wallace.”

Wallace shakes his head and says shortly, “We’ve got to go pick Anna up from work before heading to Blaine’s. You’re going to have to find another ride, and I’d do it fast. A lot of people have already left now.” He points to the parking lot that has a lot less cars than it did five minutes ago.

Brittany and Eva hustle off in a flustered hurry to try to find a way to the party while Wallace peels out of there in a hurry. “Man, what’s the damn rush all the sudden?” Colin asks as I cling on to him to steady myself as Wallace takes the turns hard.

“Anna just got off work, and I don’t want her waiting outside in the dark for me. It’s dangerous for her at this time of night to be outside alone, but she never listens to me about this shit. So I’m trying to get there as fast as I can.”

Colin and I glance at each other, and I smile at him in the dark at my rough brother’s attitude about his girlfriend. He’s sweeter and more thoughtful with her than I’ve ever seen him be. He’s only ever thought about me like that before, but I love that he feels this protective of Anna.

We get to the street she works on and see her hair shining brightly in the dark. Mentally, I agree with my brother that this isn’t the safest place for her to be at night. I know that she insists on still working here though even with my brother offering to pay all her bills for her. She says she like it. But I know that he would’ve loved to have her at the game tonight if he could’ve.

She hops in the front seat and gives him a soft kiss on the cheek before turning to us. “Hey, how was the game?” Wallace gives her a cocky look and says, “Was there any doubt? We won because of the defense, of course.”

Colin leans up and smacks Wallace on the head before saying, “I don’t think the score board will back you up there, buddy. The defense doesn’t put points on the board.” Wallace shoots back, “But it does keep points from getting there, doesn’t it?”

I interrupt the game talk and ask Anna, “Never mind them, how was your night, Anna?” “It was good,” she answers, “but I was counting down the minutes till Wallace was coming to pick me up.” Wallace reaches over and ruffles her blond curls affectionately. “I was counting too, sweetheart.”

Colin and I look at each other in confusion. Even after being around them for weeks, it’s strange to watch Wallace act so affectionately with anyone. He’s completely different with Anna then anybody else. She brings out a softer side that I never knew was there. Some of me is frustrated that it looks so easy for him, but it feels so hard for me to do the same with Colin.

Colin pulls me completely on his lap and starts drawing little circles on my leg which can drive me crazy. Wallace asks, “Who’s ready to take some shots down tonight.” Anna and I say in unison, “We are” and Colin adds a, “Hell yeah.”

I look over at him in surprise. He’s not normally a bigger drinker, but he shrugs at me and explains, ‘It was a stressful week, and it’s our senior year. I want to enjoy it. Besides the fact that I’m not nervous about someone trying to take advantage of you at Blaine’s house, I’m there and so is Wallace and Blaine. There are too many people looking out for you at this kind of party.”

Excited to get there, now that I know Colin is going to drink. We pull in, and I pull Colin out of the car quickly. “What’s the hurry, baby?” he asks as I pull him inside. “It’s time for us to drink, and I wanted to give Wallace some time to work his magic and maybe get a kiss from Anna in privacy.”

Colin laughs in understanding as I lead him towards the bar where Stanton is overseeing the drinks. “Hey, beautiful and the douchebag that accused me of dealing drugs, how’s it going?” Surprised, I ask Colin, “Did you really ask Stanton if he was dealing.” Looking embarrassed, Colin explains, “He does recreationally use, and he asked me if I needed anything. I was nervous, okay.” He turns to Stanton, “Sorry, man, I was on edge today.”

Stanton shrugs it off like he does everything and asks, “Well, what can I do for the two of you tonight? You already have an assigned room at Blaine’s, right?” Giggling, I say, “Yes, we do, not that it’s any of your business. But right now, all we need is for you to line up some shots for me and my man here. We’ll meet in the middle.”

Stanton quickly lines up ten shots, and Colin and I take five down each. I can feel the effect of the alcohol already, and I look at Colin and ask, “Dance?” He nods, and we walk to the middle of the dance floor.

Dancing is one of my favorite things, and Colin is always willing to dance with me. A fast song comes on, and I lean and rub against him to the beat. But he doesn’t complain, just moves with me as I tease him until I’ve made both of hot and ready to find our room.

As I wrap one leg around his back and lean my back away to the rhythm of the music, he pulls me back into him and says, “I’m so hard that it hurts, baby. And you keep me in this painful state constantly. Do you need to know I want you every damn second of the day? Cause I do.”

His voice is almost pleading now, and I bring my lips right in front of his before asking, “But you’re not saying I leave you in pain, are you, Colin? I’m always willing to help take the edge off that I created. You know that.”

As his eyes darken even more with desire, I bring my hand up and caress him outside of his pants before continuing, “All you ever have to do is tell me when you’ve had enough. You know you’ve got the power right now to get me to go to our room.”

He glares at me but his eyes glisten with appreciation at the same time. His eyes go from my lips to my cleavage before meeting my eyes. In a deep but quiet voice, he says, “All you need to hear is that I’ve had enough. Well, I’ve had enough right now. Your body, lips, and voice are enough for me every fucking time. I need you, Reagan. I want you right now.”

Leaning in, I lick his neck with my tongue before saying in his ear, “Then take me. I’m all yours, Colin.” Without wasting another second, he picks me up and starts walking towards the stairs. I see people follow us with their eyes before talking amongst themselves, but I can’t bring myself to care. Colin’s the quarterback, and I’m a Hall.

Wallace and I decided a long time ago to not pay attention to what anyone else thought. When we were young and controlled by our father, we’d been so concerned every second about what he thought. When my grandmother finally got custody of us, we agreed to not let what anyone else thought control our actions. We did what we want when we wanted and didn’t worry about the rest.

So screw whoever talked about what I was going to do with my boyfriend. I was doing what I wanted.