To Love a Player (5 page)

"Morning Mikey," I smiled back at him. He gave me a big bear hug, lifting me off my feet. I loved Mike, he was like the big brother I never had, even though he was only a year older than me. When he let go, I poured him a cup of coffee and asked, "Are you all ready for graduation?"

"Oh of course!" he remarked with a wide smile. Mike was graduating this year and going to Boston to work at an engineering firm. He gave me a sad look as he said, "But I'm going to miss my Molls Dolls."

I gave him a sad smile as I said, "I'm going to miss you too, but we'll still see each other. I'm hoping that I can come visit when I'm able to. I get Sundays and Mondays off, so I'll squeeze in a visit."

"I know, but you'll be with Ben." Mike sulked and I laughed. I had been good friends with Mike for a full year before dating Ben, in fact, he was the one who practically set us up. I loved Mike; he was just as much as my best friend as he was Ben's.

I nudged him and said, "I promise that I will make time for you."

He smiled, hugging me again and we heard Ben say, "Hey now, don't you be getting all hands on with my girl."

"She was my girl first," Mike teased and I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. Ben grabbed me by the waist, pulling me into him as he said, "Well she's my girl now and I'm not letting you have her back."

Mike sighed, pretending to be sad, but I knew that he wasn't. He leaned over, kissing me on the cheek and winked at me before he left the kitchen. Ben shook his head, rolling his eyes as he laughed, "He's hopeless."

I laughed, nodding my head in agreement. Ben kissed me gently on the lips before handing me a cinnamon crunch bagel from the bakery down the street. I kissed him hard on the lips to show my appreciation and he deepened the kiss, letting out a small groan. We pulled apart when we heard Mike yell, "You better not be making out in there!"

I kissed Ben on the cheek and toasted my bagel. I was going to miss my Saturday morning routines at Ben's apartment. As I waited for my bagel to pop up, I started to wonder what my life was going to be like living with Callen this summer, but then I stopped myself. I didn't need to be thinking about him. I did wonder how he was feeling this morning, though.

5

Callen

I sat in the back of our class, watching both of the doors and waiting for her to walk in. I wasn't sure what I would do when she did, but it was killing me that I hadn't been able to talk to her all week. She was either surrounded by her friends or she was with her boyfriend. I did catch her eye during those times, but it was met with annoyance or an icy stare.

My world stood still when I saw her breeze through the door talking to Chelsea, the girl that was my tutor for the last test. They were laughing about something as they ascended the stairs towards where I was sitting. I began to wonder what they were talking about. Was Chelsea telling her how I used her to get a good grade? I was surprised when Mollie didn't go to the front, but walked with Chelsea to seats just down the row from me.

Mollie's eyes flickered briefly in my direction before she sat down. I flashed a grin at her and she rolled her eyes in annoyance. Okay, she was still upset about my drunk dial last week. I rose from my seat and walked down to the one next to her, but it was occupied by a nerd who was drooling over the back of her head.

I tapped him on the shoulder and gestured towards my empty seat, giving him a hard look. He got up quickly, bumping into Mollie who turned around. She gave him a confused look until she saw me standing there, then it changed to a glare shot directly at me. I smirked at her as I sat down, draping my arm around her shoulder. My breath caught in my throat as the familiar sensation of what touching her did to me coursed its way through my body.

"Hi there," I winked at her, flashing one of my trademark grins. She gave me a look of disgust as she pushed my arm off her shoulder and turned away from me. Chelsea, sitting on the other side of her, widened her eyes in disbelief and gave me a look that meant she was now seeing me in a new light. Oh great, I was beginning to lose it.

"You can't avoid me forever you know?" I smirked at her and she turned to face me as she glared at me, challenging back "Want to bet?" The piercing look in her eyes flashed like lightning in a thunderstorm and dared me to challenge her. I clenched my mouth shut, folding my arms across my chest. She sat face forward in her seat, a winning smirk on her lips. I could sense eyes on me as whispers began to swirl about me being shut down by a girl. Mollie was definitely going to get it for this, I was thinking of breaking the no naked rule on the first night of being on the house. It was childish, I know.

During class, I noticed that she had pulled her hair up and pinned it with her pencil. She gave me a sideways glance, almost daring me to take it out. I grimmaced as I pretended to yawn, stretching my arm over to the back of her chair, letting my hand linger there. She eyed me suspiciously and I gave her a cheeky smile. My fingers had a mind of their own as they started massaging the back of her neck. The muscles relaxed under my hand and she looked over at me with a steady gaze. Slowly, I moved my hand up and pulled the pencil out of her hair, letting it cascade beautifully down to her shoulders. Her eyes narrowed at me as I grinned at her, sticking the pencil behind my ear.

After class, she rose from her seat and took her time gathering her stuff together. I could sense that she wanted to talk to me, so I waited and soon we were the only ones in the room. I reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as I pulled her towards me. Sighing softly, her gray blue eyes were tranquil as she looked deep in mine.

"Cal," she said, and my heart quickened at the sound of my nickname coming from her lips. I loved hearing her call me that. I stood up, bending low and cupped her face in my hands. I gave her a pleading look as I hovered just above her lips. She closed her eyes and her lips parted slightly as if she was waiting for me to make a move, but was still unsure if she really wanted me to. I stood there with the temptation of kissing her telling me to go for it, but a feeling buried in my soul wanted her to give me permission. The latter one is who I listened to, so I kissed her forehead and walked out of the room, leaving a bewildered look on Mollie's face as she stared after me.

I stared after him, confused by what just happened, or rather what almost happened. I reached my hand up to my cheek, still feeling the sensation of his hand there. I wanted him to kiss me, but at the same time, I didn't. It would have made things a whole lot more complicated than they already were. I slipped my bag over my shoulder and walked to my dorm room, my mind swirling with thoughts about Callen. I knew he was a notorious player, heartbreaker, but there was this side to him that was intriguing and mysterious.

I was glad that Ben was on his way to Boston with Mike and not walking with me to my dorm because I'm pretty sure he would have noticed something was up. He was still upset that I spent time with Callen last weekend when my car overheated. He didn’t like the fact that Callen called in a favor with his friend to get it fixed because it meant that I would have to owe him. We just avoided talking about the incident altogether and it was easy to not think of Callen when Ben was around. I stepped off the elevator and almost ran into Melanie, Ben's ex.

"Hi, Melanie," I said softly, trying to be friendly. I wanted to like her and vice versa because she and Ben were still good friends. She gave me a surprised look as if she didn’t expect to see me and replied, "Oh, um hi, Mollie."

"Going somewhere?" I asked, pointing to her pink duffle bag. Her brown eyes glanced at me in an unreadable expression and she shifted uncomfortably as she replied, "Uh, yeah, I'm going to Boston. I start an internship as soon as finals are done, so I'm going with Steph to go look at a loft that we found that was close by."

"Oh, well congratulations," I smiled softly at her. She gave me a surprised smile as she stepped into the elevator and said, "Thanks, Mollie."

I nodded with a smile and waved goodbye as the doors closed. It was too bad that she and I weren’t friends. Ben and Melanie had grown up together and had been friends. When they got to college, they started dating off and on for the first two years. They broke up midsummer last year and one day, Mike invited Marnie and me to a Labor Day weekend at his parents’ summer house on the Cape. I met Ben and by the end of the best weekend ever, we decided to see where our relationship was going to go.

I walked into my dorm room and tried to give a bright smile to Marnie, who was standing in our closet. Her blonde hair was in a messy bun and her short shorts were showing off her toned legs. I knew that she had just got back from working out at the gym. She whirled around and looked at me as she said, “Okay, out with it.”

“Out with what?” I asked her, giving her a questioning look. She put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows at me. I let out a deep sigh, shaking my head and rolling my eyes before wincing, “I almost kissed Callen Grey.”

“What!?!” Marnie shouted and I shushed her. Geez, the whole floor didn’t need to know! Her eyes were wide as she asked a little softer, “What?”

“I said that I almost kissed Callen Grey,” I explained again and emphasized, “Almost.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me to her bed, sitting me down. When I finished explaining what happened after class, her eyes widened and she smiled, “He likes you.”

“He wants to play me,” I said, raising an eyebrow and shaking my head. Marnie grinned as she said, “Callen can play me anytime.”

I laughed, elbowing her gently in the arm. I let out a deep sigh and laid back on her bed as I said, “I love Ben, so why do I act like a deer caught in the headlights when I’m close to Callen?”

Marnie lay down next to me, shrugging her slender shoulders as she said, “I don’t know, sweetie.”

We were silent for a few minutes. All of a sudden, Marnie sat up and said, “I almost forgot to tell you something I overheard in the bathroom.” I gave her a funny look and she asked, “Did Ben tell you anything about his trip to Boston this weekend?”

I nodded, slowly, confused about the question, “Yes, he said that they found a loft they wanted to check out. It was a little out of their price range, but they had found roommates to share it with. Why?”

“Did you ask who those roommates were?” Marnie asked, giving me a look that made me have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I shook my head and Marnie reached for my hand as she said, “I overheard Melanie talking to someone in the bathroom. She and Steph are going to be living with them. Apparently, Melanie got an internship at Premier Designs too and she was so excited because she would be living with Ben.”

“Did she say anything else?” I asked, wondering why Ben hadn’t mentioned this to me. He probably didn’t want me to freak out. Maybe the loft had four bedrooms and they would each have their own, I thought, but even I knew that I couldn't be that naive.

Marnie shook her head as she replied, “She left the bathroom after that so I didn’t hear anything else. So, Ben didn’t tell you?”

I shook my head, frowning. I reached for my phone and called his number, but it went to voicemail, so I sent him a text saying that I was just checking in and wanted him to call me when he had a chance. It needed to be normal, not suspicious. I didn’t want to seem like a jealous girlfriend, but I was getting tired of going straight to voicemail. However, his reaction to seeing me with Callen last weekend didn't make sense, but yet he is in Boston with his ex-girlfriend.

Sighing, I set my phone down and lay back on Marnie’s bed. I hated the thoughts in my head that were beginning to eat their way into my heart. Ben not answering his phone only swirled those thoughts around and it was giving me an uneasy feeling. I needed something to preoccupy my mind, so I looked at Marnie, who was smiling at me. I knew we were on the same wavelength; it was scary how often that happened.

“We are going out tonight!” Marnie said, standing and heading over to our closet to pull out our best club outfits. I knew that this was what I needed.

“Oh man, this is the place to be tonight!” my best friend Brock shouted over the noise of the club. There were ladies everywhere and we were getting some “come hither” looks thrown in our direction. I threw back another shot and waved at the bartender for two more. I just had to get those two gray blue eyes out of my mind; they were starting to drive me crazy. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Every time I closed my eyes, there she was staring back at me and not even doing it in a sexy way--just a serious warm stare. It was really getting to me that I had grown to like that. It was almost like she was looking into my soul. It was messing up my plan.

Just then Brock nudges my arm as he says, “Oh hello, future Mrs. Miller.” I turned to look in the direction he was looking and there she was looking incredibly sexy. Her sparkling silver halter top had a plunging neckline so low that I wanted to wrap her in a blanket so the guys in the place would stop lusting after her. I watched as she turned around, revealing nothing but the silky, creamy skin of her back.  Her skinny jeans were like a second skin on her ass. Her hair was pinned to one side with soft waves cascading over her shoulder.

When her eyes met mine, I quickly turned around and downed another shot. Great, of all the places she could go to, she had to come here. Brock smirked at me as he said, “I call dibs on the brunette, and you can have her hot friend. You have a thing for blondes.”

“She has a boyfriend,” I muttered, watching her and her hot friend move to the center of the dance floor. Brock gave me a questioning look and I said, “She goes to my school and she’s going to be my sister’s nanny.”

“She can be my nanny,” Brock said suggestively. “I have a toddler in my pants that I need her to take care of.”

I punched him on the shoulder as I said, “Please don’t say that, ever, and especially not to her.” Brock shrugged, rolling his eyes as we watched her and her friend dance suggestively together, oblivious to the pack of guys who were drooling on the sidelines. I watched as she shoved off a guy who finally broke free from the pack. I clenched my jaw when he came at her again, only to be denied once more. He apparently didn't get the message that she wasn't interested. When I saw him edge towards her again, I pushed off the bar, fighting my way through the crowd.

The guy was about to grab her waist from behind when I gripped his arm and warned, “If you touch my girl one more time, I’m going to rip out your balls through your ass.” The guy smirked at me, clearly not thinking that I was serious and I glared at him as I growled, “Try me.”

He put his hands up in surrender, backing away as I shoved him back. Turning, I saw Mollie giving me a grateful smile and I tried not to look down her shirt. She had a locket strategically placed in her cleavage that made it hard not to follow it down. I groaned internally as I closed my eyes to stop them from betraying me. I felt a familiar spark on my arm, so I opened my eyes and looked down at her. She leaned in close and said, “Thank you for that.”