Resist Me

Chapter 6

Lincoln

Staring down at the bottle in my hand, I second-guessed bringing it to him. Third-guessed, actually. Drinking to drown the pain, both emotional and physical, was never a good move, but who was I to talk? If he wanted to get into that habit, he could go right ahead.

As I walked into Marshall Hall, I grimaced. It smelled like dudes in here. My frat house wasn’t much better a lot of the time but in general, it was kept clean. If you ventured into one of the guys’ rooms, it was a different story.

I shuddered at the thought. It was physically impossible for me to live like that. Most of the time, I couldn’t even wait until the trash was full to take it out. I was sensitive to smells and hated when things were a mess. It would gnaw at me like it was consuming my skin until I took care of it. Aside from the solitude, it was one of the reasons I had my own apartment.

Living in a dorm sounded like a nightmare. I didn’t even like being here for a few minutes.

West sent me a single text with his dorm number earlier, so I walked through the hall, which was blessedly empty, and scanned the labels. When I reached the right one, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure why, but I struggled to knock on that door.

Shaking my head, I rapped on it three times. There was a high-pitched giggle from inside, followed by West’s laugh. The thought of what he was getting up to made my nose wrinkle. He was injured pretty badly, but he chose to get drunk and hook up.

Maybe it wasn’t a hookup. I had no idea if West was dating anybody. He brushed off the cheerleaders and other fans who tried to hit on him. The only person I’d seen him be remotely romantic with was Kai, but they just had a weird bromance. Really weird. West kissed him at the beginning of the season to ward off Kasey’s advances.

The door opened, revealing a shirtless West with his pants unbuttoned. He leaned his arm against the doorframe and unabashedly let his eyes travel the length of my body.

“Lincoln,” he purred. “I take it you have my product.”

When I raised a brow, he burst into laughter. My gaze moved over his shoulder. One of the cheerleaders, Jessi, was lounging on the bed in only her bra and underwear. She flashed me a smile, which I answered with a scowl.

“Here.” I held the bottle out to him impatiently.

He swiped it and examined the thing as if he needed to make sure it was legit.

“You’re not gonna turn me in for buying alcohol for a child, right?” I joked.

Shrugging his mouth, he met my eyes. “I hadn’t thought about it until now.” When I pursed my lips, he laughed. “Kidding. I hate your existence, but I’m not gonna sabotage you like an asshole.”

I looked at his side where he’d been hit by Drake. The skin was darkening across a concerningly large area and I imagined it hurt like hell. From the smell of weed in his room, I assumed he’d already started to self-medicate.

“Well, have fun with that,” I said before I turned around. He caught my arm and I resisted the urge to shake him off.

“Thanks.”

I looked at him, unable to hide my surprise. “It’s nothing.”

“I have manners and shit, Linc.”

“Right, I’m sure you do. ”

Jessi appeared in the doorway and bit her lip. “So, is Linc joining us?”

For the love of god, I hoped somebody came along and killed me.

“No,” I replied immediately.

She jutted out her lip. “But we’re celebrating.”

“Let’s just say you aren’t my type.”

“Oh my god. I heard you were into guys. That sucks.”

West’s lighthearted demeanor had shifted into something akin to annoyance. “Why would you say something like that?”

“Cause he’s in the top five guys we’d sleep with on the team. Have you ever tried it, Linc?”

“The cheerleaders vote on fuckability?” West asked, ignoring the question directed at me.

“Well, yeah. You’re number two.”

If she meant it as a compliment, West must’ve missed the memo. He twisted the cap on the vodka and took a swig.

“Who are the rest?”

“Uh…” She looked a little uncomfortable as she shifted in the doorway. “Linc, Kai, you, Matt, and Dean.”

“Kai is gay.”

“Also unfortunate.”

Shaking his head, he let out a carefully controlled breath. “Get out of my room.”

Her eyes widened. “What? Why? I thought we were…”

“You think a man’s sexuality is unfortunate because you want to fuck him. So, no, we’re not.”

I watched Jessi’s expression go from shocked to annoyed. West leaned back against the wall across from his room and made a gesture for her to get moving. With a huff, she disappeared inside.

“I don’t need you to defend my honor,” I pointed out. “A lot of people have tried to fuck me, believe it or not.”

“It’s not about you. It’s the principle of it. Men who see women as sex objects or who fetishize lesbians are gross. It’s the same thing.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised considering his best friend was gay. There was something respectable about what he’d just done. He was still an annoying shithead, but now there was one thing I didn’t absolutely despise about him. Just one, though .

Jessi appeared again, fully clothed and breathing heavily. She shot me a glare as if it was my fault she’d pissed off West. I winked at her, which just made her face turn red before she marched away.

“Well,” West said, drawing my attention back to him. “Time to lose myself to my demons and have a rendezvous with an old friend, my left hand.”

With my nose wrinkled in disgust, I started walking down the hall. “See ya.”

I pulled out my phone to check the time, then swore. I was late. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep. Tomorrow, when my groceries got delivered, I’d dive face-first into that ridiculous chocolate ganache cake I ordered. I refused to feel guilty about it.

It only took me a few minutes to reach the parking lot, but Drake already looked annoyed. He was leaning against my motorcycle, which was enough to make me quicken my pace. When he saw me, he straightened and opened his mouth. He didn’t have a chance to speak before I landed a punch to his jaw that immediately made my knuckles ache.

“What the hell?” he roared, cradling his face with one hand.

“Yeah, that’s how I feel too. What the hell was that about? You nearly put him in the hospital.”

“You bitched about hating the guy. I was doing you a favor.”

“A favor,” I scoffed. “I told you I wasn’t playing and vented my frustrations. I never told you to assault him. Why would you do that?”

Drake shrugged without an ounce of remorse. “I underestimated how hard I hit him. You wanted him to be knocked down a peg and that’s what you got, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“Of course it matters,” I hissed. “I wanted him to knock himself down a peg. For fuck’s sake, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a broken rib. You should’ve been flagged for that hit.”

“Shit happens, man.”

“Shit happens? Sure. It has nothing to do with your attempts to fuck me every time we play against each other. You think I’ll get on my knees and thank you, Drake?”

He ground his teeth together, then looked away from me. “My team lost and I need a drink. You wanna go?”

I scoffed and shook my head. “Find someone else to hang out with. ”

“Shame you won’t be playing next season, Porter.”

“Get the hell out of my sight.”

He chuckled and sauntered into the darkness like the ugly cockroach that he was, leaving me there to ponder the decisions I’d made. I’d been petty by taking myself out of the game, sure, but it was meant to be harmless, overall. It wouldn’t be the first time Drake was flagged for unnecessary roughness, but I didn’t think he’d go for the jugular just because I’d bitched about West. That’s what I got for trying to be social.

Whatever. It didn’t really matter. We were done with football and for the first time in a while, I could have some peace.

I swung my leg over my bike and pressed the ignition. It roared to life underneath me, sending a rush of excitement down my spine. This never failed to make me feel better.

“Linc!”

God damnit. I considered pretending not to hear him and speeding off, but I made the mistake of looking up and meeting his eyes.

Kai jogged toward me with a smile on his face. He wasn’t overly bubbly most of the time, but he was a very positive person from what I’d experienced. He had darkness, though. I’d come across him crying on the field one time. Nobody else was there until I decided to get in some practice and I’d found him throwing a ball. He’d sent it flying with a strength that came from somewhere raw and deep, then fell to his knees and dropped his face into his hands. When I asked him what was wrong, he didn’t tell me, but he also didn’t appear embarrassed to be found like that, which made me like him more. He was one of the most authentic people I’d ever met.

With a sigh, I cut the engine and leaned my elbows on the handlebars. “What’s up, Kai?”

He looked at the bike appreciatively. “You were supposed to give me a ride.”

My cheeks heated and I hoped it was too dark for him to notice. From the glint in his eyes, I knew I wasn’t so lucky. I’d been interested in him before and almost dipped my toe in, but with how close he was with West, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, so I never pulled the trigger on asking him out .

Kai was attractive- ridiculously so- in a dark and mysterious kind of way, even though his personality didn’t match the brooding anti-hero he looked like. Even though he’d seemed to return my interest, I knew that West’s rivalry with me would've stopped him from pursuing anything too, so it was a wash on both sides.

I was happy to just be casual acquaintances, plus he had a boyfriend he seemed obsessed with now, so good for him. I was lucky if I managed to go on a date without hating the person within the first five minutes. Maybe it was time for me to realize that was a ‘me problem.’

“Getting hit by a jealous boyfriend isn’t my idea of a good time,” I joked.

He laughed. “Touche, but I’m the feral one, not Sen.”

“I believe it.”

“So, we’re moving on Saturday,” he began. “We don’t have a hell of a lot of stuff yet but hey, college life, right?”

“Right.”

“We want to do a sort of housewarming thing crossed with a last hurrah with the team. It’s last minute, but all of this has been super quick. Think you can make it?”

I took a moment to consider it. My plans had consisted of spending the weekend alone, but he was right. Doing something with the team was a good idea considering I’d spent the last four years working with a lot of them.

“I guess I can put aside my misanthropic tendencies for you. Just this once, though.”

“Awesome.” His smile wavered and he rolled his lip between his teeth for a moment. “I know West starts shit with you, but do you think you can just ignore him or something? I’ll talk to him, but he’s not exactly easy to manage.”

“Ignoring him makes him try harder,” I pointed out.

“Shit, you’re right.”

Watching him run his hand through his hair, I sighed. “I’ll be as amicable as possible. Maybe he’ll give me a break since I bought him that booze.”

Kai’s lips parted in surprise. “He’s drinking right now?”

“Uh, I assume so. Is that a bad thing? ”

“No, it’s fine.” He waved a dismissive hand, but the look in his eyes remained. “I’ll shoot you the address.”

I lifted my fingers off the handle in a wave as he started walking backward. A moment later, he turned and headed in the direction of Marshall Hall. The tight set to his shoulders told me that things weren’t as fine as he claimed they were.

It must’ve sucked to have West as his problem. I had a feeling they weren’t going to have a great night.

I started the bike again and pulled out of the parking spot before anyone else could come along and rope me into social situations.