Ruthless Heart Read online

  As I sat under my tree on the quad at lunchtime, I waited patiently for Mia. The tree was giving me shade from the sun, and it was a hot one today, which is why I was grateful I was wearing a strappy tank top and the lightest pair of shorts I could find. Nice respectable length, not short shorts like I had seen some girls wearing, while wishing I had their confidence.

  With my head leaning back against the tree, I watched the students amble past, the heat making us all lethargic and sticky. My eyes dropped shut, and I think I dozed off a little, jarring awake when a shadow appeared over me and my foot was nudged.

  Wade and Mia grinned down at me as Mia waved a can of Coke in front of me. I could see the condensation running down the side of the can, and my mouth watered at the thought of the coolness.

  “I think I fell asleep,” I admitted as I took the drink and pushed my sunglasses on top of my hair.

  “You slept badly last night?” Mia asked me as she uncovered her salad box.

  Nodding, I took a deep drink of the cold soda. “And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this lunchtime, Mr Wade Gordon?”

  “Bea’s at some sewing thing, some event her department’s involved in. Only time I’m that close to a needle is either on the record player or the tattoo gun, know what I’m saying?”

  “I thought the secret to a happy relationship was doing what your partner wanted, even if you didn’t want to?” I teased him lightly as I uncovered my own lunch that Mia had bought me.

  “Tell that to my mom and dad,” Wade snorted. “Mom did everything dad wanted right up to the day he wanted his secretary more than mom and left us.”

  Mia raised her eyebrows in surprise at Wade’s outburst but said nothing.

  Looking over at me, he grinned. “Your favourite Saint is the talk of the campus,” he said before biting into his sandwich. “And I heard that the fact everyone is talking about it is only making him more pissed off.”

  Mia dropped her fork as she clapped her hands excitedly. “Oooh, and I heard that Friday is why he isn’t playing.” She looked between us both with a grin, knowing she was telling us new information. “So they’re saying he wasn’t injured, he was suspended.”

  “Suspended?” I asked her, aware that I was leaning forward eager to hear more. “For what? His game on Saturday was on point. I mean, he had a sixty-eight percent completion rate, what more do they want? Blood?” I shook my head in derision.

  “It freaks me out when you rattle off the stats like that,” Wade said as picked up his can of Coke. “You’re weird.”

  “No, not the game,” Mia said, bringing my attention back to her. “Apparently, he was out Friday night before the game, and he was drinking, and he kept the whole house awake with some skank he took home.”

  I had no words. I was dimly aware that Wade was chuckling and giving Jett a virtual high five.

  Please let me still be asleep. “He’s suspended for sleeping with a girl?” I asked her, hearing the crack in my voice, and hastily swallowed more of my drink.

  “I think so, that and the partying before the game,” Mia nodded. “I think the team complained or something.”

  “So nothing was stolen, that’s a lie?” Wade asked. He looked a bit too disappointed in the mundane fact it was just Jett and another nameless girl.

  “Oh no, apparently she also stole from him, which is why he’s looking for her.”

  The can of Coke dropped from my hands, and as I failed to catch it, the one small mercy was that I didn’t splash anyone. “Slippery,” I murmured as I hastily moved slightly away from the spilled drink.

  Mia snorted and looked at Wade with a twinkle in her eye. “Apparently, the girl from Friday is also slippery, as it seems the star QB doesn’t know her name and is fuzzy on her details.”

  “Fuck off.” Wade almost spat his sandwich out in disbelief. “He banged her, kept the whole house up, and he doesn’t know who she is?”

  Mia shook her head in amusement. “Nope. Charming, isn’t he?”

  “I saw him on Friday, met him for the first time, he seemed like an okay guy.” Wade shrugged. “Didn’t seem that drunk to me.” Wade grinned. “But I was, so maybe I’m not the best judge.”

  “You did? You met him?” I asked Wade. “Where were you?”

  “Heading to Cedar, you know they throw the best parties. Sticks was already there,” Wade said with a wink.

  Cedar? Jett had been at Cedar? None of this made sense to me. I’d been at Oakwood.

  “Well, drunk or not, I don’t fancy being the girl when he finds her,” Mia commented as she finished her lunch. “In fact, she may be safer transferring. Can you imagine what’s going to happen when he finds her?”

  “Why?” I swallowed hard. “It’s not that bad, is it?”

  “Seriously?” Mia looked at me in question. “I know nothing about football, but she’s the reason he’s suspended from playing, which even I know is the only thing he seems to have any interest in. He’s going to make her life miserable. And even if he doesn’t, everyone in that house heard them having sex… Her life’s going to be so miserable.”

  “For sure,” Wade agreed.

  Well, when you put it like that...shit.

  “Hey, baby,” Elise greeted.

  I looked down at her as she stepped into my space. The urge to push her away from me was strong, but I needed something from her, and therefore I had to bite my tongue from cursing her out. “Elise,” I said as I saw Ash look away, trying to hide his grin. Asshole.

  Those talons of hers snaked up my chest, over my shirt, and one ran down the side of my neck. Jerking my head away from her, I sidestepped, ignoring her frown. “Not good enough for you?” she sneered at me.

  No. “Do you really want me to answer?”

  Smoothly ignoring me, she carried on. “I heard that the whole house heard you on Friday night fucking this girl that I’m helping you find.” Elise glared at me as she crossed her arms across her ample chest, pushing the girls up in her low scooped T-shirt.

  “Who told you that?” I asked as I looked up and over the students milling about in the hall of the economics building.

  “Jamie.”

  That fucker.

  “When did you and Jamie get cosy?” Ash asked her as he slung an arm casually over her shoulders. “Not like you to go defence.”

  “Jamie doesn’t speak shit,” Elise answered as she stared right at me.

  “Really?” I mimicked her pose as I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall with a casual look over her. “He tell you that you’re the tightest pussy he’s been in? You’re not.”

  Ash laughed as he pulled Elise closer. “Or did he tell you he’s never ass fucked anyone? Because he’s already been through the back door with Three,” he whispered as his tongue licked Elise’s neck before he bit her earlobe. He gave a light laugh when she winced as he gave her a slight push away from him. “He tell you that you were special?” Ash mocked.

  Elise glared at both of us, and I saw her anger building, but I also watched as she contained it, and I felt disappointment at her desperate attempt to pretend we didn’t matter. To girls like Elise, we were all that mattered. Which was sad, because she was hot enough, and more importantly, she wasn’t stupid; she was just deluded that she thought banging her way through the football team meant she would eventually snag herself a football player.

  “You’re dicks, both of you.” Elise tossed her hair over her shoulder before she turned and started to walk away from us both. “Find your own fuck buddy,” she called over her shoulder.

  With a smirk, I looked at Ash, who was grinning openly as he watched her stalk off. “Bless her heart,” I mimicked and snort laughed when he clutched at his heart and batted his lashes.

  “She’s pissed you banged someone else, but she’s hooking up with Jamie to make you jealous?” Ash was grinning as we started to go into class together. “At what point does that make sense?”

  “She’s special in some things,” I said as
we climbed the stairs to the back row. The lecture room was vast and held over two hundred students. Anyone who took economics as a minor or took this course as an elective all sat this class together. It was also an hour forty lecture, and Ash and I claimed the back row the very first week, where we could sleep through it before our four-hour training practice that followed.

  “You coming to practice?” Ash asked me quietly as we settled into the almost comfy seats.

  “Yeah, Coach can fuck off if he thinks he’s keeping me away this time.” Pulling out a notebook and a pen from my backpack, I slid down my seat a little to get comfier. “Plus, I want to know who told half these fucking rumours I’m hearing.”

  “I like the one where you got your car stolen while you were in the back seat getting fucked, and neither you nor the thief noticed.”

  I stared at my cousin, who was grinning as he set up his own notebook and laptop. Ash always brought a laptop. He had hideous handwriting, and by typing his notes, he was at least guaranteed to be able to read them later.

  “That isn’t even plausible.”

  “People are idiots.” His glance at me with his half shrug was dismissive. “Even being robbed, you’re still a legend,” he grunted good humouredly.

  “It’s all lies and bullshit.” I frowned at my lined notebook and started drawing out the gridiron. “This is the only thing that matters.”

  “Yup.” The professor started the class, and the rustling as people settled down quietened. Ash shifted in his seat so he was closer to me. “Quinn have any luck?”

  “Not yet, but I have more faith in Queeny than the Elises.” Turning my head slightly, I took in his side profile. “She’s more invested.”

  Ash huffed out an acknowledgement but said nothing further about her. “We need to remind Jamie who’s his team captain,” Ash murmured.

  “Already on it.” I showed him my phone and my text messages with Gray.

  Me: Jamie spilled to Elise

  Gray: Which one?

  Me: One

  Gray: Prick! Put Ash on him in practice

  Gray: I’ll get the fucker in the locker room

  Me: Nah – I got it

  Gray: No. You can’t afford to get caught, Coach will have your ass

  Gray: Fucker needs taught some respect

  Ash was grinning as he read, and he pulled his own phone out and joined the chat.

  Ash: I’m ready to teach

  Gray: Preach to that

  Me: We still need him for the season

  Gray: Do we? Pity…

  Ash and I shared a grin before we both put our phones away, and as Ash began to pay attention to the lecture, I closed my eyes and rested my head against the back wall.

  A warm hot mouth was wrapped around my dick, and I was thrusting into her willing mouth at a steady pace.

  “That’s it, just like that,” I encouraged as I tightened my fists in her hair. Her mouth was going to suck me dry if she kept this up, and I wanted to fuck her first before I came, but her mouth was too fucking good. My head tilted back as I kneeled on the bed before her, her body crouched in front of me as her tongue stroked me in rhythm. I was going to come, fuck, she better swallow. “Shit,” I cursed as I filled her mouth. Her small choke was not enough to deter me from gripping her head tighter as I held her in place.

  Sitting back, she released me with a pop, her blonde hair covering her face as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. I gave my dick a couple of hard stokes. How the fuck was I still hard? “Turn over,” I commanded, and she willingly flipped onto her stomach. “Ass up, it’s your turn.”

  A sharp dig into my side had me jerking upright. Ash was looking at me with wide eyes before his eyes flicked to my crotch, and I realised I was hard.

  “Seriously?” Ash asked incredulously as he packed his laptop away. “I hear those fucking moans enough when I’m in the room next to yours, I don’t need them beside me in fucking economics.”

  “Shit,” I muttered before I grinned at him. “What cologne you wearing? It’s really doing it for me.” I shoved my notebook into my backpack before I pulled my shirt over my junk.

  Ash knocked the back of my head as he stood. “Dick. Who was it?” he asked interestedly as I stood and we made our way out of class.

  “My Friday blonde,” I answered him grimly. “Man, she can suck dick,” I added on with another groan.

  “You remembered something?” Ash asked me excitedly as he grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. “Who is it?”

  The images were faded and didn’t feel real, wisps of memory that were too fragile for me to grab onto. “I don’t know,” I bit out in frustration. “I can’t see her face.”

  “Figures,” Ash said as he resumed walking. “It wasn’t her face you were interested in.”

  I almost agreed when I was hit with the feeling of how I felt in her mouth. “Not too sure about that,” I mumbled as we left the building. Bright sunshine blinded us as we both put our shades on. “Ugh, practice is going to be brutal.”

  Ash grunted his agreement as he looked over the campus. “Easier to take down number ninety-seven though.” His grin was vicious. “You gonna tell Coach about Versed?”

  I thought about it and decided I had nothing to lose. “Yeah, he’s not going to move if I can’t point him to a who, but I hope that a what is progress.” Sunlight reflected off of the buildings as we walked, and I revelled in the bright afternoon.

  Ash tracked a group of girls as they passed, long legs, short tops, flirtatious glances over their shoulders as they passed us.

  “Your tongue’s hanging out,” I said dryly.

  “Better than my dick in economics,” he snarked back at me with a wink.

  “You’re an asshole,” I told him good-naturedly.

  “I am,” he agreed. “Dickheads run in the family.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.”

  “Aw, fuck,” he complained, his good humour vanishing as Quinn came into view. “She’s got that look.”

  “Which look?” I asked as I watched our friend cut through a throng of students.

  “The determined look,” Ash muttered as we slowed down to meet her.

  “Assholes,” Quinn greeted with absolutely no preamble at all. “Who leaked the juice?”

  “Jamie,” I told her.

  “How the hell am I supposed to work around the thousands of rumours?” Quinn snapped at me. “I’m not a freaking miracle worker.”

  “You giving up?” Ash asked her as he pushed his shades up to make eye contact.

  “No, asshole. Of course not.”

  “Then what you bitching for?”

  “Stop, before you both throw down,” I cut them off. “We didn’t teach you to fight to fight us,” I reminded Quinn.

  “I could take your ass.” Quinn’s sharp tone as she looked Ash over derisively didn’t help.

  “Pegging? That your freak now?” Ash asked her, equally scathing.

  “All you think about is sex, you’re so fucking predictable.”

  “Is that—”

  “I swear to God, I will knock you both out, and I really don’t give a fuck that you’re a girl,” I barked at them both. “It’s been two fucking years.” I looked between the two of them, and as they stared in opposite directions, I briefly thought of knocking their heads together. “You still on the girl?” I asked Quinn, changing the subject.

  “Yeah, I had practical this morning, and they let me loose on the volleyball team. Jada the captain is really nice. She’s putting out feelers.”

  “Jada…” I racked my brain.

  “End of freshman year, you hooked up with her at a party the basketball team had in their dorm house.” Quinn looked bored as she reminded me.

  “Oh yeah.” I nodded. “She is nice.”

  “Well, I’m glad you approve.” Quinn’s tone was dry and bored.

  “He’s starting to remember having sex with his blonde,” Ash said to Quinn without making eye contact. Still, it was be
tter than a few moments before. “That good?”

  Quinn nodded enthusiastically. “This is great news! And I have it on semi-good authority from three different people, that you were not with anyone at Cedar and you definitely left alone.”

  “Why semi?” Ash asked.

  “Well, they were all drunk, but they remember more than he does.” Quinn shrugged. “I also have a confirmed sighting of you on Oakwood where there was another party. Do you remember that?” When I shook my head, she chewed her inner cheek. “Well, something is better than nothing, even if it is sex… Okay, I need maybe…two more days?”

  I leaned over and planted a kiss on the side of her head. “You’re a queen.”

  With a grin, she pecked me on the cheek. “I know. Later, losers.”

  I watched her walk away before I turned to Ash. “You need to stop the shit. It’s tiring as fuck.”

  “It’s my shit.”

  “No, it’s not. It involves us all, she isn’t going anywhere.” As we headed to the stadium, I could feel my cousin struggle with his anger. “Just spit it out.”

  “She fucking cheated.”

  “I know.”

  “And that’s okay?” Ash demanded as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “We’d have cut anyone else loose.”

  “This is Quinn,” I reminded him.

  “So she’s exempt because we’ve known her for longer?” he asked me scathingly.

  Stopping, I grabbed his arm and forced him to stop walking. “No, asshole, not because we’ve known her since we were ten. She’s exempt because we made a pact not to fucking hook up with her, and you broke it.”

  “We made that pact when we were twelve,” Ash said as he threw his arms in the air in frustration. “We didn’t have any idea what the fuck we were agreeing to.”

  My hand shot out, thumping into his chest. “That’s your excuse. Quinn stays.”

  Ash’s eyes widened in disbelief. “So I go? Is that what you mean?” he asked as he knocked my hand away. “Bullshit.”

  “Where the fuck would you go?” I asked him as I started walking again. “Don’t be a pussy, she stays. You? You’ll get over it.”

  “And Gray? What does he think?”