Page 61 of Hating On Riot

Famous fucking last words.

23

Arie

I never answered Riot about who was thirsty at one in the morning. I should’ve. It’s his business, now that we’ve established I’m his girl, and he’s my guy, with the added mess of our agreement with Cooper. But like Hope said, she chose me for the game because I’m an honorable person and I play by the rules. So, I keep the blind date game from Riot.

The next day after my confession that I’m a virgin wasn’t uncomfortable.

We drove an hour to the farm town of Cambridge and enjoyed the views and the peace of getting away from Dumas, where rumors and speculation fly as high as the sun. We never had that in Alexandria. The city is huge. Except life while attending high school is small. Our graduating class numbered nearly six hundred students, but still, everyone knew everyone, including their personal lives.

Friends dated one another, then broke up. They moved around that same friend group or a different one and dipped their toes in each dating pool. When many of us attended DU, that same mentality carried over. I see why, though. It’s comfortable being with someone who understands where you came from. It wasn’t a secret that my life was a mess. I mean, not counting Laney, I have three siblings with three different fathers.

The drive to school on Monday is also comfortable. Riot and I are in a groove. We eat breakfast with the guys. I watch them play video games after school, before evasive maneuvers and wrestling with Riot.

We try to eat dinner all together. Four guys live in the house. The spare room will go to another teammate once I leave. Since I started my water girl gig, more guys show up for dinner. It’s a big potluck. I’ve learned that many of them love to cook. Those who aren’t local, who didn’t grow up in Washington state, miss their moms. They make their moms’ favorite dishes. The guys are everything I didn’t expect them to be.

They’re respectful and polite, keep the crass language down when I’m around, and understand there’s something between Riot and me, but know better than to ask questions. They just accept things as they are, and it’s so nice.

My brothers wouldn’t accept the situation at all. To them, all guys just want to get inside my pants. Guys are, in their words, horndogs, with nothing but sex on their minds. After spending time with Riot and his teammates, I beg to differ.

The guys haven’t hit on me. Then again, Riot does this low growl thing that would scare me too. There’s also his death stare. That’s also scary.

“What are your plans after graduation?” I ask.

We’re hitting up the drive-through coffee stand before we head to campus. Riot suggested we go to Riley’s mother’s bookstore, Lee Bookstore, going on and on about how Riley made a mean pumpkin spice latte. I flat-out refused him. I love it when he makes decisions for us, but Riley supposedly borrowed something of his to prove to our friends and me that Riot has feelings for me.

If we show up, there’s a real chance she’ll blurt out what she did, that she burglarized the wrong house and instead took something from Zeke Harrington’s closet! When we girls or the Sass Squad found out, we nearly keeled over from second-hand embarrassment.

Thankfully, Syn offered to return what Riley borrowed. Otherwise, Riley will mope, and a moping Riley is not good. Midnight will terrorize the small college town looking for whoever got his girl in the dumps. I shake my head. That guy is a head case.

“Not sure yet.” He pays for our coffees, then grabs our drinks from the barista.

The blonde leans forward enough that she gives Riot an eyeful of her large breasts beneath her tight T-shirt. Taking the cup from Riot, I cross my legs, stare out the window, and sip my mocha. Girls hitting on Riot is nothing new, but the green-eyed monster rears her ugly head anyways.

He doesn’t give the girl any extra attention beyond a polite, “Thank you,” which lightens my mood.

“You?” He sips his drink, smiles, and puts it down in the cup holder before getting back on the side road that will take us to the parking lot closest to the library, the tennis court, and the field.

“I have another year.”

He turns to me and smiles. “Going all the way for your master’s, eh?”

My master’s in accounting. “It’s the only way to get a great-paying job with one of the big firms.”

“Does that mean you’ll move?”

I shrug. “Possibly.”

“You saying there’s a chance you’ll stay local?”

“Something like that.”

“You’re being evasive, Arie. Give it to me straight, baby. Tell me your dreams, and I’ll do everything in my power to make them come true.”

He can’t possibly make this one come true, so I tell him.

“Do you know where Sweet Creations Bakery is?”