Distraction (17 page)

Chapter
11

Tristan

I couldn't get in my car fast enough. On the way, I tried
like hell to push the way Elle
'
s body felt against me out of my head. It didn
'
t work, so I drove
faster. The quicker I got to alcohol, the better. Fifteen minutes later, I
arrived at destination “
hammeredville.
"

"Daniels made it," Robbie announced when I walked
in. "
You wanna beer, bro?
"

"Sounds great," I said, and followed him to the
kitchen.

"Catch." I caught the bottle one handed, getting a
nod from the dick. "You
'
re pretty good with your hands."

I twisted the top, downed the amber liquid, and then tossed
the bottle in the trash. "Hit me again." Apparently my ability to
down a beer impressed him, and he tossed me another cold one.

"So, you and that chick you
'
re always
around."

I eyed him carefully, wondering what the hell he was getting
at.

"What of it?" I was still pissed off, but I didn
'
t like the way
his mouth formed in an “I
'
d like to hit that"
kind of smile.

"You together, together?" His cocky tone was gonna
get him in a lot of fucking trouble if he didn
'
t back off.

"Yeah, so stay the fuck away. Got it?"

Robbie raised his hands in the air.

"Bro, just asking a simple question. I heard y
'
all were engaged
or something. So, you gonna join the frat?" That fuckin
'
cocky grin
spread across his face again. "I
'
m sure you
'
ve figured out
by now that we get plenty of killer babes." He shrugged his shoulders.
"You know, in case you get tired of your girl."

I took a deep breath, ready to put him in his place when
someone walked into the kitchen.

"Daniels, about time you got here." I looked up at
Jarred standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, I needed to get away." I glanced at Robbie,
and he quirked an eyebrow at my comment.

"So hey, you thought about joining the frat? Your dad
pledged here, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Pledging just isn
'
t my thing."

"Suit yourself. You know we throw some killer parties.
It's cool though, whatever." I liked Jarred. We had plenty in common, and
he was cool to hang around along with the other guys, excluding Robbie. I was
about to give in when I got a text from Kellie.

I opened the text.
Baby please call me. I love you.
I texted back,
letting her know I loved her, but was at the frat house and would call her
later.

"We
'
re gonna play some pool upstairs. You guys up for a game?"

I looked up at Jarred and smiled. A game of pool, yep, just
what the doctor ordered.

"I
'
m game," I said, and Robbie agreed too.

Once upstairs, we formed into teams. Jarred and I paired
against Bret and Robbie. When Robbie broke, I did my best not to laugh. He
sucked.

"Dude, what the fuck was that?" Bret
’
s eyes blazed.

Robbie shrugged his shoulders. "Don
'
t wanna give my
skills away too soon."

Bret shook his head and cursed. Jarred walked over and took
his turn, landing us two shots. We were solid. Cool. I started relaxing after I
tossed back my beer and opened another one.

"Daniels, you got a visitor," James, another guy
from the team said, walking in with Kellie. So much for relaxing.

"
Can we talk?
" Kellie looked at me pleadingly.

I shook my head, and her eyes widened as I turned away. Shit,
I didn
'
t want her to make a scene, especially not after Robbie
'
s sudden
interest in our relationship. I circled back around.

"Yeah, we can go out on the balcony," I said,
ignoring the whip sounds from some of the guys.

When we walked outside, I gripped the handrail, looking out over
the lawn. The grass, now changed from green to yellow, still looked amazing
from up here. But the scenery didn
'
t help settle my pent-up frustrations. I refused to say
anything, and figured if she wanted to talk she
'
d have to
start–and she did.

"Baby, I
'
m sorry."

"Yeah, I keep hearing that."
I still didn
'
t turn to look
at her.

"Give me something to go on, Tristan."

The muscles in my jaw tensed. Was she fucking kidding me?

"This is hard on me."

My head snapped up, and finally, I turned around to face her.

"Hard on you?" I threw my hands in the air.
"This shit you pull, every time I
'
m near another woman, regardless of
who it is." I paused, clenching my jaw to keep from completely losing my
calm. "I
'
ve kept a distance from Elle, but that doesn
'
t seem to
satisfy you. In fact, you bitch more. Now explain that shit for me."

"I know I go a little crazy–"

"Crazy? Hell, you go fucking insane, and I
'
m tired of it,
of this. Us fighting. I
'
ve got classes and football to worry about. Here you are
pushing my fucking
buttons
–all the damn time–
I don'
t even know who
you are anymore." My fists clenched and unclenched, seething from being so
pissed off.

"Tristan, you don
'
t mean that." Kellie inched
closer.

"Do not tell me what I don
'
t mean, because
I
'
ve had it.
Really had enough." We were standing face to face. My chest rose faster
with every word I spoke. This wasn
'
t what I wanted, but how did I tell her?

"Tell me what you want. I
'
ll be better. We
can work this out. Just don
'
t say we're
over.
" She turned her back to me. The setting sun shined
through her hair, catching the highlights with it. I didn
'
t know if I
wanted to run my fingers through its layers or just walk away.

"Kellie this isn
'
t..." T
he door opened
, cutting off
what I wanted to say.

"Man, get your ass in here already. It's your turn."
I wanted to punch Jarred right then.

"Give me another second," I said.

"Fine. But if you're not in here within five minutes, I
'
m kicking your
ass."

When Jarred shut the door, I caught a glimpse of Robbie
leaning against the table and changed my mind.

"I
'
ve got a game to finish. You gonna stay or go?"

She turned around, her cheeks dimpled when she smiled back at
me. "Stay."

We headed back in and I grabbed a stick, chalking the end
before taking a shot. Still amped up with anger, I hit the cue ball too hard
and scratched.

"Dude, what the hell?" Jarred’s voice hardened.

I looked up at him and shrugged my shoulders. Bret laughed
and Robbie took his turn. He made his shot, but not the second time around.

Jarred took his turn and made a nice bank shot. "That
'
s how it
'
s done, boys,"
he said, rounding the table, and lined up his shot but scratched. Bret took his
turn and made a shot along with four more. The next shot would give them the
win.

I downed the rest of my lukewarm beer, waiting to start up
another game when I heard Kellie laugh. I glanced over my shoulder and found
her and Robbie talking. I clenched my jaw, ready to ram my stick up his ass
when I heard someone talking...about Elle.

I turned and found Eric Green. After seeing Elle laughing
with the tall, geeky-looking dude the night Kellie puked her guts out, I asked
around about him. I'd learned his name, but not much else. I leaned in to hear
more, but Bret
'
s loud ass pulled my attention away.

"Who
'
s up for another game?"

"I
'm done,
" Robbie said. I noticed him still talking to Kellie. A
small voice in the back of my mind said to break up their conversation, but my
focus had shifted. Curiosity of what Green had to say about Elle overrode
everything right then. I wanted, no, needed to find out more.

"Daniels, you in?"

I turned to Jarred and shook my head. Someone took my place
and I casually walked over, standing closer to Green while pretending to watch
the game.

"Elle and I are officially dating. We hooked up this
afternoon and ate at my parents’ restaurant."

My stomach rolled and my mouth instantly dried. She
'
d left me and
went on a date with him. Son of a bitch.

"Man, I didn
'
t think I had a chance. She
'
s always been
kind of stiff when we hung out. I was planning on calling her tomorrow, but I
don
'
t want to look like a pussy."

You are a pussy.

"Dude, she
'
s hot. I
'
d make your move fast before she has time to over think."
The other guy laughed. "She may wise up and turn your ass down."

I glanced over at the guy talking to Green. I recognized him,
but couldn't think of his name. Didn
'
t matter though, not after the
doubt he planted in Green
'
s head. I immediately liked him.

"Screw you, Matt."

"Daniels, you ready to play again?" I stopped
listening and looked up at Bret, then back at the table. Surely the game wasn
'
t over yet. But
apparently so, all the balls on the table were gone.

"Yeah, give me a second to refill."

“All right, bring me a round, too." Bret turned around,
talking to Jarred and some other guys.

When I turned, Green had already taken off downstairs,
heading to the front door. Dammit. By the time I ran down, he
'
d walked out. I
headed to the kitchen, grabbed a hand full of beers, and went back up. I hadn
'
t noticed Green
hanging around before, but planned to find out if he pledged here.

As soon as I made it up, most of the beers were plucked out
of my arms. Fuckers.

"Let
'
s do this," Bret said, then gulped his beer.

I grabbed my stick and chalked the tip. I noticed Kellie and
Robbie were still talking, and they
'
d moved farther away from the crowd
to a more secluded corner.

"Kellie, you wanna play?"

She looked up and frowned. "You go ahead. I don
'
t like pool that
much."

Robbie grinned when she turned her attention back to him.

"Daniels, it
'
s your break."

I slowly walked over, trying to calm down. Stupid fucker
better keep his hands to himself. Pissed off or not, Kellie was still mine.

"Ready to lose," I said, bending over to break.
With a swift hit, the balls scattered and I
'
d landed two
solids. Nice.

"We
'
ll see," Bret taunted.

My next three shots were good, along with the beer I
'
d downed in the
process. When Bret
'
s turn came around, I figured I’d drill Jarred for
information.

"Is Eric Green a pledge here?" I knew most of the
guys from the football team pledged, and the others here played different
sports.

"Green, yeah. He
'
s been here since freshman year.
Plays baseball."

"You
'
re up," Bret said, not too enthusiastically.

I looked at the table and smiled. "Dude, you suck."
I laughed when he flipped me off and made two more shots before scratching.
Bret had most of his balls on the table, and I only had the eight ball left. I
headed back to Jarred. "What can you tell me about him?"