Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1) (22 page)

Despite his reluctance, Christmas came around all too soon and before he knew it they were packing up Jet’s car once more. Since he was flying to New York, Jet was letting them borrow his car to drive through Louisiana and Mississippi to Alabama. In exchange, Parker was driving him to the airport now, whilst Chloe finished packing.

When he returned, he headed towards the library where he’d squeezed in an extra tutoring session with Payton before they headed off. When Chloe had told him the girl had agreed to tutor and he’d met her, he hadn’t really known what to make of her, but he’d needed all the help he could get and she charged next to nothing, so he’d gone with it. Now, he found he quite liked the small, quiet blonde; she was smart and patient, but crippled by shyness. He bet she’d been bullied at school; she was an easy target. Apparently, she’d skipped several grades and was actually only sixteen. Weirdly, that made him feel kind of protective of her, in a way he didn’t even feel with Chloe, almost like a big brother.

She was just going over the questions he hadn’t been able to answer in last weeks’ test, patient as always, even when he asked her to go over it for the third time, when someone stopped in front of their desk. Looking up, he found Dawson standing there, staring down at the top of Payton’s head, which was bent over the textbook they were working from.

“Hi, Dawson,” he gestured towards Payton with a tilt of his head, “this is my tutor, Payton.”

“We’ve met,” Dawson said, not even bothering to glance his way. It would have been funny, except Parker knew that look and Payton was definitely not his speed. “Payton, I didn’t realize you tutored?” She glanced up at him briefly, cheeks red, and nodded. “I could use a tutor too, if you’ve got some free time.” He flashed her that smile that usually had girls dropping their panties at his feet, but her eyes were once more fixed on their work and Parker glared at his friend.

Standing up, he said, “Just give me a sec,” before grabbing Dawson’s arm and pulling him away. When they were far enough not to be overheard, he bit out, “What the hell are you doin’?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Dawson answered indignantly, yanking his arm back. “I was just talking to her.”

“You don’t need math tutorin’,” Parker stated firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rolling his eyes, his friend leant one shoulder casually against the bookshelf. “I know, but want to figure out why she hates me so much.”

“What makes you think she hates you?”

“Apparently we went to High school together and I was a dick in High school,” he answered bluntly, not seeming all to bothered about it. When he caught Parker’s look, he defended, “Everyone’s a dick in High school, but you grow up. Don’t deny it.”

Shrugging, Parker let his arms drop to his sides, “Depends how much of a dick you were.”

“Considering the fact she’ll barely look at me, I think it was bad.”

Parker thought he was exaggerating; Payton was like that with everyone. When they’d first started their lessons together, he’d had to lean in close to hear her because she’d talked so quietly, and she’d hardly looked at him either. Now that she’d gotten used to him it was better.

“Any way, what’s it got to do with you?” Dawson demanded, “You’ve got Chloe.”

Temper flaring at the accusation in his voice, Parker scowled at him. “It’s nothin’ like that, asshole. She’s just… young. She’s not your type at all.”

Peering around him once more, Dawson nodded slowly. “I get that, but Chloe wasn’t your type either.”

That was fair enough. “Just don’t fuck with her.”

“I won’t. I wouldn’t do that. Not to her.”

Relaxing, Parker nodded. “Good.” After a second he asked, “You going home for Christmas?”

“Yeah,” Dawson answered reluctantly, drawing his eyes away, “you?”

“Yeah. Don’t let them talk you into anythin’.”              

“Same to you.” His friend clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll have to go for a drink after Christmas.”

“Sounds good.”

“Great. I gotta go, I need a shower before I head off.”

Before he left, Dawson made a point of stopping by their desk to wish Payton a merry Christmas and say goodbye, which she quietly repeated. As he left, her head lifted to watching him for a minute.

Once they were finished, Parker headed towards Willow building, walking up the stairs instead of taking the lift because it was habit now. He didn’t bother knocking, just opened the door and walked in to find Chloe lying on the floor, half under the bed.

“Sugar, if you really don’t wanna go, just tell me. You don’t need to hide.”

Crawling out just enough so that she could shoot him a glare, she then ducked her head back under the bed and he sat down, watching her ass wiggling around. It was a damn good view.

“Ah-ha!” she exclaimed a second later. “Found them.” Scrambling out, red faced and disheveled, she held up a pair of black heels for him to see.

“You’re not going to need them,” he said.

“You never know. I don’t want to be unprepared.”

“Trust me, we won’t be going anywhere you’ll need to dress up. I don’t even think there’s anywhere classy in town.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Sorry, sugar. I’ll take you out when we get back. Believe me, I’ll appreciate you dressing up more than my family would.”

Not quite true. His brothers would fucking love it, his dad probably would too. Bloody perverts. No way was Chloe dressing up around them. He might even sneak her makeup out of her bag and leave it here, along with those body-hugging jeans he loved.

God, he hoped his family behaved themselves this week.

“You almost ready?” he asked.

He wished she’d back out, but he knew she wouldn’t. She had bigger balls than he did; he couldn’t cut the ties with his family, however much he wanted to sometimes, yet she loved both her parents to bits and still had the strength to move halfway across the world.

Scanning the room, she nodded after a moment, zipping up the duffel bag he’d lent her and picking her handbag up off the floor. “I’m good to go.”

“Inhaler,” he said, pointing at it on the bedside table.

“I wasn’t going to forget it,” she insisted and he smirked.

“Whatever you say.”

She must have fallen asleep. Curled up in the front seat, with her head resting against the window, she could feel the engine running and music played softly from the speakers. Cracking open her eyes, she realized it was dark outside.

Blinking, Chloe stretched her arms out and shifted in her seat to face Parker, but it wasn’t him in the driver’s seat. Her breath caught in her throat as Jack turned towards her. The right side of his face was caked in blood, dripping down onto his shirt, and his arm hung at a strange angle.

His mouth opened, revealing blood stained teeth. “You killed me.”

“No,” she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes, “it was an accident.”

“You killed me.”

This was a dream, she knew that, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less.

“I’m sorry. The truck… it just… I didn’t see… I’m sorry.”

His dead eyes just stared at her, unforgiving.

Unforgiving… That wasn’t right…

Jack had been the most forgiving person she knew.

“If you were really Jack, you’d forgive me. But more importantly, you’d want me to forgive myself.” Sighing, suddenly very tired, she leant her head back against the window and closed her eyes. “I’m not sure if I can do it, forgive myself I mean, but I’m going to try. I know you’d want me to move on with my life. You’d be so disappointed in me for letting the past control me.”

A gentle touch on her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she stared at the man in front of her and almost sobbed. Instead of the bloody nightmare that had confronted her before, her brother now sat in the driver’s seat, fresh and clean, with a tender smile on his face.

“I love you,” he said, calm and clear.

She wanted to say it back, but already he was disappearing, dissolving into her memories and she was desperately trying to hang onto an image of him in her head. Within seconds he was gone and it felt like her heart was breaking all over again, but there was a strange lightness inside of her. Relief. Freedom.   

“Chloe? Wake up, sugar.” Someone was shaking her shoulder. Making a little noise of acknowledgement, she blearily opened her eyes and blinked up at Parker. “You okay?” he asked, wiping something from her cheek with his thumb. Tasting salt on her lips, she realized she’d been crying.

“I’m okay,” she answered, her voice scratchy with sleep, as she sat up and scrubbed at her face with her palms. “It was just a dream.”

Briefly, she considered telling him about it, but it was still too raw. She wanted to keep it to herself for a while, maybe forever.

Parker still looked concerned, but after a second he shrugged and turned back to face the wheel. It was only then that she realized they were pulled over at the side of the road, the headlights lighting up the darkness.

“There was a sign a while back for a motel,” he said, pulling out onto the road, “we can stop there for the night. I can’t keep my eyes open much longer.”

“Or…” she hesitated, rubbing her hands nervously against her jeans, “I could drive.”

Instantly, his head whipped around, fast enough to give himself whiplash. “You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to.”

Pulling back into the layby, just a few meters from where they’d just pulled out, he stared at her and she saw the battle in his eyes; on the one hand, he didn’t want to let her do anything that might hurt her and on the other, he didn’t want to say no. She prayed he’d just let her do it without asking too many questions, before she chickened out. If he talked her out of it now, who knew when she’d try again, or if she ever would.

After a minute, he nodded, getting out of the car and crossing around to her side without another word. Scooting over into his seat, still warm from his body, she took a moment to feel the texture of the steering wheel against her palms and the pedals beneath her feet. Taking a deep breath, aware that Parker was watching her like a hawk, she eased her foot down and the car lunged forward.

It was a jerky ride to begin with but it smoothed out as she got used to the feel of being back behind the wheel. Driving was like riding a bike, she realized, you never really forgot how to do it. Some people didn’t like driving in the dark, but Chloe found it better this way; there were less cars around for her to consider, just long stretches of open road.

Eventually she began to relax and glanced quickly over at Parker to find that he was still watching her closely. It was actually very unnerving. Did he feel this uncomfortable when she watched him drive?

“You can go to sleep, if you want.”

“It’s okay.”

“Parker, honestly, I’ve got this. I promise. Get some rest.”

Warily, he studied her before nodding slightly and letting his body relax back into the seat. He didn’t sleep at first, but he did close his eyes and eventually his breathing evened out and his head lolled over onto his shoulder.

Smiling, Chloe flexed her fingers on the wheel. She was actually doing this. It felt good.

A few hours later, once he’d woken up, Parker took over driving again, which she was glad about – her nerves were shot for one day and more and more cars were now filtering onto the roads as the morning wore on. 

Finally, later that day, they passed a sign welcoming them to Rose Springs, Alabama, and Parker announced, “Here we are.”

Despite the pretty name, Rose Springs was a rather scabby looking town. Though the main street looked all right, beyond that the houses were rundown, surrounded by wire fencing. Many of them had menacing looking dogs straining at the end of chains, barking and snarling, and people sat on the front porches, watching them drive past with unfriendly expressions.

On the edge of town, they pulled into a trailer park and she glanced over at Parker apprehensively, but he was concentrating on not flattening any of the children who were playing football, or soccer as the Americans called it, in the middle of the road.

Weaving through the jungle of trailers, he finally stopped alongside one with several cars out front, all in different stages of disrepair. Chloe wasn’t a snob, but this place…

“Still glad you came?” Parker asked with raised eyebrows.

“Of course,” she lied, forcing a smile and leaning over the centre console to kiss his cheek.

When she tried to pull away, he slid his hand into her hair and turned his head so that their lips brushed. “Give me a proper one.”

Bracing her hand on his leg for balance, she did. They drew apart a minute later, hot and breathless, to the sound of cheering. Turning, they looked towards the steps of the trailer to see a skeleton thin man, wearing a wife-beater and jeans, cheering with his arms in the air.

“Your dad?” she asked.

“Brother,” he replied grimly, shocking her.

“How old is he?”

“Twenty-five,” he said, after a moment’s thought.

“Are you serious?” He looked at least double that, scrawny and haggard as if he’d already lived a hard life.

“That’s what drugs do to you. Take a picture to show Riley.” With that, he opened the door and stepped out, walking over to shake the other man’s hand as she followed him. After his brother had pulled him into a hug and thumped him on the back, Parker stepped back to wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her protectively into his side. “Chloe, this is my brother Tyler.”

“This your girl?” Tyler smirked, before Parker could get around to introducing her, eyeing her in a way that made her shift uncomfortably.

Parker didn’t like it either; tightening his hold, he scowled at his brother, saying warningly, “Yeah, she’s my girl. Hands off.”

Throwing back his head, Tyler laughed. “Cool it, baby brother, no one’s tryin’ to steal your girl.” However, when they squeezed past him into the trailer, he caught her eye and winked.

As soon as she stepped inside a huge hound dog came shooting out of the kitchen, almost tripping over its own ears as it bounded towards them, barking noisily. Dropping to his knees, Parker got an armful of dog, whose tail pounded happily against the wall as he got his ears scratched, even though he was still barking up at her, hackles raised.

“Enough of that,” Parker said sternly, grabbing his muzzle and pushing him away when he snarled. Holding out his hand for her, he said, “Come here, sugar, he’ll be all right once he knows you.”

Another flurry of barking as she edged closer, keeping Parker between her and the dog. A voice bellowed from another room, “Boone, shut the fuck up.”

No wonder Parker swore so much if that’s what he grew up hearing from his mother.

Ignoring the woman, Parker grabbed her hand and pulled her down beside him, holding her hand out for the dog to sniff. “This is Boone, he’s a big ol’ softie really.”

“Yeah, he looks it,” she said dubiously as he continued to grumble at her.

“You’ll be best of friends by the end of the week,” he promised, pushing the big dog onto its side and scratching its belly, before standing and pulling her up along with him. “Now you’ve met Boone, you’d better meet the others.”  

She met his mother then and there, but didn’t get to meet his father until he rolled in several hours later, stinking of beer and slurring his words. His other two brothers arrived even later.

Since he’d moved out, Parker’s bed had apparently been removed to make more room for storage, so they were sleeping on a blow-up mattress in the living room. It was actually surprisingly comfortable, except that the dog kept trying to snuggle with them and Parker kept having to push him off.

Around midnight, the door burst open and Boone started barking. Bolting upright, Parker dislodged her head from his shoulder and she looked around blearily, trying to pick out shapes in the dark.

“Hey bro, you’re home!”

“We were sleepin’,” Parker grumbled.

“You can sleep when you’re dead.”

“Yeah,” the other one put in, “you’ve turned into an old woman!”

“Shut up,” their dad yelled from the bedroom at the end of the hall and the short exchange ended, all three of them glancing down the hall.

One of his brothers, this one big and stocky, headed towards the kitchen area and grabbed a beer from the fridge, throwing a second bottle to the other, before they both headed off down the hall and into one of the bedrooms.

Flopping back on the bed, Parker groaned, throwing one arm up and over his eyes. Settling back down beside him, she rested her head on his chest again and curved on arm over his waist.

“Well, they seemed nice,” she said into the dark.

His chest jerked up and down as he laughed, burying his face in her hair to muffle the sound. “I’ll introduce you in the morning.”       

Waking to the sound of someone shuffling around the kitchen and the mouth-watering sent of bacon cooking, Chloe slid out of bed, careful not to disturb Parker.

His mum was bustling around the cluttered kitchen in her dressing-gown and slippers. It suddenly occurred to her that Parker had only introduced her as ‘my mom’, so she didn’t know how else to address her.

“Mornin’, love,” the other woman said, gesturing for her to sit at the bar, which she did, curling her fingers around the glass of orange juice that was pushed in her direction.

“Morning, Mrs. Mitchell.”

“Call me Louise.” That solved that problem.

For several minutes neither of them spoke; Chloe just watched as Louise cooked, breaking eggs into a pan. She got the feeling that the other woman was just as uncomfortable as she was.

“Would you like some help?” Chloe asked after a minute.

“No. It’s almost ready. You’re not one of those vegetarians are you?” Shaking her head mutely, she almost jumped out of her skin when Louise suddenly hollered, “Boys, breakfast!”

So much for letting Parker sleep a little longer.

Within ten minutes the bar was surrounded by men, of whom the only one wearing a shirt with his boxers was Mr. Mitchell. Rolling off the blow-up mattress, Parker padded over with a yawn, pushing between her and one on his brothers. Picking up a piece of bacon with his fingers, he bit into it and she heard it crunch between his teeth.

Gesturing vaguely at the two brothers who had yet to be introduced, he said, “Axel, Conner. Guys, this is Chloe.”

“What are you kids up to today?” Louise asked, slapping the fried eggs onto plates and handing them out.

“I was gonna go to the pizza place, see what hours they’ve got.”

“There ain’t no job at the pizza place, no more,” Axel said around a mouthful of food.

Looking at the four together, she could see some similarities. They all had the same hazel eyes, though Tyler’s had been dimmed by drugs, and the same coloured hair. Axel was the biggest, with the same wide-shouldered, muscular body as Parker, whilst Tyler and Conner were tall but lanky.

Setting down his fork, Parker frowned, “What do you mean there’s no job?”

Axel shrugged, “Craig gave it to someone else. But no worries, there’s a job you can help us with tonight.”

“No,” he answered immediately, darting a quick, paranoid glance her way.

“Come on, bro, we’re just collecting some stuff. Or is that below you now that you’re this big star football player?”