Chapter 19 - Waylon

I stared at the others taking shots. I held the shot glass in my hand, refusing to take it. The year was just starting, and that means that the swim season was starting soon as well.

My brothers knew better, but they didn’t care. They only wanted to have fun and party. Their scholarships be damned. As long as they had a B average in each semester, they were golden.

Their words, not mine.

But that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to be the best and do the best. That was what I had control over.

Now, they were wasted in my room laughing obnoxiously about something that I couldn’t give a damn about. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they had a faraway look in their eyes.

Great.

I sat on my bed and thought back to the conversation I had with Wakely. It was worth it to have a moment with her. Every moment led me to my end goal. Finally being with her.

The dress she wore looked amazing. But I liked her in her normal shorts and a T-shirt that I first saw her in.

Hell, she even looked amazing in the sweats she was wearing in the coffee shop. I wanted to strip her naked and commit every inch of flesh to memory.

If my brothers hadn’t interrupted, I wondered what would have happened. I wanted to think that I would ask if she needed another drink and go get it for her. Then ask her to take a walk with me.

If she said yes, then I would assume that she was warming up to me. And I might have even kissed her. I bet those lips would taste amazing. The thought had my dick growing hard.

“What are you thinking about?” Zoey sat next to me and rubbed a hand against my thigh.

I picked it up and tossed it at her. Whenever she got drunk, she always tried to get with me. I was the original one that she wanted to get with. But when I refused, she settled for Wynn.

He knew but didn’t care. He just wanted someone to fuck on the regular and then be able to break up with her easily whenever someone better came along.

One time it got really bad at one party when she grabbed my dick and tried to suck it in the bathroom. After that, I learned my lesson, always lock the bathroom door at parties.

She stood and straddled my lap, grinding up against my hard dick. “It seems like someone is thinking about fucking me.” She slurred.

Of course, she would think that I was thinking about her. Narcissistic bitch. I grabbed her waist and tossed her on the bed. “Don’t fucking touch me, ever again.” I pointed a finger in her face.

“Or what?” She laughed as she trailed a finger up her thigh and to the hem of her crop top. I could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra, but that only revolted me. She dragged the hem up to reveal her tits.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Wynn, come and get your whore.” I growled. “I’m leaving. When I get back, I expect everyone to be out of my room.”

I heard Zoey whine as I stalked out of the room. This was ridiculous. I didn’t want to spend another minute with them. But I had to. I just had to last until the end of this year. Then I had no obligations to them. The only times I would see them would be when I went home to visit Mom and Dad.

“Wakely, are you okay?” I heard someone say as I approached the curve of the building that would show the women’s side of the dorm room. “You should eat something.”

Cora was leaning against Wakely’s door, tapping at it lightly. Concern covered her face. I liked this girl because she cared about my girl.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I approached Cora.

Cora jumped back in shock, eyes wide, and stared at me for a moment. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my pants and stared at her.

“Oh…um, Wakely left the Junior Meet and Greet party. She said she wasn’t feeling well. When I got back and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner with me, she said no.” She leaned closer to me and whispered. “It looked like she was crying.” She straightened. “And now she won’t open the door.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “Did something happen?”

Cora shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

If something happened to Wakely, I needed to know. I would right whatever wrong happened to her. No matter what it was.

I waved Cora away from the door. She nodded and stepped aside. I knocked on the door hard. When I didn’t hear anything, I knocked again, harder.

“Jesus, Cora.” I heard Wakely say from within the room. “I was just sleeping.” Her voice grew louder as she approached the door and swung it open.

As soon as it was open, she froze as she stared at me. Her mouth hung open.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, not really in an angry tone, just surprised.

“I was on my way out to the pool, and I saw Cora knocking on your door.” I scanned her body, checking for any injuries, but there were none. Just her soft-looking skin and sleepy eyes. My dick grew harder than it was before. “Are you okay?”

Wakely exhaled, “I’m fine.” She looked over to Cora, then back at me. I searched her eyes for the lie that I knew she was telling. She did look like she was crying, but trying to force her to say what was wrong wouldn’t work. 

“I wasn’t sure,” Cora said in a small voice. “Before…it just looked like you were upset.”

Wakely pulled a hand through her hair and took a step back. “It’s nothing, I promise.” She chewed on her bottom lip. The gesture pulled my eyes to it. I was hungry to kiss those lips. But I stood where I was.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Cora asked as she took a step into Wakely’s room. I didn’t dare cross the threshold. I was like a vampire, until you invited me in, I wasn’t going to intrude.

Wakely exhaled again and looked at me. “I can’t.” Her teeth clenched together, working her jaw. Something was up. Something I knew I wasn’t going to like. She looked and gave Cora a small smile. “If I could, I would tell you, but I can’t.”

“Are you safe?” I asked, my voice was deep with anger. The more she tried to talk her way out of whatever was happening, the angrier I became.

Wakley looked away and sighed. “I’m perfectly safe.”

Another lie.

“Okay, did you want me to go grab some junk food, and we can veg out?” Cora asked in a hopeful tone.

Wakley finally gave a genuine smile. “That sounds amazing.”

Cora clapped her hands, turned, and went to her room across the hall. I only had a few minutes before she returned.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I didn’t want to pry, but I had to make sure my girl was okay.

“Yes, I’m sure that I’m fine.” Her brows furrowed. “Even if I wasn’t, there’s nothing I can do.” She shrugged, grabbed a throw blanket, and pulled it around her shoulders.

I had never been jealous of a throw blanket before, but I wanted to be what was wrapped around her body. I could offer just as much warmth.

“But maybe I could,” I said, tilting my head down, keeping my eyes locked on hers.

Her mouth opened as she processed what I said.

“If you need anything, I’m in room three twenty-two.” As soon as I said that, Cora emerged from her room. Without another word, I turned and walked to the stairway.

Wakely didn’t look okay. She looked exactly as Cora said, like she had been crying. My fists clenched at my sides as I walked. I wanted to know what made my girl cry. I wanted to know so I could fix it for her. So she never had to cry because of that again.

I got to the pool, went to my locker, pulled out my Speedo, and changed. Swimming would calm me. It always did. The water always calmed me, that’s why I was so good at swimming.

Lap after lap, no matter how hard I pushed myself, I didn’t feel better. There was a sinking feeling in the base of my stomach because I didn’t know what upset Wakely.

And I wouldn’t know until she told me. I would be in the dark. And I didn’t like being in the dark. She was my world now, and it was my responsibility to protect her.

I stopped swimming in the middle of the pool, treading water, and catching my breath. It was obvious, swimming wasn’t going to make me feel better.

I looked over at the bleachers, and Bryan was sitting where he had sat earlier, watching me swim laps. Normally, I would be creeped out, but I was giving him a pass because of what my brothers did to him.

“Did you need something?” I asked as I made my way over to the edge of the pool.

“Were you serious before?” He asked, eyes trained on me as I grabbed onto the ledge.

“Serious about what?”

“About asking me to join?” He said through his teeth.

“Yes, only if you wanted to.” I knew he was a talented swimmer, and the team would only get better if he decided to come back.

He gave me a sharp nod. “I want to.”

“Great. First, practice is tomorrow at five.” It was early, but that was the only time that no classes ran. And if anyone wanted to join, they needed to commit to the time.

“Don’t I need to try out again?” He asked, voice softening, but still a little clipped.

“I know what you can do. There’s no need.”

The corners of his lips quirked up for the briefest moment.

“No need to worry about my brothers, either. If they try anything, I’ll handle them myself.” I needed to give him that reassurance. Because it was true. I wasn’t going to allow my siblings to fuck with him this time.

If it came down to it, I would kick them off the team, and then they would lose their scholarships. Without a way to pay for school, they would be kicked out.

I should have done that the first time, but I still had hope that they were decent people. But after another full year, I realized they weren’t.

He nodded at me and left. With Bryan on the team again, there was no way we were ever going to lose this year.

My brothers didn’t take practice seriously. Half of the time, they didn’t make it. That was going to change this year. I was instituting a new rule that all people who wanted to remain on the team must attend practices.

Last year, they never placed in a single meet. They just swam and then hopped out and acted as if they were gods. They weren’t. Most of the time, they were hung over and couldn’t care less about the team.

With them drinking now, I knew that they wouldn’t be able to make it to practice tomorrow. They were hammered before I left; there was no telling what level they were at now.

I pulled myself out of the pool, changed, and walked back to my dorm. I stared at the chaos that was now in my room.

Not only was there vomit on my bed, but a used condom was lying on the floor near the closet. I pulled it open and turned my nose up, there was cum all over my clothes. What in the fuck was the point of using a condom when you just pulled it off and jizzed all over my shit.

All I wanted to do was go to sleep, but I couldn’t do that with the state of my room. I threw all of the clothes that had jizz on them into my laundry basket. Then I pulled the blankets off my bed and threw them in there as well.

I grabbed my detergent and dryer sheets and made my way to the dorm basement, where the laundry facilities were.

I shoved everything into one washer, added the detergent, and put the water on hot. I wanted it as sanitized as possible.

I sat in a lawn chair, leaned against the wall, and closed my eyes. If I couldn’t spend any more time with Wakely, at least I could dream about her.