Alley-Oops I Think I'm Falling in Love (With the Wrong Guy)

| ROSCOE |

Whitney was going to be on my ass about Aria, I already knew. So, I didn't give her a heads up. Things with her were... complicated.

Whitney was attractive. No doubt. She had daddy's money confidence. She wasn't beautiful, nor was she cute — that was too wholesome — she just had an aura about her.

Old Whitney basked in the knowledge that she was getting looked at. That's all it was, mutual appreciation. Lately though, her game had shifted, she was trying to put me on. Logically, I could dig it — we were friends, she had clout, and her dad was offering me the keys to the kingdom, a vast network of collegiate connections. All I had to do was date his daughter.

I don't know why I was dragging my feet. Maybe my heart wasn't in it, but that hadn't stopped me before. I suspected it had something to do with Coach's feelings about her, he wasn't a fan. He never came right out and said it, but... I could tell.

I didn't want to care so much about Coach's approval. It was annoying AF. That pull felt like a collar coiled around my neck. I tried everything to snap that tether between us, but that shit was seared into me. Fact was, he was all I had left of my old man. Coach's approval was the closest thing I'd ever get to his.

So tell me why he liked Aria so much. She hated my guts. We had nothing in common. I'd tried to tame that shrew and things were even worse than when I started. Since Zaire's party, she couldn't even look at me.

I rolled my shoulders at the memory, hoping to dispel it. That girl was strange brew, man. I spent damn near everyday with her and I still couldn't tell you what she was on.

Somehow she bedazzled her victims with witty snapbacks and earnestness, but I rarely saw that side of her. Lurking beneath the warm exterior was a stone cold killer — she had fangs.

I left my J's by the door and headed for the basement. Whitney and Allie were still stumbling through Taylor's garage, complaining about their sodden hair. Normally, I'd wait for them, but I needed to do a little damage control before things got out of hand.

I trusted that Taylor could handle his shit, he knew what was at stake, but I still had to point him in the right direction. Aria was a problem — you never knew if you were dealing with timid little mouse or feral cat Aria.

I thunked down the stairs and rounded the bend. I plucked at my pocket, stashing my phone away, when I entered the theater. 

I fully expected Aria to still be at the outermost tip of the couch, looking as uncomfortable as a man sitting bare ass on a cactus. Only, she wasn't there anymore.

My eyes flicked over the sofa and widened when they found her.

I stiffened.

It felt like I got sucker punched.

Blinking to clear my vision, I snapped my mouth shut. Heat roiled beneath my skin and my fists clenched of their own volition.

Aria was tangled in Taylor's arms. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. It just looked... wrong. Aria didn't... she wasn't... bleh! Aria was one of us, I didn't even know she liked dudes.

But... now that it was shoved right under my nose, yeah, I guess there'd been signs. She always smiled whenever Taylor came around.