Distraction (36 page)

"Only nice?" Her challenging tone made me looked
up.

"What did you expect me to say? We had a good time. The
date was nice."

Alyssa tilted her head, sizing me up. "Whatever. I
thought that was pretty cool of Tristan." She flung her hair over her
shoulder.

I knew what she was getting at. I refused to
giv
e her the
satisfaction of seeing me squirm. I shrugged my shoulders and started reading
again, the same paragraph, until someone opened our bedroom door.

"Do you think Tristan will like this?"
Ginger
walk
ed
into our room. I dog-eared my page and sat up. She had on a very tight navy
blue shirt with a short skirt, even though you could freeze meat outside due to
the cold temps. Her look screamed “I want to have dirty, hot sex with you"
and I wanted to
reach over and, and…
hurt her. U
gh. Thankfully, Alyssa spoke before I did.

"You look just like the tramp you are, Ginger."
Alyssa
'
s smile was as fake as they came, and Ginger looked ready to
strike back. What had Ginger expected Alyssa to say?

"Whatever."
Ginger storm
ed out of our
room. Alyssa and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"I wonder where Tristan's taking her?" I only half
wanted to know.

"I think to dinner and then to the party at the frat
house." It wasn
'
t what she said but how she said it, like no big deal. I
guessed to her, their date wasn
'
t a big deal. It shouldn
'
t be, but
Tristan was going out with Ginger. My stomach hurt just thinking about what
they'd do together.

"Are you and Eric gonna go to the party?"

Before I could stop myself, I said, "Yep."

I stood and headed for the shower. Tristan had barely escaped
from a psychotic relationship and even if we weren
'
t together, I
could at least warn him about Ginger. Right? Friends looked after each other,
didn
'
t they?

Chapter
24

Tristan

At seven, I picked up Ginger. From the way her clothes fit,
she looked more than ready to get started on our hot date. I couldn't help
asking about
Elle
.

"She's getting ready for her date."

I kept my expression cool, ignoring t
he ache
inside.

Ginger moved closer, stepped on her tiptoes, and whispered,
"Let
'
s get out of here."

"Sounds good."
I
took a healthy
step back.

Ginger wasn
'
t impressed with my restaurant choice. Caboose was loud, fun,
and the food was pretty good. More importantly, there was zero chance Ginger
would find the place romantic. When she argued with me, I tried convincing her
we could have fun.

"We can play some games. It'll be great."

She frowned. Apparently playing games was beyond her.

"Tristan this place is only fun if you
'
re five."
She rolled her eyes. It took all I had to not laugh.

"Where
'
s your inner kid. Come on, our table
'
s ready."
Ginger walked past me. Her hips swayed and her ass bounced. She did have a nice
ass. When I finished with my order, she only ordered a salad with light
dressing. Go figure.

"Will that be all?" I looked up and the waitress
blushed.

I winked. "I think that
'
s all we need
for now."

"O-okay," she said.

"Yeah, you can leave," Ginger said, clearly
irritated. Our cute waitress took off in a hurry.

"Was that necessary?" Ginger looked confused. I
nodded toward the waitress. "For you to be a bitch to her. She was doing
her job."

Ginger glared. "She was totally checking you out."
She leaned forward, her cleavage pressing together, and smiled. "Tonight,
you're mine."

I didn't necessarily like being a dick, but she seemed to
bring the best out of me. I leaned forward, smiled and said, "Don't
confuse this," I spread my arms out wide, "for something it isn't."

"We'll see."

She moved back as the waitress set our food on the table. I
only half listened to the conversation during dinner. As much as I tried, I
just couldn't stop thinking about Elle and her date. What happened between them
after I left? I'd just finished my last taco when I heard Ginger huff. I looked
up.

"
Hello
? Earth to Tristan." Ginger scowled.

"Yeah?"

"I asked if you were ready to go. God, where were you
just then?"

"Oh, sorry. Just thinking about my next game."

Ginger tossed her hair over her shoulder and leaned closer to
me. Her eyes blazed with intent. "Let
'
s get out of
here," she said, low and husky.

I cleared my throat. "Sure," I said, leaving a nice
tip on the table. The poor waitress had earned the extra amount after dealing
with Ginger.

Outside a cold wind blew and I hurried back to my car. I
opened the door for Ginger and then grit my teeth when she raked her finger
down my stomach.

"
Thanks,
" she said. Thankfully, she got in without further
groping.

I took long, deep breaths before opening my door. Once
inside, I made sure to keep my hands on the wheel and nowhere near the willing
redhead next to me.

At the party, I thought I was home free. No such luck. A few
girls asked me to dance, but Ginger wrapped her arm around my waist. After
that, Ginger
'
s hands roamed my body. I
'
d need a shower
to get her too-sweet perfume off me.

I spotted Jarred in the next room. He raised his drink in the
air when he caught Ginger running her fingers through my hair. I forced her
hands away, but she didn
'
t get the hint. I scanned the room, looking for someone to
dump her off on. Anthony Butts, a guy from the team, sat alone in the next
room. I waved him over, but was disappointed when a freshman walked up and
wrapped her arms around him.

"Tristan, would you get me a drink?" Ginger leaned
so close I could smell her scented lip gloss, reminding me of Kellie. My
stomach rolled.

"Be right back."

"I
'
ll be right here waiting for you," she said, batting her
lashes.

I shuddered as soon as I was out of sight. In the kitchen, I
poured myself a double shot of Patron, downing the clear liquid in one gulp.

"Dude, how
'
s the date?"
Bret slamm
ed his hand on
my back. I coughed, choking on the burn from the shot. I quickly drank the beer
I
'
d gotten for
Ginger to help me breathe.

"Asshole," I said when I could talk again.

"I guess you
'
re not being subtle enough. She
'
s still waiting
for you." Bret winked. I peeked around his big-ass head and sure enough,
Ginger stood right where I
'
d left her.

"Great. I thought you said she
'
d get tired of
me." I didn
'
t know what to do by that point. If taking her to a kid place
wouldn
'
t get her to leave, then bringing her here wasn
'
t going to do
any better.

"Don
'
t know, man. She
'
s your problem now."

"
Thanks,
" I said, grabbing another beer.

"Anytime."

When I walked out, I almost turned back around. Ginger looked
at me as though she’d been starved, which she probably was. She
'
d only eaten half
her salad.

"
Thanks,
" she purred. I looked around the room hoping to find
something to distract her.

"Hey, let
's dance
," she said, pulling me with her.

"
I don't dance.
" I thought that would work. Nope.

Ginger was grinding on me hard. I tried to ignore the effect
of her rubbing against me, but I was a guy. I shifted away.

"I
'
m gonna sit for a while."

I started toward the living room, ready to check out as soon
as I could, but she grabbed my arm, and spun me around.

"Don
'
t you think I
'
m pretty?"

See, shit like that got to me. Ginger knew she was pretty, in
fact she was pretty hot, but got off on guys telling her she was attractive
anyway.

"
I guess,
" I said, backing up, but hit a wall. I was stuck.

"
You guess?
" She pouted and fluttered her lashes at me.

"Yeah, I guess. I
'
m kinda tired, you ready to go?"

Ginger moved back a little, her eyes narrowing into slits.
"What
'
s wrong with you, Tristan? I
'
ve been flirting
with you all night."

"Listen. There
'
s nothing between us and never will
be." I caught a glimpse of someone standing off to the side, but I didn
'
t look over to
see who it was. "We should end the date now. I
'
m not into you."
That pissed her off. I should
'
ve just told her that to begin with.

"Is there someone else?" She crossed her arms, and
I couldn't help but notice the way it made her tits almost fall out of her
tight shirt.

"That
'
s none of your business."

She gave a supercilious laugh. "Who is it?" Her
eyes widened. “Oh, my God. You're into
Elle, aren't you?
"
Her
face turned
red, and her eyes darkened. "What's so special about her? She
'
s plain and way
inexperienced, but me..." She moved right up on me, rubbing her hands on
my chest. "I'm–"

"
Ginger
." I grabbed
her hands
, holding them
together. "Not gonna happen." I dropped her hands, and she backed
away, crossing her arms over her chest again.

"Maybe I should tell Eric about your feelings for Elle.
Or
–
"

"Well, well, if it isn
'
t the slut of
Tech." Alyssa sauntered up to us, toying with the charm on her necklace
chain.

"This is none of your business. Go away." Ginger
glared.

I couldn't have been happier to see Amazon.

"If you want to keep that pretty little face of yours,
I'd suggest you back the fuck off." Alyssa moved in
Ginger
's face.

Had it been any other chick, I would
'
ve been all for
a fight, turned on by it even, but it was Alyssa and I just couldn't.

"Tristan is a good guy so back the hell away."

Okay, I never thought I
'
d hear those words come out of
Alyssa
'
s mouth, but that had done the trick. Ginger pushed past her
and into the crowd.

I leaned against the wall and smiled. "So you think I
'
m a
good guy, huh?
" I lifted my brow.

"If you tell anyone, I
'
ll deny it."

I reached out and wrapped one arm around her head, using the
other to give her a good noogie.

"
Geez
,
Tristan, don'
t you know what a shower is? You
'
re pits are
terrible, and you better not have messed up my hair."

I let her go, liking our new truce. We were standing by the
door when I heard Elle
'
s voice. I backed up just enough to keep in the shadows. Elle
held Green's hand. Her smiling face glowed, crushing my hope of us being
together in the process.

Alyssa turned back and gave me a small smile, sadness pouring
from her eyes. She didn
'
t hesitate and walked over, pushing Elle into another room.
My stomach knotted, and before any other shit happened, I got the hell out of
there.