Distraction (45 page)

I relaxed my head against Tristan
'
s couch,
fighting back my mixed emotions. I
'
d called my mom more frequently, though she
'
d assured me
Heather was doing well. I even called our dad, and he too agreed Heather was
fine.

On several separate occasions, I
'
d asked if they
knew where she could be. My mom said she didn
'
t know, but that
she
'
d sounded happy over the phone when she'd talked to her. At
least I knew she talked to our mom and wasn't dead.

"Spud," Tristan said, his voice strained. I looked
over at him and the sympathy in his warm brown eyes drew a mist of tears in my
own.

"Yeah?" I worked
to keep my
voice even.

"Don
'
t worry so much. You
'
ve talked to both of your parents,
and they both said Heather's okay. They wouldn
'
t lie about
something like that."

While Tristan
's comment
s were sound, I still worried. Worrying was second nature
when it came to Heather. When we were kids, I
'
d worried about
her nightmares and endless amounts of tears when our parents fought. After a
while, I worried when she stopped showing outward signs of emotion.

By the time our parents' divorce was final and our dad had
moved away, Heather had stopped crying. Just like that. Then, I worried when
she stayed out all night partying. Not long after, she
'
d stay away for
weeks at a time. So yeah, worrying about my sister was something I did out of
habit, out of love and concern. How many times had I prayed to see her green
eyes shine or her smile, or hell, even her tears?

"
Elle?
" Tristan
'
s soft-spoken question brought me out of my daze. I looked
up. I hadn
'
t even noticed he moved to sit beside me on the couch. His
tender gaze turned the mist in my eyes to full-on tears.

"
Baby, don'
t cry." Tristan pulled me to him. His tight embrace
helped my desperate need, and I found myself letting go, falling even deeper
than I had.

A few more silent tears trickled down my cheeks. With
determination, I decided to give in. Folded in his embrace, I looked up.
Tristan
'
s eyes held mine, first in sympathy but as we continued our
gaze, sympathy faded, replaced by heat.

"
Elle,
" he whispered. His eyes moved down to my lips, then
back up, waiting for me to give him a sign to move forward.

Slowly, I reached up, seconds away from meeting his lips with
mine. A kiss I
'
d dreamt of since the first time he
'
d confessed how
he really felt. My eyes closed. His hot breath hovered over mine, and my heart
raced.

The most irritating sound interrupted us. S
omeone
bang
ed
on his
front door, shatter
ing the moment. With hesitation, I backed away.

"We should see who
'
s at the door," I said,
disappointed.

Tristan cleared his throat. "Yeah, I guess so."
Without another word, Tristan moved away, the separation sank in and my body
shivered.

Chapter
32

Tristan

Son of a bitch. Whoever the fuck was banging at my door was
for sure getting their ass kicked. I took a deep breath, calming the thunder of
beats in my chest.

"Daniels, open the door, man. I know you
'
re in there."
Bret
'
s voice boomed.

Anger flared inside of me as I gripped the doorknob, swinging
the door open wide.

"Dude, what the fuck took you so long?" Bret
'
s expression
changed at the heated look I gave him. "Oh, man, did I interrupt you?"
He grinned like a dumbshit.

"No, Bret, you didn
'
t
interrupt,
"
Elle said from behind. Her voice stayed cool and collected.

"Oh, it
's just you. Hey, Elle.
"
Bret shov
ed past me.

"Do you want anything to drink?"
Elle a
cted as if
nothing had happened between us. As soon as I was alone with Bret, I was going
to kick his stupid ass.

"Nah, I
'
m about to get my drink on." Bret turned to me, still
standing by the door. "
Dude, we
'
re throwing a party tonight before everyone heads out for
break. You
'
ve been MIA for too long. I have strict orders to bring your
ass." He paused, grinning. "Kicking and screaming if I have too."

"I
'
m staying here. I have one more final in the morning."
I
ignored Elle'
s stare. She and I had finished our last exam today, but more
importantly, I wanted to finish what we
'
d started a minute ago.

"No can do." Bret crossed his arms over his chest.

"Bret, you can take him." I turned and focused on
Elle. Face void of emotion, she finished. "Tristan, I need to pack for
home anyway, go have fun. Bret
'
s right, you haven
'
t been out much since you got hurt."
I continued to watch her, though she didn
'
t reveal any sign of wanting me to
stay.

"If that
'
s what you want?" I stared her down, hoping for one
goddamn minute she
'
d change her mind.

"Yeah, I may stop by when I
'
m done.
" She
shrugged her shoulders.

"Dude, what the hell are you waiting for?"

"Nothing, I guess." Nothing.

I stalked to my room, changing into the first thing I found.

"I
'
m riding with you," I declared, bee-lining it from my
room to the front door. I heard Bret say bye to Elle as I walked outside into
the cold December air. After Elle
'
s dismissal, I didn
'
t plan to stay sober any longer
than necessary. Wait, she asked. Fuck, I loved her, but how long was she going
to take?

Bret closed my front door and ran to his car. "Ready to
get hammered?"

"You have no idea."

People were crowded in both living rooms and music filled the
air when we walked in. The place hadn
'
t changed much. I
'
d come over a
few times after practices, but didn
'
t want to stay away from Elle any
longer than I had too. Basically I
'
d waited until I knew she
'
d be home before
leaving.

"Daniels," Jarred said, stumbling over.

"Good turnout," I said, ready to drink whatever he
was having.

"No shit. Get a drink. We
'
ve got a game
going on upstairs."

"All right, I
'
ll be up in a minute."

"Dude, grab me a cold one while you're at it," Bret
said, following Jarred.

I turned and headed for the kitchen. Inside, two chicks were
taking body shots from each other. I recognized the blonde from English class.
Bridget. She was always more than willing to help me…study. I pushed past a few
guys from the team, heading for the already made shots.

"If it isn
'
t Tristan Daniels," Bridget said. I looked up at the
blonde vixen. The way her eyes drifted over me, I could only imagine where her
thoughts were headed.

"Hey, nice shot," I said, earning me a come-fuck-me
smile.

"You wanna taste?" The
intent in her
gaze
was clear to read.

A guy from the team yelled, “Daniels, don’t be a pussy."
I figured, why the hell not.

"Don
'
t mind if I do," I said, walking closer. "What are
you serving?"

"Anything you want." I noticed her friend frowning
behind her and thought what the hell again.

"I
'
ll be sure to take your shot, too." I winked.
"Double the fun, what do you say, ladies?"

"Me first," Bridget said, lying down on the table.
I walked over, grabbed a shot of tequila and placed the glass between her perky
breasts.

"
Be still,
" I said, salting the area between my thumb and
forefinger. "Don
'
t want to spill anything." Before she could move, I licked
my hand, grabbed the shot glass with my lips, and tilted my head back. The burn
of liquor heated my throat. Taking the shot glass out of my mouth, I reached
down and sucked the lime between Bridget
'
s teeth.

Pulling away, I dropped the lime in my hand and turned to her
friend. "Next," I said with a smile. Bridget moved, not very
willingly, and her friend took her place.

"Ready?" I licked the salt, repeated the shot,
though Bridget's friend wrapped her arm around my neck and held on when I
sucked the lime from her teeth.

"Easy," I said, pulling away. "There
'
s enough of me
to go around, ladies, but I
'
ve got a game to play. We can pick this back up when I
'
m done.
"

The girls whined. I grabbed a few beers from the cooler and
walked away. Three shots down and more to go. Girls grabbed and pawed as I
walked by and up the stairs. It seemed like forever since I
'
d been laid.
Elle was
going to drive me crazy.

"About damn time," Bret said when I made my way up
the stairs.

"Sorry, man. I was doing body shots with Bridget and her
friend." I handed off a beer and kept the other two for myself.

"The hot chick with perky tits?" Jarred grinned.

"Yup," I said, popping the top off my beer.

"Lucky bastard."

"Luck's got nothing to do with it."

"Enough with the egos. Let’s finish this," Jarred
said, though a bit slurred.

We paired up. Bret and I stuck together waiting for our turn
to go. By the time I was up, I
'
d downed my two beers and was on my fifth shot when I heard
Robbie
'
s voice down stairs.

"Why the fuck is he here?"

"He
'
s part of the team, man," Bert said. Wait, I mean Bret.

"Who the fuck cares?" I didn
'
t give a shit
that Kellie cheated on me with him. I just didn
'
t like the cocky
prick, and from the sound downstairs, neither did the girl he talked to.

Someone said, "Hey, isn
'
t that Elle?
Green's out of the picture and Robbie pounces."

I rushed over to the edge and looked down. Sure enough, there
was Elle trying to push Robbie away. Reacting, I ran down the stairs two at
time. As I drew closer, I caught the end of what Robbie had said. "I know
you want this." That was all it took.

"Wrong thing to say, motherfucker." Not giving
Robbie time to react, I swung my fist around, clocking him in his jaw. He
stumbled back, but I didn
'
t stop. Advancing on him quickly, I reared back and punched
him again. This time in the nose. There was a crack and blood flowed.

"Tristan," Elle yelled. I turned, but seeing her
horrified expression only fueled my anger.

“You–" I started, but was cut off. Robbie slammed into
my side, shoving me against the wall. I kneed him, and he stepped back.

"I never did like you, and I
'
m gonna show
everyone what a fucking pussy you are." Robbie smiled, wiping blood from
his nose. "You can
'
t keep your bitches satisfied," he finished with a cocky
grin on his already bruised face.

"I
'
m going to give you one chance to walk away," I said,
slowly.

"Or what?" He stood taller. "Bring–"

I swung.

Same as on the field, everything around me faded into the
background. I zoned in on the person in front of me and rammed my fist into his
face once and then again. Blood splattered across his teeth. He swayed back and
forth, and I landed a fast uppercut under his jaw. Finally, he stumbled and
fell to the ground. I should have ended things there, but didn
'
t and began to
kick his left side over and over.