Hooped #2 (The Hooped Interracial Romance Series #2)

HOOPED
#2

The
Hooped Series Book #2

BAD
BOY FRAT

By
Claire Adams

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Claire Adams

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Chapter
One

For an instant, all I could do was stand there and
stare. It was worse than Devon telling me outright that he wasn’t actually
interested in me, somehow. I felt my eyes stinging, a lump forming in my
throat, and before I could actually start crying, I turned on my heel and
started walking the other way.

There had to be another exit from the
arena,
I thought frantically, as I felt the
first of my tears rolling down my cheek. My vision blurred; I tried to keep
moving forward fast enough for the few people who might be in the arena
still—the staff and the security—to not see the fact that I was starting to
cry. I kept walking as fast as I could, blind as more and more tears started to
fill my eyes.
Oh
god,
if I keep walking I’m going to go in a circle and be right
there in front of him again
, I thought, wiping at my face and taking a deep
breath to stop the hiccupping feeling of
sobs
working up through my throat. I shook my head, swallowing hard, and finally
found the exit doors.

I plunged through them without even looking
around
me, hurrying out into the night. I
didn’t know how it was that Devon kissing some girl was worse than actually
being rejected by him, but somehow it seemed to me that it was a sign as clear
as day that he didn’t care about me at all. If he had, if I was more than just
a notch
in
his bedpost, then he wouldn’t
be kissing someone—would he? I shuddered, gasping as I tried to keep control of
myself. There wasn’t anyone around the arena that I could see, but I wasn’t in
the state of mind to really even pay attention. All I wanted to do was get back
to my dorms and bury myself under my covers.

Part of me wanted to be absolutely alone, left to my
misery. The other part of me wanted to be able
to
at least talk
to someone about what had happened. I started walking
across campus towards the dorms, not even caring that I was by myself, not even
worried about the imaginary monsters that lurked in the dark spaces between the
safety lamps that shone down on the walkways. I took a turn automatically and
fumbled at my pocket. I wanted to be
alone,
but I had to tell someone. I could only think of one person that I could
possibly talk to about what had happened, what I had seen.

I nearly dropped my phone in my nerveless, shaking
hands and made myself stop. I was far enough away from the arena that there was
no chance I could run into Devon leaving; I sat down on one of the benches,
shivering and shuddering as sobs ripped up through my throat. I curled in on
myself; I could still feel the tenderness, the ache between my legs, I could
still feel the soreness in my hips. It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four
hours since I had had sex with Devon, and he was already onto the next girl,
kissing someone as if he were as single as ever. Obviously I hadn’t meant
anything to him at all. Clearly everyone had been right about him. He was just
interested in getting me to have sex with him, and now that he had I might as
well not exist at all.

I sat crying for a little while—how long I couldn’t
tell—gasping for breath as I sobbed. It hadn’t meant anything at all to him;
all of his
gentleness
, how sweet he had
been to me. All along, Devon had just been looking to get laid. The muscles in
my abdomen started to ache from how hard I was crying; it slowly dawned on me
that even though the campus was almost a ghost town, with everyone out partying
or in the dorms or the Library, it didn’t mean that no one would come across me
bawling my eyes out. I had to get back to the dorms, where at least I could be
miserable in relative privacy.

I took a deep breath, gulping down the lingering tears
and unlocking my phone screen. I sniffled, trying to keep some kind of
composure, as I went through my contacts. I didn’t want to be all alone, but I
couldn’t think of anyone at all that I could actually talk to about what had
happened. Almost no one knew how much having sex with someone would have
mattered to me; I hadn’t exactly made it public that I was still a virgin when
I started college. I stopped when I came to Kelly’s contact information. She
was the only one who knew what was happening; she was the only one who knew
that I’d slept with Devon. She had been the one to warn me about him first. She
was the one I trusted the most. I opened up a text message and took another deep,
shuddering breath.

I’m
sorry for yelling at you before,
I wrote.
You were totally right.
I feel so shitty right now.
I could use a
friend if you’re not still mad at me.
I hit send and looked around; it was
a little bit creepy, the longer I stayed in the deserted part of the campus,
how empty it was. During the day, there were people going to classes, people
heading off campus to go to jobs or internships; now everything was dark, and
while at least no one got to see me crying like a stupid kid, even the moths
flying up into the safety lights looked sinister. I swallowed the lump in my
throat, exhaling slowly.

I nearly shrieked when my phone vibrated in my hands,
and then started to cry over how stupid it was to be surprised when I had just
texted someone. I opened my screen again; it was Kelly, just like I should have
known it was.
Of
course,
I’ll hang out. We’ll pig out and watch stupid trashy TV,
get your mind off of things.
I smiled to myself, wiping at my leaking eyes
and dripping nose. I was so relieved that Kelly wasn’t still mad at me for
going off on her that morning. But of course, she’d been right; why would she
be mad about that?

I wrote back that I’d meet her at the dorm and got up.
My legs felt weirdly unsteady underneath me, and as I started off across campus
once
more
I was unable to keep my brain
from running around in circles. I remembered everything that the other girls
had said about him: “He says
exactly
what
a girl wants to hear,” “He acts like everything she says is interesting,” “He
pretends like he never even met her.” I shook my head as my eyes began to sting
again, telling myself not to lose it before I got back to my room.

Somehow, in spite of the fact that I had managed
for weeks
to get from one end of the campus to
the other just fine, I found myself lost in the twists and turns of the
walkway. I groaned in frustration as I retraced my steps and found my way back
to the main strand leading from the class buildings to the dorms, thankful that
at least I hadn’t worn my stupid boots to the game. But the thought of the
boots made me think of Devon, and my little flirting gripe to him about my feet
the night before, and I found myself crying again; crying because I was lost,
because I hated Devon, because I’d been stupid enough to have sex with a guy
who didn’t even care about me and give him my virginity. All of that time that
I’d put off having sex with someone because I wanted it to be right, and it had
all gone through the window in the span of a couple of hours with Devon
sweet-talking and flirting.

I finally found my way back to the dorms and managed
to swipe my ID card at the door, my legs throbbing from all the standing and
walking I had done. I got onto the empty elevator, thinking that I almost would
have preferred to just not even tell Kelly about what had happened, that I
should have kept it all to myself. Then no one would know about how stupid I
had been. I shivered in the elevator, hot and cold at the same time, berating
myself for being naïve. How could I have even thought that a guy like Devon was
interested in anything other than sex? Even before Kelly’s warning and what our
other friends had said, I’d heard that Devon slept around.
Oh
god,
we didn’t even use a
condom. “He’s probably crawling with STDs.” Shit, I have to get tested.
God,
how am I even going to explain it to the
nurse?
 
I swallowed against the tight
feeling in my throat, praying that no one would be in the hallway on my floor.

For once, things turned out the way I wanted; the
floor was absolutely deserted, everyone out partying or in their rooms
studying. I hurried down the hallway and fumbled with my keys, almost dropping
them just like I had my phone before I managed to get the door unlocked. Kelly
hadn’t come back yet, which for a second seemed strange; I must have been
wandering around campus less than I thought.

I threw myself down onto the couch and closed my eyes,
giving into the tears that I’d been holding back the entire time I’d been
trying to get back to my room. Kelly would be back soon, and then I could tell
her everything, and somehow she’d have the right advice for me. We’d pig out on
junk food, and watch trashy TV, and I would be able
just to put
the whole stupid mess behind me.

I stopped crying long enough to go into my part of the
suite and rummage in my closet for my secret stash of goodies. If I ever needed
them, this night was the night. I pulled everything out, my hands shaking and
my eyes aching from how much I had already cried: Oreos, Goldfish crackers,
candy bars. I gathered it all up into my arms and stumbled back out into the
common area, nearly tripping over my own feet as I made my way back to the
couch. I turned the TV on and tried to decide what I wanted to watch, ripping
open the Oreos and crunching into one even as I shook. I had been such an
idiot. I had been such a tool. How would I have given into Devon so easily? Any
other guy I met I would have been able to cut things off at making out. I could
have told him that I just wasn’t feeling it, and then gone home. If I hadn’t
been so dazzled by the fact that he had been paying attention to me, I’d have
actually used my brain, instead of thinking with my hormones.

I sniffled, reaching out blindly for the
tissues,
and blew my nose as I flipped through
the channels, wishing that Kelly would hurry up. I just wanted the whole night
to be over; I wanted to pretend like I hadn’t even met Devon. I wanted to
pretend like nothing had happened. I knew that I couldn’t, and I knew that I
would be just as miserable when Kelly got back from wherever she was, but at
least if Kelly was there I could tell someone how miserable I was. I started
crying again when my channel surfing brought me to a replay of a history-making
basketball game.
Oh god, I can’t even
think about basketball without feeling like a stupid idiot,
I thought,
changing the channel quickly onto something else. Kelly couldn’t get back to
the dorms fast enough.

Chapter
Two

“Hey, girl,” Kelly said, coming into the room quickly
and sitting down next to me. “I ordered us a pizza with the works. Do you want
a beer
? I have some in my room.” I shook my
head, curling up against her on the couch.

“I just want to wake up tomorrow morning and have this
whole stupid thing be a dream that never actually happened.” Kelly hugged me,
rubbing my shoulder.