Protected (Book 1 in the Ariya Adams trilogy) (2 page)

“We talk every day
. How in the world did you not mention this already? When? What’s his name? How’d you meet him?” Excitement trickled from me and the questions came out at lightning pace.

“You’ve been so anti-guy since Derrick that I just thought I’d wait to bring it up until
we could gab again in person.”

That was true.
Being at a college that was seventy percent female, the choice of men to date was limited. Most of the ones around were so arrogant they weren’t worth the time. Derrick played intramural hockey, which is a staple for guys at Kingsbrook.
Hockey is to Kingsbrook College what football is to the University of Alabama, just without all the media attention, coverage, oh, and championship titles. The boys here tended to think they were on a big stage when they played, which did lead to some entertaining victory shuffles and antics.
It was an adjustment for me to focus on hockey, since I came from a football town, but it was actually really fun once I got into it.

Derrick was the goalie for one of the teams and we had gone out a few times. After the fourth date
, he looked at me over our dinner plates and said if I wasn’t going to put out, he was going to stop paying for all my “free” outings. That ended our romance quickly.

That wasn’t the only thing that had
turned me off from dating the boys here for a while. I watched most of my guy friends parade through girls like they were in a competition to see who could sleep with the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. I loved my guy friends. They were some of my closest friends, besides Caroline, but sometimes they were just pathetic.

Caroline
silently set the noodles in front of me, still not gushing about her new beau, so I decided to push her a bit more.

“Hellooooo, details please? Just because I don’t have someone to gab about doesn’t mean I can’t live vicariously through you. Come on! I wa
nt to know everything.”

It didn’t take much for her to o
pen up and I listened intently.

“His name is Nick. He
worked as a bartender across the street from Starbucks at a sushi place.” Caroline’s summer job at Starbucks made her my lifesaver during the school year with her barista skills. “We saw each other almost every day for two weeks, and then he walked in before his shift one day. We just started talking, and then hanging out and, well, you know…” She winked at me.

“So
, when do I get to meet him?” I asked, leaning on the counter eagerly.

“Actually, I wanted
to ask you about that. I want him to come up this weekend. Is that okay? I know it’s our first weekend back, but I would like him to meet everyone, and since things are relaxed with no classes, I figured it was the best time.” I knew he must be pretty serious if Caroline was inviting him up already. It meant she wanted to show him off a bit. Good for her; Caroline deserved it. She’d been single almost as long as I had, and while neither of us needed men in our lives to be happy, it was nice to think she had found someone. Plus, for her to be that attached to a guy was a first, at least that I had seen.

“What do you mean is that okay? I can’t wait to meet him!” A giggle escaped
me as my own reaction infused with her excitement.

“
And there’s something else, too.” She was grinning from ear to ear. My eyebrows shot up expectantly. “He’s thinking about transferring and I wanted him to get a feel for the place once students were back, you know? And meet the people he’d be seeing the most. Since everyone will be together, it just kind of made sense.”

“A senior who wants to transfer?
Whoa! You really reeled him in, huh?” I hollered. “This must be serious, Care.” I was excited for her. She was giddy for once and I loved it. Giddiness wasn’t an emotion Caroline displayed much.

“Good. The long distance thing is going to be hard and if he likes it here
, it’ll be so much easier.” I could tell she was glad at my reaction.

“When is he going to be here?” I glanced
over at the clock.

“He’ll be here in an hour.” I wasn’t s
urprised and laughed to myself.

She may be Miss Independent
, but like I said, when Caroline wanted something, she made it happen.

“Well
, I suggest we get ready now so we can head over to Ashley’s early once Nick gets here. You can show off a bit yourself. I’m sure her new guy has nothing on Nick.”

An hour later, Caroline introduced me to Nick. He was handsome, tall with a ripped, muscular frame, and had blond shaggy hair. We poured ourselves a drink and sat down in the living room to talk for a bit before getting dressed for the evening and heading to Ashley’s.

Nick was not shy
and had us all chatting away in easy conversation almost immediately. I could instantly see that he was exactly what Caroline looks for in her guys. The few crushes she admitted to having had all been the jock-type, but with intelligence. It was a nearly impossible combination to find. However, Nick seemed exceptionally bright when he spoke. I learned he played football at the college he was currently attending. He was the quarterback at a school further south, near Caroline’s hometown in Kansas. I hadn’t heard of his school before and barely remembered the name after he said it.

His interest in transferring was already surprising enough when Caroline first informed me that he was in his last year, but learning that he was also the starting quarterback made this entire thing mind-boggling. M
aybe Caroline really had cast a spell on him.

We bonded over football for a bit
and I filled him in on how hockey was the hot ticket here. He sounded like he really had his stuff together, plus he spent the summer employed full-time, which led me to believe he was hard-working, even in his free time. I know that is something Caroline values. Glancing over at Caroline every few minutes made me happy. She was glowing the whole time he was talking.
That girl is a goner,
I thought to myself.

Caroline excused the two of us so we could get ready
, telling Nick to make himself at home. She pulled me into her room, and shut the door.

“So?” s
he questioned anxiously.

“Two thumbs up.” Sticking my thumbs up to demonstrate caused the already large smile
on her face to grow even more. She pranced to the closet and flung a silver sequin top and a pair of skinny jeans at me.

“You know how I feel about sequins
.” I looked at her disgustedly.

“That’s what you’re wearing. It’ll look amazing
, and since I’m the only one with any sort of fashion sense, it’s what you’re stuck with,” she said, as she flitted through the closet for her own outfit. When she turned, I brought my hand up to salute.

“Aye-aye.”
Turning, I headed to the bathroom to throw everything on. Before shutting the door, Caroline barked out another ensemble order at me.

“Grab those black boots out of the
front closet when we leave and you’ll be set.”

“Have I told you how much I love you?” I
asked, poking my head out of the bathroom door.

“It’s obvious, now hurry up.” She
shooed me in to change and I quickly pulled on the clothes she had picked out for me.

The black boots were one of my many fashion enemies
. It was like a wrestling match to get them on and up over the jeans, but Caroline would murder me if I wasn’t victorious. I had to admit, I did tend to feel prettier when I put some effort into it, or rather when Caroline put some effort into it. Once the boots were on, I ran back to my room to apply some light make-up and take one last look at myself.
This is as good as it’s going to get,
I told myself, shrugging at my reflection.

We left the apartment and headed down the path behind our complex that led to Ashley’s place. She didn’t live in the same development
, but there was a path through the woods that would take us directly behind her apartment building. In a small college town, none of us were really that far from each other. It made our get-togethers that much easier.

We were early and the first ones to arrive for the night. Ashley acted
excessively enthusiastic about meeting Nick. She got the death glare a couple times, from Caroline, when she reached out to touch Nick’s arm. Beyond that there was no drama between the girls. I walked into the kitchen before hollering back to the group, asking if anyone wanted a drink. Of course there was a resounding, “yes,” from all of them. I quickly grabbed some cups, filled them up with beer from the keg, and handed them out to everyone.

It wasn’t long before more of our friends showed up.
I squealed when I felt arms wrap around me and lift me up off the ground. I turned my head to see that I was in the embrace of Riley Blake. Riley was my best friend besides Caroline. He dropped me to the floor and grabbed a cup off the counter, then reached over to the keg to pour himself a beer.

“Can you believe this is it?”

“No! Don’t tell me you’re going to go all mushy on me thinking you’re never going to see me again after graduation.” I laughed, pushing into him playfully.

“Please, you’d miss me too much if we never saw each other again.
Now, how about a celebration kiss for your favorite guy before our time runs out here?”

Riley was always trying to charm everyone around him. It usually worked
, too, because he could sweet talk his way in and out of just about anything. Teachers, police officers, and even parking cops were no match for Riley. I’d seen him weasel his way out of almost everything in the past three years that I’d known him.

Tall, dark, and handsome is how most people would describe him. He had hair that looked like a Ken
doll’s, maybe just a shade darker. Each strand always sat perfectly on top of his flawless head. His eyes were the lightest green I’d ever seen, and they stood out even more because of his dark head of hair. Besides being quite handsome, Riley was also an amazing athlete. He played left wing on his intramural hockey team.

He was one of the worst womanizers
, though, yet he was one of my favorite friends. No girl ever really seemed to stick for him. He was always finding some reason why they weren’t good enough. They’d start dating, seem to be getting along great, and then he’d be over at our place, telling us he was going to end things. He was always asking our advice for the best way to let whomever it was down easily.

I
had a soft spot for the wounded-guys-turned-jerks like Riley. He came to college with a serious girlfriend, who’d cheated on him midway through our first year. Caroline and I were the ones he opened up to. Well, I can’t say he really turned into a jerk. He was never mean. He just went through women relatively quickly.

I hit his arm at his kissing comment, knowing it was harmless, and changed the subject to his summer. After catching up, he noticed more people had arrived so he
bowed playfully and went to make his rounds. I headed to grab another beer and found Caroline was refilling her glass, also.

“Where’s Nick?”
I asked, looking around.

“He ran upstairs for a minute to use the bathroom. Isn’t he a dreamy? I’m so glad he actually came. I was worried
, now that the summer was over, it might be the end for us. He is talking about other things to do, though, like fall and winter-themed type things, so at least he is still interested!”

For a minute
, it almost seemed like Caroline was trying to be overly convincing about her relationship with Nick, but I shook off the feeing as soon as it came. What purpose would that serve? Plus he’s here, what would she be making up? It felt strange having even thought of something like that about her.

“Of course he is
still interested. Why wouldn’t he be? You’re perfect. Also, I think that’s the first time you’ve used the word
dreamy
in a non-mocking Ariya tone. Are you drunk?” She stuck her tongue out at me and stepped around to stand next to me.

“Have you seen Ashley’s guy yet?”

“No, but I’m sure we’ll be introduced the second he arrives. How does she meet all of these guys, seriously?” We started giggling and, as if on cue, Ashley walked up.

“Hey gals!
This here is Devon. He is new this year, just a babe sophomore. I thought it’d be fun to invite him over and show him around.”

It took everything in me not to look at Caroline and burst out laughing at that moment
, but I just shook the flavor-of-the-month’s hand and said, “Welcome to Kingsbrook.” He looked pleasant enough with his luscious lips, ruffled brown hair, and dark brown eyes. At first glance, he was fairly attractive. It seemed funny that he was only a sophomore. He looked much older than that.

Something unsett
ling passed over me when he smiled at me and I scolded myself for making any kind of judgment about him before we’d even spoken. Just because he hopped on the Ashley Train didn’t mean he was a bad guy. Flashing a quick smile back, I turned to see if Caroline had noticed anything off as well. She was acting as normal as ever. Well, as normal as she ever acted around Ashley. It must have been just be me.

“How’d you all meet?” Curiosi
ty was getting the better of me. We had only been back a couple hours and already we were being introduced to someone new.

“Oh
, well, I met Devon hiking a couple weeks ago.”

“Hiking?” Caroline and I said in unison
. I couldn’t help the eye contact on that one. Ashley didn’t normally do outdoorsy things like hike.

“Yep.”
She smiled sweetly at Devon, who was smirking at me with an intensity behind his eyes that was making me a bit uncomfortable. Ashley seemed to notice.

“We hit it off right away
, right babe?” Devon’s eyes flicked back to her and his smirk turned into more of a devilish grin. He didn’t answer her, though.

She clearly wanted to parade him around as much as possible
. We didn’t even finish the conversation before she was dragging him away. Or perhaps it was due to the fact that Devon kept staring at me. Maybe this outfit looked strange or something. Ashley excused them.

“Well, on to more introductions. I’
m sure we’ll see ya’ll later.”

“That was weird,” I whispered to Caroline wondering if she too had noticed the attention Devon had bee
n giving me.

“Huh? What was weird?” s
he replied a bit too quickly, which didn’t fit the casual tone she’d used in the question. Apparently, she didn’t think anything was off at all. I was probably losing my mind, or maybe the beer was getting to me. I shrugged it off and saw Nick walking back over to us. He kissed Caroline’s forehead and bent down to grab more beer. While he was leaning over, I saw Riley coming back towards us also.

“Ariya!
I’ve been looking for you. I wanted you to meet a friend of mine, James Rymer. He just joined the hockey team and I told him he had to meet our cheerleaders.”

I made a face at him for the cheerleader comment before turning to see
who I was being introduced to.

I
f I thought Caroline and Ashley had handsome men on their arms, I couldn’t even think of a word to describe James. His light brown hair fell in his face ever so slightly and beautiful, light blue eyes with darker spots scattered throughout them looked back at me. I’d never seen eyes like his before. His skin was flawless and his jaw defined. He was taller than me by a good bit. I am five-foot, eight inches, but had to tilt my head back slightly to see all of him. He had to be well over six feet tall.

James was wearing a black shirt that hugged his chest
. I could tell he wasn’t overly buff, but he was defined, broad shouldered, and solid. My breath caught for a minute and I tried to recover swiftly.

I reac
hed out my hand, “Ariya Adams.”

He smiled out of the side of hi
s mouth, and just said, “James.”

His voice was low and strong. It’s the kind of voice I imagine women think a man has when fantasizing about being whisked away by the guy off the cover of a romance novel. I tried to think of something clever to say
, but my brain fogged. What was wrong with me? I’d never acted like this around a guy.

“Are you new here?” I managed to pull myself together
enough to start a conversation.

“Sort of.
I’ve been here before, but decided to come back and finish up my last year of school here.” His eyes danced like he had a private joke about just being here for his senior year. I was surprised at how many new introductions were taking place today. That’s two guys who transferred in, which in and of itself was weird, and now here’s another one thinking about it. For a small college I thought that was a lot, especially since I don’t think we’d met anyone new since we were freshman. So far, we appeared to be off to an exciting, final year.

“Where were you before?” I continued
, not wanting to stop the conversation with him. His voice was captivating.

“I was working and just taking night classes in the city.”
His answer was short, but since he wasn’t leaving the conversation, I assumed he was simply shy. What city was he referring to?

“Neat.”
Neat? I seriously needed someone to save me from myself. Fortunately, Riley spoke up, ever the lifesaver.

“
Yeah, James is going to play right wing on the team. We’re gonna be the dynamic duo on the ice this year. You should have seen him at practice this morning. He scored about three times on Johnny.”