Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1) (23 page)

“Fuck off, Axe.”

“Don’t start,” their mother warned.

Picking up his fork again, Parker plunged it into the top of his egg and rich, yellow yolk spilled out. “We’re going into town,” he said, voice calm although she could feel the tension in his muscles.

After breakfast, Parker deflated the mattress and rolled it into a corner, before they both got ready to leave. Ducking back into the main room to grab her handbag, she found the men all sat in front of the TV. Bending down to pull her bag out from behind the sofa, where Parker had stashed their things, she felt a sharp slap on her arse. Spinning around, she glared at Axel, who smirked back at her.

“Touch me again and I’ll break your nose,” she snapped.

“Feisty, I like that.”

Watching him cautiously, she was careful to keep her distance as she skirted around him to get to the door. Finding Parker waiting outside playing with Boone, she opened her mouth to tell him, but then shut it again. This family had enough problems.

“Ready, sugar?” he asked, throwing the deflated football once more for the dog before wiping his hand on his jeans and holding it out to her. Leading her round the side of the trailer, he said, “Let’s go for a ride.”

Pulling away a length of water-proof sheeting to reveal a rusting motorbike amid the rest of the junk, he handed her the helmet that had been fastened to the handlebars.

Staring at it uncertainly, she glanced at him, “Is it safe?”

Giving the handlebars a shake, he smirked, “She’s sturdy as anything.”

She didn’t know what that expression was supposed to mean, but she nodded anyway, pulling on the helmet as he wheeled the bike away from the debris surrounding it. Stepping back out of the way, she had to smile at the sight of him straddling the machine, looking gorgeous in a bad boy sort of way.

How did she get so lucky?

“What the hell?”

She had been too busy noticing how sexy he was to realize that he’d been trying to start the bike and clearly failed. Kicking the stand back into place, he swung his leg over to get off and hunkered down to see what was wrong.

Almost immediately his face clouded over and he stood abruptly. “Those assholes!” Yanking off the helmet, she ran after him as he stormed back around the trailer and slammed open the front door, demanding, “Which one of you fuckers stripped my bike?”

“You weren’t using it,” Axel said calmly, taking a long drag of his cigarette.

“You get good money for spare parts,” Conner put in, backing his eldest brother.

“They weren’t spare,” Parker yelled, “my bike doesn’t work now.”

“So, use the fancy ass car out front.”

Lobbing the bike keys violently at his brother, he snarled, “You might as well sell the rest of it.” Turning around, he took her arm and steered her back out of the door, but then he spun around suddenly and pointed a fingers at his brothers. “And if you mess with Jet’s car I’ll call the fuckin’ cops.”

“Ooohhh, big man.” They laughed as he left, but from the look on his face Chloe didn’t think he was joking.

Getting in the car, he slammed the door with more force than necessary and the whole vehicle quaked. He was seriously pissed. Quietly slipping in beside him, she fastened her seatbelt as he brought the car to life. Driving without a word, he kept his eyes fixed determinedly on the road, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

“Let’s park up somewhere,” she suggested, once they were out of the trailer park. He didn’t answer, but a little further down the road which led to the main street, he turned onto a dirt track which eventually led them to a pond surrounded by trees.

Once the car was in park, Chloe unbuckled herself and climbed into his lap. It was a tight squeeze, with the steering wheel digging into her back, until Parker reached down to pull the leaver which slid the seat backwards. Twining her arms around his neck, she leant in for a kiss, the stubble on his unshaved face scraping against her as they made out.

Running his hands up and down her thighs, he grabbed her denim clad arse and pulled her closer, before sliding his hands up the back of her shirt to caress the line of her spine. His calloused hands against her bare skin made her shiver, melting against him, but when he tried to pull her shirt up, she broke the kiss, grabbing his hands.

“Someone could see us,” she panted, glancing reflexively out of the window.

“This could be the last chance we get until we get back to campus,” he tried to tempt her, kissing her neck seductively.

“I’m sure you can last a week without sex.” Right now though, with his hands roving all over her, she wasn’t sure if she could.

“No one will see us,” he whispered in her ear like the devil. “No one comes out this way, just horny school kids that want to do the same thing as us.”

“You brought me to a make-out spot?”

“Damn right.” Scraping his teeth along her jaw, he began easing her shirt up again and this time she let him.

How did he talk her into being so reckless and irresponsible?

Several more items of clothes later and they were being even more reckless and irresponsible and it felt amazing!

Despite her initial reservations, they spent the morning by the pond, talking, making love and swimming in the cool water. Laughing as Parker splashed around in the pond, Chloe lounged in the shade of a big tree; she hadn’t brought any sun-cream on their little day trip and she didn’t want to ruin it by getting burnt. Climbing out of the water, he shook his head like a dog, spraying water all over her.

“Thanks for that,” she grumbled.

“Thought you looked a bit hot,” he smirked back at her.

“Oh, I am.” She skimmed her hands down her stomach to tease him, before jumping up just as he reached for her and darting out of reach. “I’m hungry, let’s go get something to eat.”

“Sex first,” he growled stalking towards her.

“We’ve had sex three times already, I’m wasting away.”

His eyes roved over her, hot and appreciative, making her thighs clench. “Sugar, that’s the one thing you’re not.”

A few months ago a comment like that would have made her self-conscious, but she knew how much he loved her curves and so she smiled, insisting, “I am really hungry.”

Sighing, like a little boy denied a treat, he said, “Pass me my jeans then.”

Going over to the car, she found his jeans in the footwell and turned around to find that he’d striped off his wet boxers and was standing there butt naked for the whole world to see.

“What are you doing?” she squealed, tossing his jeans at him, looking around despite the fact that they hadn’t seen anyone here all morning, just as he’d predicted. “Put your clothes on!”

“What do you think I’m doing?” he laughed, pushing one leg in and then the other before pulling the denim up to cover himself.

Once they were both dressed and back in the car, Parker headed off towards the main street, where they parker up and headed towards a small, homey diner. Escorted to a booth in the back, the only place left since the place was bursting at the seams, Parker pushed a menu over to her as he slid in opposite, his outstretched legs brushing hers beneath the table.

“They have the best cheeseburger you’ll ever eat here,” he said.

By best he clearly meant biggest, because twenty minutes later a burger the size of her head was placed in front of each of them, with a generous helping of chips – or fries she should say – in case someone actually had room to eat them after devouring that whopper of a burger.

Tucking into his immediately, Parker groaned around a mouthful of beef and cheese, closing his eyes briefly as he chewed. He always ate as if each meal were his last. Smiling to herself, she squashed down her burger, before lifting it to her mouth and taking a huge bite.

Since they both had their cheeks stuffed full of food, it was very awkward when a balding middle-aged man with a beer belly and sweat patches appeared at their table, holding his arms out wide and exclaiming in a booming voice, “Parker Mitchell, I’ll be damned. What you doin’ back in this shithole, my boy?”

“Christmas… holidays…” Parker garbled around his mouthful, his jaw working as he chewed quickly, before swallowing hard and taking a gulp of his drink.

“Ahh, good, good.” The man clapped him heartily on the back when he coughed, having swallowed too much at once. “I thought for a minute you were back to work at the factory with your Pa, but I shoulda known better. You’re a good boy, you are, not like those waste of space brothers of yours. Gonna make somethin’ of your life, you are.” Grabbing Parker’s shoulder, he gave him a shake, a large smile on his face, “Couldn’t be prouder if you were my own son.”

“Thanks, Coach. That means a lot.” Parker smiled, scooting over so that the other man could sit with them. Reaching for her hand across the table, he squeezed her fingers, before saying, “Coach, this is Chloe, my girlfriend.” Though it was blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes, she loved it when he introduced her as his girlfriend.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am. You must be a special one and I can see why.” Winking at her, he turned to ask Parker, “What did you do to get a pretty girl like her?”

“I’m fuckin’ lucky.”

A sharp slap to the back of his head, delivered with such speed that he didn’t see it coming. “Watch your language around the young lady,” Coach admonished sternly.

Catching his eye as he rubbed his head, Chloe lifted her eyebrows and smirked at him. He scowled at her in return. 

Ordering himself a drink, Coach – neither of them volunteered another name – sat with them while they ate, regaling her with stories of Parker as a teenager, when he had coached him in High school. From the way Parker interacted with the other man, she could tell that he had a lot of respect for him.

Once they had finished and were heading their separate ways down the street, Parker explained, “He was like a father to me. Without him I never would have gotten into football, or become as good as I am. He’s the one who pushed me to apply for university, he helped me fill out all the forms to get the scholarship. I don’t know where I’d be without him. He saw something in me when no one else did.”

“I guess I should thank him then,” Chloe smiled, linking her arm through his, “without him we’d never have met.”

“I never thought of that,” he murmured thoughtfully, brows pulled together as he pushed back the cap of his hat. “Weird, isn’t it, how one thing can change your life?”

Nodding, she bit her lip as she realized that if not for the crash and ultimately Jack’s death, she may not have met Parker. Maybe they wouldn’t be together now.

Pushing that uncomfortable thought from her head, she asked, “Where are we heading?”

“There’s a shop down here you’ll like,” he replied.

Near the end of the street, they came to a small store, with a sign above the door proclaiming it to be Baker’s Books. Inside, it was cool and dark, with the musky smell of old books, rows and rows of which were stacked everywhere. There seemed to be no method to the madness, but she loved it.

“This is great,” she breathed, running a finger along the spines as she studied what was on offer. “I could spend all day in here.”

“I know, that’s why I brought you here with only an hour ‘til closing.”

Glancing over her shoulder at him, she stuck out her tongue. Standing there with his hands sunk deep into his pockets, he watched as she explored the shelves, picking up the occasional book and flicking through it, careful of the delicate pages.

She could spend all day browsing through the old tomes, but she knew it wasn’t really Parkers thing and, though he didn’t say anything, she could see him roaming around in disinterest.

Buying a leather-bound edition of
The Secret Garden
just because she couldn’t resist, she found him outside talking to a pretty red head wearing a short denim skirt and cowboy boots. Leaning away from her slightly, Parker looked distinctly uncomfortable as she chattered at him.

As soon as he noticed her approaching, he reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into his side. “This is Chloe.”

The girls face fell, but she pulled it together quickly, smiling as she said, “Hi, I’m Jenna. I knew Parker from school, we were good friends.” A sly smile directed at him.

Chloe nodded tightly in response. Were all the girls he’d slept with conniving bitches?

Turning away quickly, Parker said, “We have to go.”

“Oh, okay… It was nice to see you, we should catch up some time,” she called after them as Parker marched off down the street.

It still annoyed her that girls flirted with him right in front of her, but not as much as it used to and now at least she could see the funny side; they must be really desperate to chase after a guy when he was clearly in love with someone else.

Obviously, Jenna and Parker had slept together in the past, judging by his edginess and the guilty look on his face when he glanced at her, but he didn’t need to worry. It was all in the past, after all. Why would she be jealous about things he’d done before he even knew her? Sure, she didn’t like the idea of him with all those other girls, however, as long as he wasn’t screwing around while they were together she had no reason to be mad.