When I arrived on campus as a freshman, Ace and his buddies—already moved in from summer camp—were there to carry everything from my dad’s truck up three flights to my dorm room. Three weeks later when my high school boyfriend of four years decided we’d never make a long-distance thing work, they took me out, filled me full of vodka and orange juice (and made sure I didn’t end up in a coma), and proceeded to tell me how pretty I was and how worthless the shithead was. Ace and his merry band of linemen, wide receivers, and running backs are sweethearts as long as you don’t fall in love with any of them.
Ace is giving me a high-def example of why Matt is a bad risk. I take him on and I’ll be just one girl out of a long line of girls who have crushed over a Warrior only to have her feelings hurt.
Plus, the guy hasn’t shown his face at the Brew House since last Thursday. He knows I work there and showed up two days in a row, but after Crowerly’s it’s been radio silence. If he thought me being a vegan was bad, which I’m not, just wait until he gets a load of my diabetes. It’s a hassle and some guys get really impatient with my strict dietary habits. Again, the pretty boys are flight risks. They, like my mother, don’t stick around when the going gets tough.
It just goes to show that football players will say anything to get laid. All that stuff about how much fun it was for him to have to try so hard with a girl, making me think he was actually serious about putting in the work to win me over? Ha! Maybe Matt did his own risk assessment and decided I wasn’t a big enough reward.
Not that I care. I want him to quit pursuing me. Makes it a whole lot easier to put him out of my mind.
You’ve spent all day thinking about him, dummy. He is on your mind!
Fine, that’s true. But starting right now, I am not allowed to think about him anymore.
I lean against the wall and watch Ace stroke the blonde’s hair, no doubt telling her that he’ll see her later even though if he did, he’d probably avoid her. She giggles and lifts her face for another kiss. Ace plants one on her forehead, which isn’t what she wanted, then he turns her toward the stairs and gives her a friendly pat on the ass.
She frowns when she sees me, so before she incorrectly assumes I’m here for sloppy seconds, I lie. “I’m his sister.”
The girl’s face brightens immediately but falls when Ace interjects. “More like kissing cousins, really.”
“Ace was dropped on his head as a baby, so most of the time whatever comes out of his mouth doesn’t make sense,” I reassure his friend.
She flicks her gaze from Ace to me, and from the way the lines around her mouth relax, I can see that she’s categorized me as non-threatening. It could be because my hair is lying limply against my sweaty face. Damn, Sutton’s coat is hot. It could also be because I’m wearing ratty old jeans and a pair of boots that look like I’m headed for a construction site, but it’s Ace. I don’t have to dress to impress him.
She gives me a patronizing smile and turns back to Ace. ““I’ll see you tonight at the Gas Station then?”
He raises a hand. “I’ll be there.”
I barely refrain from rolling my eyes at his noncommittal way of seeing her off. It’s enough for the girl because she blows him a kiss and trips lightly down the stairs.
“Not even going to walk her to the door?” I ask as I brush by him into the room.
“That implies I invited her here, which I didn’t. She showed up, took her clothes off, and told me she felt like celebrating with a winner today because she’d gotten some good news. I had some time to kill before we went out tonight.”
Okay then.
It smells like sex, but his bed is perfectly made. I remind myself to put a blanket on the sofa if I decide to sit on it. I stride over to the windows and throw one open. Ace chuckles but lights a stick of incense.
“Thanks for letting me crash here tonight.” I set my backpack next to the bed and gingerly climb onto the side.
“It’s no problem. So your place is getting exterminated?” Ace throws himself into the corner of the sofa.
“The girls down in 1C convinced management that we had a bug infestation and that they’d sue if something wasn’t done. Then they went around and got a bunch of the residents to sign some anti-bug petition.”
Ace squints. “1C. Those the Stepford twins?”
I nod. I’m sure I’ve complained about them before to Ace.
He gets a faraway look in his eyes. “I think I slept with them last semester.”
“Ace,” I groan. “Why?”
“They offered to do me together. Who turns that down?”
Normal people. “You know I can’t stand them.”
He shrugs. “I’m not dating them. I just slept with them.”
I throw a pillow at his face. “You’re terrible.”
He throws it back. “They weren’t that good actually. I thought they’d be all over each other, but one watched while I did the other. It was actually kind of weird. Hey, I bought diet pop for you and picked up a bag full of Splenda if you want to bake tonight.”
This is Ace in a nutshell. A horndog who manages to wrest his attention away from his own dick long enough to be a thoughtful friend.
“You like this star quarterback business.” Even in high school, Ace’s stint as quarterback was overshadowed by a star running back. He came here without much hope of ever starting, but injuries opened up a space for him last year. He made the most of it, and I’m thrilled for him.