SWNOVELS Playing Offsides: Chapter 7
Well, isn’t this quite the surprise.
This is the first time that I’ve seen Aspen at a party, no less with a beer in her hand. She never struck me as the type who liked to drink and considering the fact that I’ve never seen her out before, I figured this wasn’t really her scene. And to be honest, she looks a little out of place. Like she’s stepped out of her comfort zone for the first time and isn’t sure what she’s supposed to do.
Lifting my cup, I cheers her through the air and drain the rest of my beer as she takes a small sip of hers.
“Who’s that?” Simon questions me, his voice low after having just watched our silent interaction. “I’ve seen her around campus, I think.”
I nod, watching as her friend, Delilah, joins her and hands her another plastic cup. “Aspen. I have a few classes with her. She’s pretty quiet and keeps to herself, but we’ve been talking a little.”
Asher cocks an eyebrow. “Oh shit. A new prospect for you? What happened to the last girl?”
“Julia?” I ask him, shaking my head as a soft laugh falls from my lips. “You know how it goes. Just a distraction and nothing more. We ended shit because she wanted more and not with me… not that I wanted more anyways.”
Simon shrugs. “Hey, we all do it, there’s no judgment or shame.”
“Except for Logan and August,” Hayden cuts in as a chuckle vibrates from his chest. “Those two are so pussy-whipped. I have no plans of ever falling into that same trap.”
“Yeah, I’m good with the way things are,” I agree with him, tapping my cup to his as we both drink. “You wanna try and get on the table?”
“Hell yeah,” Hayden grins. “Let me go get another beer and I’ll check how many people are already on the list. You want another one?”
Draining my cup, I nod and hand it to him. “I’ll see about getting on the table. Get me two cups.”
Hayden disappears and I watch Asher, Simon, and Sterling disappear through the doorway into the other room where everyone’s dancing. I don’t know what they’re all planning on doing, but I know they’re trying to get laid tonight, so to each their own.
Just as I’m about to walk over to John, who’s controlling who is on the tables, the game on the nearest table ends. Glancing over, I see Delilah and Aspen making their way to the end of it and begin setting the cups back up. Aspen grabs the pitcher of water and fills them back up to their respective depth.
Two other guys are setting up the cups on the other end, but this is my perfect opportunity. I stride over to John. “Put King and I on the table now,” I demand, my hard gaze meeting his.
John swallows hard and shakes his head in defeat. “Sorry, man, you know how it goes. You gotta get on the list and when it’s your turn, then you can play. Unless Anderson and Cash want to switch with you.”
Spinning on my heel, I turn my back to John and march over to Anderson and Cash. They both lift their heads, their eyebrows both drawing together as I stop in front of them.
“Yo, I have a huge favor to ask both of you,” I say, dropping my voice just above a whisper as I lean down near them. “I need you guys to switch with King and I.”
“Bro, do you know how long we’ve been waiting for our turn?” Anderson cuts his tone at me. Cash elbows him, giving him a knowing look as Hayden walks up beside me.
Hayden glances over at me. “What’s going on? You get us on the list?”
I don’t take my eyes away from Anderson and Cash. “Yeah, I’m just trying to get these two to switch with us.”
“Hm,” Hayden muses, a smirk forming on his lips as he sees Aspen and Delilah at the other end of the table. “You two are cool, right?” Hayden questions them. “I don’t really know either of you, but I would imagine that you don’t want to run into any trouble or anything.”
Cash shakes his head. “You guys can totally take our turn.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Anderson barks at him. “There’s a list for a reason. Just because you guys run the fucking hockey team doesn’t mean you get to call the shots everywhere you go.”
“Are you forgetting that the hockey team is essentially what makes this school what it is?” Hayden questions him, tilting his head to the side as his gaze grows colder. “Don’t forget, we’re going to be here another year after this one. We can make your life a living hell if we want to.”
My stomach churns because violence isn’t where I was headed with this. Actually, I don’t know where the hell King is really going with all of this, but this is how he rolls. He’s not afraid of making threats, even if they end up being empty. Hayden King is used to getting what he wants and he isn’t going to take no for an answer from these two assholes.
“Fine,” Anderson caves, and Cash sighs in relief. “We’ll switch with you guys this one time, but that’s it. Never again, you got it? I’m not fucking afraid of you guys.”
Hayden leans closer to him, plucking the ping pong ball from his grip. “Perhaps you should be.”
Anderson scoffs, cutting his eyes at Hayden before Cash grabs his arm and they step away. Hayden steps up to the table, grabbing the other ball before handing it to me. As I take it from him, my lips are pursed with a scolding look on my face.
“What?” He shrugs, feigning innocence. “Your girl is playing and you wanted to play against her, right? I was just making sure that it happened.”
“You can’t go around threatening everyone every time you don’t get your way,” I remind him, dipping my ball down into the cup before I tap my finger against it, shaking off the excess water. “People are different here. We might be the top of the food chain with being on the roster, but you can’t manipulate everyone into getting what you want.”
“And why the hell not? If I have some type of power, I’m going to use it to my advantage,” he admits with no shame whatsoever in his voice. This is how Hayden has always been. He knows how to work people, how to fuck the system. And he isn’t afraid to do whatever he has to. He has yet to meet someone who actually challenged him back. “I never threatened any type of bodily harm or said that I would follow through on any of them. I simply just let them know that the next two years could be easy or hard for them.”
“All because of a game of beer pong?”
Hayden narrows his eyes at me. “Did you want to play Aspen or not? Jesus fuck.”
“Are the two of you going to argue all night long or can we get started?” Delilah’s singsong voice interrupts our dispute, grabbing our attention. We both turn to look at them, only my eyes find Aspen’s instead of Delilah’s.
Aspen is staring at me with a slightly confused look in her eyes, but there’s a challenge behind her facade. She knows we weren’t supposed to be playing them and I can see the questions floating around in that beautiful mind of hers. Too bad she isn’t going to have the opportunity to ask any of them.
“Let’s go,” Hayden tells the two of them as he and Delilah set up for who gets to shoot first. Delilah misses her shot as Hayden sinks his ball in the very first cup. There’s a displeased look on her face and she rolls her eyes as Hayden high-fives me.
We both take our shots, Hayden making the same cup as before and mine just bouncing off the lip of one in the back row. I’m usually better than this and we can clear the table before the other team even gets a shot in. Right now, though, under Aspen’s gaze, I can’t help but feel like I’m not on top of my game.
The need to impress her is there, but I’m competitive as hell.
She wants to play, but she needs to understand that I only play to win.
Delilah and Aspen both take sips of their beers before taking their turns. Delilah misses hers and lets out an exaggerated groan. I watch Aspen as she steps closer to the table, her gaze focused on the cups as she lines up her shot. She pulls her arm back before thrusting it forward and releases the ball, her shot completely effortless as it drops into one of the cups.
“Damn,” Hayden smirks, shaking his head as the two of us take a drink. “You bring a ringer with you tonight, Delilah?”
She lifts her middle finger to him. “Fuck off, King,” she laughs. “You have no idea what’s about to hit you with Aspen finally playing.”
“Hey, I play sometimes.”
“I think it was just a lucky shot,” I interject, my gaze trained on Aspen’s. “We run the table, so I’d like to see the two of you actually try and take us down.”
“Oh yeah?” Aspen challenges me, raising an eyebrow. “Let’s see what you got, pretty boy.”
My heart hammers in my chest, a smirk forming on my lips at the slip of her words. The alcohol must be loosening her up, because this isn’t the uptight Aspen I’m used to. She’s usually quiet and soft-spoken, but here she is challenging me with an arrogance that has my cock throbbing.
Challenge fucking accepted.