Rival Dreams (Rival Love #3) Read Free Page A

I think she’s trying to give me a sultry smile but it comes across all wrong because of her chattering teeth. “Um, do you girls live here?”
    The smoker rolls her eyes and glares at the coatless girls. “We do live here. These two thought it would be grand to drag all of us to a club down the road. But while this one had to have a smoke before we left, they decided it was a perfect time to pick up guys and drag them with. But everyone on campus knows you have a girlfriend.”
    “Shut the hell up, Charity!” the blond snaps. “Maybe he and his girlfriend are in an open relationship. Besides, it’s just dancing.” She turns to me with a raised eyebrow.
    “Yeah, sorry ladies. I actually only dance with one girl, and that’s Skylar.” I slide my card and open the door. “Have fun, though.”
    As I make my way inside, the redhead runs in with me. She hands me a small scrap of paper while pressing her cold lips to my mouth. I push her back and glare at her. She shrugs. “Call me sometime when you’re looking for a little fun.”
    That will be a frozen fucking day in hell, hon. I don’t tell her this for fear she might break down and cry or something. This is one thing I can say about Sky: she laughs about these kinds of encounters. I, on the other hand, cannot. They remind me too much of Danielle. And honestly, that bitch and anyone like her can stay the fuck away from me. She practically ruined Skylar and me when we were in high school. Faking a pregnancy, stalking me, destroying shit and making it out to be like Skylar did it. Yeah, fuck that.
    When I enter my room, I toss the number in the trash, take off my coat and shoes, and fall into bed. I should be working on that paper, but exhaustion is winning. I pull my phone from my pocket and call Sky. Yeah, I know I just dropped her off. And she’s probably studying one of her anatomy books. The dissected human body might be fascinating to my girlfriend, but it’s definitely not to me.
    After the fourth ring I finally hear, “Hey, you.”
    “Hi. I missed you.”
    “Yeah, well, you should have stayed over. Brie is out with her new boyfriend.”
    I laugh. “I give them two weeks, tops. What’s this now, boyfriend number fifty-five?”
    “I don’t know, but don’t label them like that. It’s not nice. Some people aren’t as lucky as we are.”
    “I know. But if you remember correctly, we weren’t as lucky in the beginning as people might assume around here. Speaking of which, I got attacked by a herd of girls again. Two of them were dressed like, what’s the word you use, ho-licious? And the other just looked annoyed to be there. The sluts, though, they attacked me. And one kissed me.”
    “Excuse me?”
    I sit up a little and sigh. This is the first time a girl just openly kissed me while I’ve been dating Skylar.
    This conversation reminds me how utterly screwed up I am, though. Because here I am opening up to Skylar about this kind of crazy shit, but I can’t tell her about going to Indianapolis at the end of the month, or that I’m not coming back next semester. And if someone just openly fucking kissed me knowing damn well I’m with Skylar, what’s to stop some crazed professional football fan from doing the same thing? No offense to any fans out there, but I love Skylar more than anything. She’s the only one who owns my lips, body, and heart.
    “Sky.”
    “I was waiting for this notch of craziness. I mean the phone numbers were like, whoa. Especially in front of me. The balls on some people astound me. But this girl just kissed you and you called to tell me?” I hear her sniffle. “Thank you.”
    I’m already jumping out of bed and whipping my coat back on. “Babe, don’t cry. I’m coming back over.”
    “No! No! Don’t come back over. Just … Oh, this is embarrassing. I’m not sad, I promise. I’m really happy that we can trust each other enough to tell each other these kinds of things.”
    I stop putting on my coat and sigh.