Pining: Forgiveness Ch. 10

Roman ribbed me with his elbow. "Move your fat ass over, Cap, I can't shut the door."

I tried to wiggle an inch. Owen shoved me. "Get the fuck off my lap." Wedging his shoulder into mine, Roman slammed the door closed. Fortunately, Owen was shorter than the two of us so instead of my shoulder snapping in half, I just ended up leaning, like that tower in Pisa. Owen shoved me, but there was nowhere to go. Up front McKenzie bit her lip and quaked.

Yeah, 'k, Kenzie. You win this round. Not that I actually want her back here with these two fuckups, not that they'd get handsy, but, yeah. I was glad she wasn't back here sitting in one of their laps. Maybe if she was sitting back here on my lap.

Shit, I didn't need a boner right now. There wasn't enough room back here for all of us and my wood.

The car consul was dinging.

"Put on your seat belts!" Lucas demanded.

"I can't find my seatbelt." I wasn't sure if the car didn't have a middle seat belt or if it'd just fallen behind the seat.

"Cap's sitting on mine." Roman tried to dig his hand under my thigh but it wasn't like there was anywhere for me to go.

McKenzie was shaking so hard there were fucking tears in her eyes.

"Just go," I growled. "Don't get pulled over."

"There are cops in the parking lot!"

"Well, don't shout it so loud and maybe they won't notice."

Lucas put the car in gear, and, despite the backup camera, twisted in his seat to pull out of our parking space. "If we get pulled over, you're paying the ticket."

"Fine." The ticket wouldn't be nearly as bad as the hit to his insurance.

The consul continued to ding—as the car left the parking lot, it got louder, more insistent.

"Ohmigod, someone unplug that thing," McKenzie said. No longer laughing, she looked a little flushed. I had to agree, that noise was damned annoying.

"Can't. Pull the fuse and like half the car turns off," Lucas groused. "I know. I've tried."

We cruised down Lakeshore, took a right on Main and headed for the highway. Pining wasn't big. Cascade Pine's University had a bigger population.

"So, hey, KZ—" That was Roman speaking. "—you trying to kill Cap or something?"

McKenzie twisted in her seat to look at Roman, not me. Fuck she was beautiful. When had that happened? I mean, I knew about the jade eyes and the chocolate hair, but now, the rest of her, wow. I'd now seen her in nothing but a garter belt and stilettos. I was never getting that image out of mind. "What're you talking about?"

"Cap here—" Roman hooked a thumb at me. I was the team captain. "When we walked in, I thought he was going to have an aneurism. Then when that asshole dragged you off the stage I think he just about had a heart attack."

"Hey! That asshole is my friend," Lucas snapped.

"Not."

"Any."

"More."

There was this pounding in my blood. This haze behind my eyes. If Lucas thought he was going to live in our house, play on our team, and keep hanging with that asshole he had another thing coming. When I'd first put a fist in that fucker's jaw I'd been prepared to drag him out into the pine-barrens, beat him within an inch of his life and leave him for the wolves or something.

McKenzie's eyes flicked to me, then hastily diverted, but the pressure behind my sternum eased. Even her brief interest had been like aloe on sunburn. She slipped in her seat to face forward once more.

"He's also my boyfriend."

Damn it.

"You should dump his ass."

Thank you, Roman. I owe you.

"He's also kinda sorta my brother-in-law."

"Say, what?"

"Man, keep it down, dude," Owen said. He shoved a finger in his ear and leaned away from me. "You taking voice lessons from Coach or what?" In the front seat, McKenzie gnawed her lip but didn't otherwise respond.

"Kenzie," I growled.

Silence—other than the dinging from the dashboard—answered me.

"Brother-in-law," Lucas prompted.

"His brother is marrying my sister in October."

"October? Like next month?"

"Uh-huh."

Thank God someone else was interested because this silent treatment shit was eating me alive. "Salene? Heather? Not April," I asked.

"No, not April, dumbass."

I elbowed Roman, who got the hint.

"Then who? Salene's a pretty name, but I like Heather too."

"Salene, assuming she doesn't rip Brian's balls off after I tell her this." She palmed her face with both hands. "God, I have to tell her."

"Why would that be a problem?" Owen asked. Thank God a pretty woman could hold the attention of like a hundred men because I needed these answers more than air itself.

"Because she doesn't know how I pay the bills. Or that I'm out of money. Or that I was going to be a stripper—that I am a stripper, because I did strip—and, oh God, I only made twenty five bucks. What am I going to do?"

"I can spot you," Lucas said. He could. No matter how much she needed. His family were like gazillionairs—not really, but sometimes it seemed that way. "How much do you need?"

Hope blossomed in McKenzie's face—and then blinked out. "I couldn't"

"Why not? I'm sure you're good for it." He honestly sounded perplexed but that's probably because he'd never had to work for his money. Handouts felt different when you never had to work for your money.

McKenzie bit her lip and my breath caught, because, fuck, I wanted to bite her lip. My BFF was now the hottest woman to have ever walked this planet and she wouldn't even talk to me. And honestly, it wouldn't have mattered if she looked like the Wicked Witch of the West. She was my BFF! I wanted her back.

"I'd...rather earn it."

Roman gripped the back of McKenzie's head rest and leaned forward. "We could do like a work release program. You could...clean our condo."

"Like a French maid," Kenzie deadpanned.

"Yeah!" Roman exclaimed as though the though had just occurred to him. I know it hadn't. It'd been his idea all along.

"I'm not sure that's any better than stripping."

I knew it wasn't better than stripping. It. Was. Worse. Way worse. There was no way, no how these guys were going to make her clean our place. I did not want her going into their rooms. Things might happen. They'd not do anything that she didn't welcome. They'd make sure she enjoyed the experience. But I wouldn't.

Lucas turned off the highway towards Greek Row. "We wouldn't make you wear one of those frilly black uniforms or anything."

"Why not?" Roman sounded insulted. I wanted to shove a hockey stick up his ass.

"You all are not making Kenzie wash your dirty jock straps, organize your porn or recycle your beer bottles."

McKenzie jerked around in her seat and shot me a sharp WTF glance and motioned for me to zip it. "Shut up! You don't get an opinion." Damn it, she needed this job.

"Yeah, Cap. You're not the boss of her."

Roman needed to look out. He might be a defensive-man but our next scrimmage and I was going to pile-drive him into the boards. It would not look like an accident.

"You aced our statistics test, Kenzie, I know you did," I said.

"So? What's that got to do with anything?"

"I flunked. The study group is as clueless as I am. If I don't bring my grades up, I'll be benched. I need a tutor."

The car grew silent—well, except the fucking seatbelt alarm. McKenzie turned away from me.

"I'd rather be a French maid."

Roman leaned back from where he'd been hovering over her seat. "No. No. Nope, that offer's off the table." He crossed his arms which made our too tight space even tighter.

From the driver's seat, Lucas nodded. "I second that."

Owen said, "Would you drive faster, Luce? Collin just farted."