Carissa

My head pounds with the bright sunlight. I roll over, trying to get away from it, but something sets off alarm bells in the back of my mind.

Struggling to wake up, I feel trapped under layers of material, setting my mind to panic. My heart races and I strain to sit up. My blurry vision reveals a basic, yet maybe high end hotel room... a room I don't remember getting into.

I look down and see I'm wearing some sort of jersey, yet the smell of vomit still lingers, threatening to have company.

I jump out of bed and crash down on unsteady legs. The door bursts open and two of the largest men I've ever seen crowd it.

The first one is a few years older, tall, with a muscular build and dark skin. His shadow outweighs him and is a full head taller, but nowhere near as chiseled.

"Are you hurt?" The first guy asks. When I don't answer, he moves towards me.

I scramble back, my heart hammering in my chest. "I'll scream!" I warn him, scanning the room for ways out.

To his credit, he throws his palms up and backs up.

"This must be very disorienting," he says as he squats down to my level. "But I promise you are safe here."

I rub my eyes, struggling to get my vision to clear. My head pounds and my stomach churns, warning me to calm down or find a toilet.

"Then why'd you kidnap me?" I snap, not buying his innocent guy act for a second.

His shadow palms his forehead and shakes his head. "I knew it! We're going to jail," he mutters to himself. "I just had to stick my nose in shit."

"Everybody calm down. No one kidnapped you—" he says directly to me before turning to his friend "—and no one here is going to jail."

My vision starts to clear and something clicks. "You're that guy from the field yesterday!"

He rubs the back of his neck and shrugs. "Terrance, yeah, and that's Jaden."

Jaden still paces uneasily in the background, but my attention is on Terrance, who is clearly the ringleader.

If I wasn't busy cramming for my final, I might not have been as rude to him as I was. Plenty of guys hit on me at school. Most come up with that playboy stench you can smell a mile away. I have to give him credit for at least coming with some class. Hell, he even knew the material I was working on.

"None of that explains why I'm here and in this," I say, tugging at the over sized jersey.

Terrance frowns. "How much of last night do you remember?"

"Last night?" I frown and furrow my brows. I should know exactly what I was doing. I'm always so careful... then why don't I remember?

"Give it a bit, miss," Jaden offers, inching closer with a bottle of water.

I side eye him but take the bottle, checking the seal. The first sip is heaven and before long, half the bottle is gone.

"Wait, I went to that stupid party," I grumble, remembering the terms with my roommate.

"Yeah..." Terrance drawls.

Blurry flashes of obnoxious drunk people crowd my mind then some pushy guy. "I remember Devante..." My eyes go wide as I remember him practically pushing me up the stairs.

"That fucking prick!" I snarl, feeling my blood boil. "I'll kill him."

"I didn't change your clothes," Terrance starts. "I could bring you to the hospital, or police—"

I scoff and shake my head. "Fuck that."

He furrows his brows. "But you deserve justice?"

I cock my head and study the man. It's clear in his eyes that he thinks that will happen. I drag myself off the floor and steady myself on the window ledge.

"Is that what you think happens?" I ask, genuinely caught off guard by him. "They will take one look at me in my short dress, smelling of booze, and cast their judgement. No thank you, I've had enough."

He closes the distance to me, and towers above me, yet I don't feel threatened. "It doesn't have to be like that. You have witnesses."

I eye him then Jaden. "Right, cause teammates don't have each other's backs?"

"On the field, sure, but not for this," Jaden answers instantly.

I frown and shake my head. "I have to go home and clean up. I graduate today, then I can put this all behind me."

Both men gape at me.

They can't know what it's been like to get here, the struggles I've overcome to get a degree I didn't even want. All with one goal in mind, and I'm not gonna let some entitled asshole fuck that up for me.

"Are you sure?" Terrance asks, concern etching his features.

My stomach twist for judging him so harshly. Wait. It's more than that. I stumble forward to the nearest garbage can and wretch my guts out. Nimble fingers gather my hair and hold it out of the way as I heave the last of my stomach's contents, and then some.

"Get it all out," he coaxes.

A moment later, I sit back and pant, trying to catch my bearings. Terrance disappears for a moment, then hands me a cold washcloth and another bottle of water.

"I swear I'm not this much of a mess usually," I mutter, trying to clean up.

"I believe you." He holds out a hand and offers me a smile. "If you're sure you don't want to go to the hospital, why don't you clean up and I can take you home?"

I stare at his outstretched hand and frown. "Why help me? I'm still not sleeping with you," I grumble.

Terrance lets out his first genuine laugh, and nods. Mischief dancing in his dark eyes. "Darling, I've never needed to drug or coerce a woman into my bed. They usually beg for it, and I'm not about to start now."

I gape at him. Sure he's hot, with his athletic build and million-dollar smile, but beg? That'll be the day!

"This isn't a trick," he assures me, offering his hand once more. "Though I would settle for a name."

"Oh!" My cheeks heat, realizing I woke up and went straight into accusations, even after he introduced himself. "Carissa."

His smile grows. "Carissa," he says, as if testing the feel of it. "It's nice to officially meet you, even if the circumstances were less than ideal."

Cautiously, I lay my hand in his, gasping when he lifts me so easily. Instantly, he drops a hand to my lower back to steady me as I brace my hand on his chest. It's impossible to miss the heat radiating off of the hard plains.

"I-I should clean up," I mumble, pushing against his chest. He slowly lets me go, making sure I have my balance.

Terrance watches me the entire way to the bathroom. Only when I close the door, do I escape his intense gaze.

"What the fuck?" I mumble to myself as I lean against the door. My heart flutters in my chest, and I'm unsure why.

It must have been whatever they gave me last night, right? I mean, the charming, six foot two pro athlete out there sure couldn't get me flustered like this. Clearly the drugs and alcohol.

I go to the sink and turn the faucet on, but nearly die at my reflection. My makeup has me looking more like a raccoon than a party girl.

"Oh my god, and I've been sitting there looking like a crazy person," I groan, wishing the floor would swallow me whole.

I need to go home, take a hot shower and find some medication to get rid of this headache. And coffee, strong coffee, lots of it.

My curls are a tangled mess and next to hopeless. So I do the best I can to tame them down, then wash off as much of my makeup as possible. Under this ridiculous jersey is my dress, covered in vomit.

Great.

Doing the best I can, I give up and head out, finally feeling a bit steadier on my feet. Outside, Terrance stands with his back to me. He's changed into black dress pants and a belt but hasn't got his shirt on yet. Layer upon layer of sculpted muscle paints the most alluring picture on his back and shoulders.

Suddenly my mouth is parched.

He turns to face me and picks up a silver black shirt so deep I can't quite decide what colour it is. A smirk tugs at his lips as he does the buttons up.

"Say it," I grumble.

He shrugs. "Nothing to say, other than that was faster than I expected."

I gawk at him, fully prepared to hear him gloat about checking him out.

"I must have hit my head," I mumble. This man is confident, aggravatingly charming, and he knows it. No way would he have let it slide.

"I can just get a taxi or something..." I trail off, realizing that I don't have my purse.

"I insist. Our chariot awaits. It's not glamorous, but it gets the job done," Terrance says as he gestures to the door.

I don't miss all the prying looks we get as we make our way through the lobby and outside. I hold my head high and focus on keeping one foot in front of the other. The last thing I need is to trip in front of these judgemental assholes.

Outside, Jaden waits beside a powder blue minivan. I pause and look at each man.

"It was in my budget and I'm a big dude," Jaden answers with a shrug.

"Better than my broke down car," I admit. "That's how I ended up at that party."

Terrance tilts his head, sliding in beside me. "Your car broke down, so you went to a party?"

I roll my eyes.

Dick.

"My room mates condition to me using her as a taxi service. Said I needed the full university experience. Thanks Ashley..."

Terrance clears his throat and squirms in his seat. "Ain't no easy way to bring this up, but we got there, before, you know..."

I furrow my brows, then my eyes widen, catching on. That does track, considering my underwear were still on and none of the other things I would associate with that are there.

A weight lifts from me, having been so focused on getting through graduation, I never considered the what ifs. I lift my gaze to his. "Thank you."

"Only wish we got there sooner. No one should go through that," he trails off, his gaze darkening.

Before I can dwell and let my mind spiral, my apartment comes into view, a relatively nice little six-plex, crammed with students. "You can let me off up on the left."

Jaden nods and pulls off to the shoulder. Terrance opens the door and holds out a hand to steady me. As much as I want to prove I'm not weak, the need to get to graduation in one piece outweighs my pride.

He doesn't rush me, just offers his support while I get my bearings. Something about his very being is grounding.

I offer him a small smile, finally feeling better than before. Really, this could have gone so much worse.

"About fucking time," a man growls from behind us. My heart drops, instantly recognizing the source.