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My walk slowed.
"Don’t tell me you’re going to ruin another RA," the other voice groaned.
"That’s a good one. This girl’s next on my list. And right across the hall too."
The voices approached, leaving me no time to scoot away.
Oh no.
Adam Russell, linebacker of the Marrs University football team, number forty-five, arguably the most infamous player on the team, towered over his two companions. He wasn’t just tall. Muscle packed on him like it was ready for a camping trip.
His disarming smile, the men’s gel commercial hair, and those eyes—those eyes.
They were the first thing I’d noticed about the picture with him and my ex-boyfriend. Both of them, relaxing on a leather couch together at a bar, surrounded by fifteen shirtless college girls, the bleacher bunnies that chased after athletes.
The photo zipped all over KYU campus and then came the stories of exactly what my boyfriend had been up to during that party and every other party before it. The photo cut my entire college family out of my life when they glommed to his side. The photo landed me endless crying nights and throwing up in my grandma’s antique jar.
And when I confronted Thomas about it? He kicked me out. I had to call my parents and finish the rest of my semester living at home.
That Adam Russell. Nicknamed the Marrs Manwhore.
But it wasn’t his eyes, or his muscles, or his walk, making his way to where I was frozen in place that caught my attention. It was the turtle cut out of thick paper in his hand. The paper turtle with the word Adam written on a sea anemone.
My door decoration for my resident.
The Adam on my roster was…Adam Russell. Not one of the other guys on campus with that same first name.
Oh no.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket again, and I winced. As if by some sick coincidence, Adam’s eyes flickered to mine. His face lit up in recognition.
I’d been wrong. It wasn’t going to be a good day.
He cocked his head to the side. "Piper?"
Okay. Adam Russell was on my floor. That wasn’t a boulder to push up a hill. I can handle it. I’d prove my worth to the housing committee, get out of Roman Villa, and never see Adam again. Easy.
As upset as I was, the photo was in the past. Everybody deserves second chances. Even second introductions now that the KYU parties were behind us. We could start fresh.
"Adam," I said, trying to be as cordial as possible.
A lofty grin tugged up on his lips. "What are you doing here? Guys, this is Sullender’s Piper."
My eyes narrowed. That was my introduction? Thomas Sullender’s Piper. Nothing about me. Nothing at all. Just a football player’s property.
But…didn’t that ring true at KYU? When did I go anywhere without Thomas?
I chewed my bottom lip, trying to figure out what to say. Was it some kind of mean joke? He knew what Thomas did. Was he mocking me for dating a guy who publicly cheated on me all over the place?
"We actually…um…broke up."
"Broke up?" Confusion flashed across his dark eyes. "What?"
Oh, come on.
I sighed. "We broke up because of that bleacher bunny party."
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