Ecstasy

Eli

I see Zara but she doesn’t see me.

She’s knocking back a shot in the living room, a group of guys around her cheering her on. I glance around the room, seeing no sign of her roommate, Kylie. No surprise, even though she dropped her off. Kylie is a pre-pharm nerd, and Zara...

Zara is something else.

Clearly, all these dudes don’t know what went down with Alex and her last week or else they wouldn’t be caught dead so close to her in mine and Alex’s house.

Especially after Jamal Clint nearly ended up in the hospital.

But I know why they don’t know. Alex doesn’t have the balls to give her up just yet, and in the grand scheme of things, Jamal was a nobody at Caven. An unsuspecting freshman who happened to have the drugs Zara wanted and the stupidity to let Alex Cardi’s girlfriend suck his dick.

I tip my beer up and take a swallow, keeping myself hidden in the foyer, leaning against the doorway. No one is paying me any mind.

I prefer it that way.

It’s why having Alex Cardi as my roommate—now housemate, I guess—is so damn beneficial to someone like me. He’s got the hot temper, the loud mouth, and the suspension for the next three football games. Always causing a fucking scene.

I’m a wrestler and while compared to his stats, mine are far more impressive, it’s quarterbacks that get the attention in southern towns.

Which is good.

Because I don’t want it.

I’ve been told more times than I care to count that I’m too quiet. That’s because when you’re quiet, people talk around you. If you never shut the fuck up, like Alex Cardi, you have no idea what’s really going on.

And Alex might be my best friend, but it feels strange sometimes to call him that, considering I’m not sure anyone really knows me at all.

But as Zara hops up on the coffee table in the living room and starts shaking her ass in her thong bikini, Ecstasy by Young Thug playing way too loudly, I wonder if she could.

Because I know things about Zara Henderson.

Things Alex doesn’t.

For a brief moment, I think her eyes find mine, and a small smile pulls at her heart-shaped lips. A secret floating between us.

And then I hear Alex.

Even with the music and the people and the dancing, I hear Alex’s footsteps down the stairs, and I can almost feel his anger when he brushes past me to head into the living room, where he sees her on the coffee table. He doesn’t stop to talk, but says under his breath, “Don’t you dare fucking stop me,” so, like a good friend, I don’t.

I just watch as the crowd parts for their quarterback and Alex grabs Zara’s arm and yanks her down from the table. Putting on a good show, she laughs, and wraps her arms around his neck.

I don’t look away from her and I don’t stop him when he twists her in his arms, holding her back to his chest. I don’t stop him when someone hands him a beer and he guzzles it down even though I’m pretty sure he’s already fucking drunk.

I don’t stop him as the people packed in our living room cheer, and when a girl I occasionally fuck, Riha

But I don’t look away from Zara either.

And when I see exactly what it is Alex is going to do, I don’t say a fucking word. When Zara sticks out her tongue and Alex places a pill on it, then watches as she swallows, I let Riha

I let Riha

But it isn’t Riha