Free Rounding Third by Michelle Lynn Page B

calls out.
    She lifts her middle finger at him, disappearing down the hall.
    “What did I ever do to her?” Liam shakes his head, taking a seat on the couch. He props his feet up on our coffee table, relaxing into our cushions with the remote in his hand.
    I sit on the couch next to him, but he grabs my hand, pulling me into his lap.
    Where did this sudden affection come from?
    “What are you doing tonight?” He nuzzles his face into my neck.
    I normally would be melting in his arms from his foreign attention, but it’s weird and very unlike Liam to shower me with more than a peck to the lips.
    “Staying in.” I rise to my feet, but he yanks me back down.
    “We’re having a party at the house.”
    “On a Thursday?”
    Normally, frat rules dictate parties are only allowed Friday and Saturday.
    “It’s Hank’s birthday. House voted.” He shrugs his shoulder, and flips the channel to another reality television house improvement show.
    “Oh. Let me ask Jen.” I move again to stand, but he slams his mouth to mine. My lips don’t open from the mere surprise of his actions, but he thrusts his tongue through my lips, and his hand gropes my breast.
    “Gross.” Jen breezes in the room with an empty glass.
    Liam pushes me back, leaving me lying across his lap with swollen red lips and my breast tingling with pain.
    I push him away and stand. “What the hell has gotten into you?” I ask, ruder than I intended.
    “Can’t I love on my girlfriend?”
    “Love?” That’s a big word we’ve never mentioned before.
    “You know what I mean.” He comes up behind me, sneaking his arms around my waist.
    At this point, his affection is grating on my nerves. I’m ready to push him out the front door and flick the lock. I like affection, but this is sickening and rare and not us.
    “Jen,” I call out, wiggling out of his hold, “you want to go to Kappa tonight?”
    She eyes Liam, curling her lips in revulsion. “No. I’m going over to the baseball house.”
    My eyes cast down because I would rather go to the baseball house, too. The Kappa guys are all so entitled.
    “But, if you want me to, I’ll go with you.”
    I shoot her my biggest thank you smile. “Thank you.”
    She rolls her eyes, but her lips turn up at the corners. “Whatever. Go get ready, and we’ll leave.”
    I jog to my room. “I’ll see you there, Liam.”
    “Meet me in my bedroom,” he says.
    My eyes crinkle in confusion. Ignoring him, I shut my bedroom door.

Chapter Seven
Crosby
    I slam on the brakes , throw my truck in park, and grab the baseball tucked in my glove compartment. Tossing it in the air, I walk into the house and find my roommates circled around a table, doing shots in one hand with beers in the other.
    Not interested in bullshitting, I give a small wave of my hand and rush up the stairs.
    “Hey, Third Base,” Oliver calls out.
    I pretend I didn’t hear him and continue to climb the stairs.
    My door shuts, and the image of that asshole coming out of the apartment with a blonde spiraled around him assaults me. I desperately wanted to point to him, show Ella the scum she was dating, but I can’t be her back up, or worse, the rebound after her break-up because he hurt her. How could someone who had her ever be willing to jeopardize that?
    Her words to the Barbie twins from next door ring in my ears. I hear her disregard of me and her voice saying that she’s still with the asshole who was fucking someone else in the apartment building she calls home. The baseball suddenly weighs twenty pounds, and before a debate runs in my head, I throw it across the room.
    Bang.
    It splatters the drywall, finding a new home, lodged between two two-by-fours. My hands cover my face, my fingers gripping the short strands of my hair.
    “You aren’t the first.”
    I flip my head around to find Brax leaning against the frame of the bathroom door with a cocky grin splashed on his face.
    “Fuck.” I bite down on my closed fist.
    “Cros.”
    He