The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 15: Chapter 15 - The Party

The party was already loud before Roxie reached the front door.

Music pushed through the walls of the house near Old Mill Road, bass heavy enough to make the porch railing vibrate under her hand. Cars lined both sides of the street.

A few football players were in the yard, still in half their game clothes, shouting at each other like the win had broken something important in their brains.

Karen parked beside a pickup truck that had three boys sitting in the bed with red cups and terrible judgment.

Angela leaned forward from the back seat, eyes bright. ”This is going to be fun.”

Roxie looked at the house.

Someone near the front window lifted a cup and yelled, ”Ravens!”

Half the living room yelled it back.

Roxie immediately regretted every decision that had led her here.

”This is going to be loud,” she corrected.

Karen shut off the engine. ”Same thing if you have low standards, which Angela’s is.”

Angela was already fixing her lip gloss in the tiny mirror. ”We won. We deserve one normal night.”

Roxie huffed as she looked at her through the rearview mirror.

They climbed out into the cold night air. Roxie tugged her jacket tighter around herself, mostly because the hem of her skirt suddenly felt too short with boys yelling from every direction.

She had changed out of her uniform after the game, but she was still too aware of herself. Hair down. Lip gloss fresh. Black top. Jeans that made Angela whistle earlier and Karen say, ”Okay, toxic campus crush.”

Roxie had ignored both of them.

Obviously.

The house belonged to Mason Reid’s older cousin, or maybe his brother. Nobody seemed fully sure, which felt like the first sign of a future police report. Inside, bodies filled the living room, kitchen, hallway, stairs, and every doorway like the seniors had decided walls were optional.

The whole place smelled like perfume, sweat, pizza, and something fruity enough to be suspicious.

A boy from the baseball team shouted over the music, ”Drinks in the kitchen!”

Karen looked at Roxie. ”Do not drink anything blue.”

”I wasn’t planning to drink anything.”

Angela made a face. ”You’re not drinking?”

”I enjoy knowing where my shoes are.”

”That’s so sad.”

”That’s so safe,” Karen said.

Angela rolled her eyes and grabbed Karen’s hand, pulling them toward the kitchen.

Roxie followed because standing alone near the door would make her look scared, and that was not happening. The kitchen was worse. People were crowded around the counter, passing cups, laughing too loud, leaning into each other like personal space had been canceled after the win.

Someone handed Roxie a red cup before she could say no.

She took it because walking around a party empty-handed made people ask questions.

She pretended to sip from it twice.

The second nobody was looking, she dumped the drink into the kitchen sink and rinsed the cup out like she had not just wasted someone’s illegal fruit punch disaster.

Karen caught her from the doorway. ”You know pretending to drink still makes you boring, right?”

”I don’t know how you can drink this. It tastes like piss.”

Karen rolled her eyes and disappeared back into the living room.

Angela grinned, already holding her own cup. ”After that stress? This is heaven.”

She took another sip and made a little happy sound.

Roxie glanced at Karen.

Karen was already looking at her.

There it was again.

The cup in Angela’s hand after a bad day. The way she held it close like someone might take it. The little laugh that came too fast, too bright.

Roxie looked away first.

Karen sighed. ”Angela, your coping mechanism is showing.”

Angela hugged the cup to her chest. ”Shut up. You won’t take it away from me.”

She walked away holding it like Karen and Roxie were about to tackle her for it.

Roxie watched her go, the uneasy feeling sitting low in her stomach.

Karen sighed. ”I’ll follow her.”

”You better,” Roxie said. ”That girl will make herself viral.”

Karen pointed at her. ”Stay away from football players.”

”Gladly.”

”And Kendall.”

”I make no promises.”

Karen disappeared into the living room after Angela.

Roxie turned, empty cup still in her hand, and nearly bumped into Noah Ellis from student council. He was holding a plate of chips and looking like he had wandered into the wrong species of people.

”Sorry,” he said. ”I’m trying to find napkins.”

Roxie glanced around the kitchen. ”At this party? Ambitious.”

He laughed.

It was harmless.

Normal.

A little awkward, but not painful.

So of course that was when Zac looked over.

He stood near the sliding doors with half the football team around him, jersey gone, black undershirt fitted across his chest and shoulders in a way that made Roxie’s mood immediately worse.

Zac Prescott had that unfair white-boy football captain look Briarwick girls had been losing their minds over since freshman year. Dark brown hair, still damp from the game and pushed back messily from his forehead. Strong jaw. Straight nose. Broad shoulders. Electric blue eyes that looked even brighter when he was annoyed, which was deeply inconvenient tonight.

There was a scrape along one forearm and a faint bruise near his jaw.

Naturally, he still looked good.

Annoying.

His face was loose from whatever he had been drinking, but his eyes sharpened the second they landed on Roxie and Noah.

Roxie looked away first.

”The cheer looked good,” Noah said.

She smiled. ”The tarp did too before they tore it up.”

Noah grinned. ”Student council spent two hours painting that thing.”

Across the room, someone shouted, ”Body shot!”

Noah stopped chewing.

Roxie should have looked away.

She did not.

Obviously, that was because everyone else was looking too. It would have been weird not to look. Suspicious, even. Socially irresponsible.

Across the room, Zac turned his head toward the noise, then toward Roxie.

Their eyes met.

For one second, the party around them seemed to get louder.

Then one of his teammates shoved a salt shaker into his hand.

”No way,” someone yelled. ”Prescott, do it!”

Zac’s mouth curved.

Roxie knew that smile.

It was the stupid one.

The one boys used right before making a decision that would embarrass everyone within a five-foot radius.

Noah leaned a little closer to Roxie. ”Is this normal for football parties?”

Roxie kept her face still. ”Unfortunately, they keep inventing new ways to disappoint me.”

A blonde girl stepped in front of Zac with a lime wedge between her fingers and a grin that said she had been waiting for this exact moment to ruin somebody’s night.

Zac lifted his cup once, not drinking, just playing along.

Then his eyes flicked back to Roxie.

Roxie rolled her eyes at him.

The blonde said something Roxie could not hear over the music. The guys around Zac started laughing. One of them pulled at the hem of Zac’s black shirt.

Zac let him.

Roxie’s grip tightened around her empty cup.

Noah glanced at her hand. ”You okay?”

”Great.”

”Your boyfriend’s about to let someone lick him, and you look like you’re about to crush plastic.”

”He is not my boyfriend.”

Across the room, Zac grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up.

The party lost its mind.

Girls screamed. Football players started shouting. Someone near the couch stood on the cushion to film, which felt like a violation of both safety and taste.

Roxie stared.

Because people were screaming.

Because there was movement.

His stomach was flat, hard, and unfairly distracting under the kitchen lights spilling in from behind him. He looked fit. That was the only word her mind would allow.

The blonde stepped closer.

Someone sprinkled salt just above his waistband.

Noah made a sound beside Roxie. ”Oh.”

Was he really going to let the girl lick him?

Their eyes locked.

The blonde leaned in.

The room erupted.

Roxie looked away at the last second, which was stupid because she had already seen enough to ruin her own mood.

Karen appeared beside her like she had been summoned by bad decisions. ”I left Angela for thirty seconds. What did I miss?”

Noah pointed weakly. ”That.”

Karen looked.

Her face went flat. ”I hate men.”

Roxie smiled without looking back at Zac.

Across the room, the shouting got louder.

Zac had dropped his shirt and bitten into the lime, but his eyes were still on Roxie. Like the whole ridiculous performance had been for her.

As if she fucking cared.

Roxie lifted her empty cup toward him like a toast.

His grin faltered.

She turned back to Noah. ”You were saying something about the tarp?”

Noah blinked. ”Was I?”

”Yes.”

”I genuinely forgot.”

”Try harder.”

Karen looked between them, then toward Zac. ”Oh, this is ugly.”

Roxie kept smiling at Noah.

Noah looked terrified but committed.

”The tarp,” he said quickly. ”Right. Student council spent two hours painting it, and the football team destroyed it in four seconds.”

”That was the highlight of their academic contribution.”

Noah laughed.

It was awkward.

Across the room, Zac’s expression changed.

The grin disappeared first.

Then the lazy party face.

His eyes settled on Noah.

Noah stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

Roxie noticed because the poor guy suddenly looked like he wanted to leave immediately.

”What?” she asked.

Noah looked at her, then over her shoulder.

His face went red.

”I should...” Noah cleared his throat and lifted his plate of chips like it could protect him. ”I should go find those napkins.”

Roxie blinked. ”You’re still doing that?”

”Yes.” Noah nodded too fast. ”Very important. Napkins.”

Karen looked past Roxie and laughed under her breath. ”Oh, he got scared.”

Noah’s face somehow got even redder. ”I didn’t. Great cheer tonight, Roxie.”

”Thanks?”

He left so fast Roxie almost felt bad.

Zac was already crossing the room.

The football boys shouted after him. Someone laughed. The blonde girl said something with a pout, but Zac kept walking.

Roxie kept the empty cup in her hand and watched him come closer. She lifted her chin. ”Can I help you?”

Zac’s eyes flicked to the empty cup in her hand, then back to her face.

”You enjoying the party?”

His voice was light.

His eyes were not.

Roxie smiled.

”More now.”