My Ex’s Roommates: Chapter 49

Jake was crumbling in front of us. He was angrily making calls that made no sense and everyone could see him ignoring his coach. We were down to the last two minutes of the game and there wasn’t a chance in hell of Jake beating us. We’d shut him out. He hadn’t scored a single point. He still couldn’t lose gracefully, though. He was spitting mad, his face a deep red behind his facemask. It was sweeter than I even imagined watching him lose.

Jake had one more chance to get a first down before he was off the field, probably for the rest of the night. His movements were jerky and his line was scrambling to adjust to his chaotic calls. I’d never seen an uglier offense. The ball was snapped, Jake fumbled it, and when he did manage to secure it to his chest, instead of throwing it, he sprinted towards our sideline to try to run it in himself. Our defense wasn’t playing his games, though. He was tackled hard for a loss of two yards.

If anyone expected him to be a graceful loser they were proven fools when Jake climbed to his feet, closer to our sideline than he’d been all day, and honed in on Harper. She was standing next to Carter, her body bouncing in place like she’d been doing all day. It was adorable how she couldn’t hold in her excitement. I was ready to finish the game and go back to our house to celebrate. Seeing Jake step towards Harper refocused my energy into something darker.

“You stupid bitch!” Jake managed to get his foot just over the line before some of his teammates grabbed him. That didn’t shut him up, though. “What the fuck are you doing down here? Who do you think you are?”

“Shut the fuck up!” I stormed towards him. “You don’t get to talk to her anymore.”

“Is she fucking you, too? Is the whore fucking everyone on the team? Is that why she’s here? What a team amenity!” He broke away from his guys and headed towards Harper again. “You were nothing but a white trash virgin when I met you but it seems like only one of those things is still true.”

We all moved towards him at the same time. Half the team went for him, all of us happy for a reason to draw blood from the traitor. Coach stepped in just before we could get to Jake, though, and then his screaming for the ref to do something about Jake ended it all. Refs came running in to separate us and it didn’t take more than a few minutes of reviewing the incident for a decision to be made.

The USC head coach was so furious that he threw his headphones off and ripped his sweater over his head. It joined his headphones as he listened with the rest of us to the head ref announce that Jake was being ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. It was over.

In an ending that none of us expected, we all watched as Jake had to march off the field by himself, truly the loser of the night. I looked back at Harper to check on her and she met my gaze and gave me a thumbs up. I didn’t buy that she wasn’t upset but it would have to wait until we got home. There wasn’t anything I could do before then.

The game ended after we took a knee. We were the victors and the student section of the stadium lost their minds. In a move that would have Coach raving mad because of the fine we’d receive; a horde of students climbed down from the stands and rushed the field.

It was pure chaos but I loved every second of it. We’d won the game that everyone said we didn’t have a chance at winning. We’d pulverized USC. I was lifted onto a few guys’ shoulders and we all collectively lost our minds. I couldn’t spot Harper but I found Carter and Silas and we spent some time shoving each other around as we laughed and celebrated with everyone else.

I never wanted the night to end. Winning had never felt so good. I could tell Silas and Carter both felt the same way as we finally made our way to the locker rooms after the field was cleared. Coach was giving an interview to one of the few remaining sportscasters on the field and I knew I would be asked for my thoughts on the game but I was too riled up to speak like a normal human being just yet.

The celebration continued into the showers where we were all recalling our favorite plays and talking shit about Jake and his reaction. There was an intoxicating energy in the air and it pushed us to be a little louder, a little bolder as we got cleaned and redressed. We were drunk on our own success.

“Jake’s face… I’ve never seen anyone that angry. It was amazing.” Carter slammed his locker closed after pulling his shirt on. “I feel like fucking with him even more.”

“If anyone ever deserved to be kicked while they’re down, it’s Jake.” Silas’s grin was stretched wide across his face. “He thought he was going to come back and Harper would just fall into bed with him. I hope today put the final nail in that coffin. He couldn’t stop watching her screaming for us as we beat his ass.”

I got pissed all over again at the idea of him cornering her after I left her the night before. He’d tried to touch her. She was ours. He needed to know. I pulled out my phone and stared at the background, the picture of the four of us after the night we’d shared her for the first time. Harper was beautiful in it. She looked happy, unlike how she’d looked in every photo ever taken of her and Jake. She also looked thoroughly fucked.

Silas saw me staring at the picture and groaned. “That would be the nail in the coffin, for sure. No one would look at that picture and not see just how much we’d claimed her the night before.”

It was true. Even though the picture showed nothing, it somehow showed everything. Harper’s hair, her swollen lips, the sleepy way her eyes were half closed… It was obvious she was naked between the three of us. Even if I hadn’t known the backstory I would’ve found the picture damn near pornographic for the images it immediately brought to mind.

“He knows that one of us is with her. Imagine what he’d think if he knew we all were?” Carter laughed. “After the way he played tonight? Pretty sure his head would explode.”

“It’s the ultimate fuck you.” I was still high off the win as I opened my texting app and pulled up Jake’s contact. “I’m tempted to do it just to make sure he fucking knows she’s off limits to him.”

They watched as I attached the photo to the message. Silas grunted. “The way he was looking at her last night? I almost want to say do it.”

Carter nodded. “He needs to know that he’s lost in every way.”

My thumb hovered over the send button. The savagery of the game and the high of the win was getting to us. Sending the photo to Jake was a nuclear option and I wanted to do it. I wanted to blow his thoughts of getting Harper back in his bed to smithereens. “Should I?”

“Hey! We’re all meeting at the bar to have a celebratory drink! You have to come. No more pussying out to go home and hold hands or study or whatever the fuck you three do.” One of our teammates whipped a towel at us. “We’re serious! You three have to come.”

We caved and agreed to make an appearance. I closed the text to Jake and shot one to Harper telling her that we would be home after having a drink and that she could join us if she wanted. I looked back at the unsent text to Jake and sighed. “We can’t send it.”

Carter nodded. “Nope. No matter how sweet it would feel to cut Jake that much deeper.”

“Harper would murder us.” Silas grinned. “Why are we going out to a bar again? When she’s going to be at home waiting and ready for us?”

Shoving my phone in my pocket, I groaned. “Let’s just get it done.”