Give You Up (Dumas University Book 1)

by Ashlyn Mathews

  Not good. Someday Jackson will get the tar kicked out of him.

  “How’s Arie?” I ask.

  “Don’t know. She and I aren’t talking.”

  “What the hell? Did you guys break up or something!”

  “Fuck sakes, Syn, keep it down.” He shields the side of his face with his hand.

  He and Arie are friends, but the running joke in our group is that they are an unofficial official couple. With as much time as they spend together, they might as well be a couple.

  “What happened?” I prop my elbows on the table, and setting my chin in my clasped hands, I stare at him, wanting answers for why he hurt my best friend. You see, with my history with men, I tend to think the man is at fault for any hurt feelings.

  Except with Taron, I was at fault. But now that he’s here, I can make it up to him even if it means sacrificing my pride. However, I refuse to give up my secrets. He won’t be sticking around after graduation anyway, so why involve him further in my life?

  “I kissed someone I wasn’t supposed to at this party we went to over the summer.”

  “You cheated on my friend!”

  “Syn. Jesus. Please.”

  All eyes are on us. I couldn’t give a care. I punch Cooper in the shoulder and jerk my head toward a corner of the bar. I rise out of the chair. He follows me. With the front of his shirt fisted in my hand, I demand answers.

  “Is she okay? How could you? She loves you. Trusts you with her heart.”

  “It was a mistake. I had too much to drink.”

  “Did you hook up with this girl?”

  “Hell no. If I did, do you think I’d be here talking with you?”

  Nope, he wouldn’t. Arie would have kicked him in the groin for betraying her.

  “She’s not speaking to me, Syn. What should I do?”

  “Give her time. She’ll come around.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “You’re her best friend, Cooper.”

  “We have a class together and she hasn’t spoken one iota to me. Pretends I’m not there.”

  “I’m sorry, buddy, but in this, you’ll have to be patient.” I pat his arm. “We girls can be bitches when someone betrays us.”

  He hooks his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans and pulls his shoulders inward. “I hope she doesn’t wait until the school year is over with. I can’t wait that long. She’s my best friend, Syn.”

  God, he looks so broken.

  “I know, champ. Chin up. If she doesn’t forgive you by the end of the semester, come and talk to me. I’ll try talking sense into her.”

  His eyes widen before he nods and shuffles back to his seat. Poor guy. Then again, he had no right kissing Arie’s rival from high school. It’s the only explanation that could have her giving Cooper the cold shoulder.

  My attention slides to Taron. Our gazes lock from across the room. He smiles. I smile back.

  Wait until I tell him the plan.

  He will either go caveman on me, dragging me into a cave somewhere, never to show my face again to Midnight, pissed he is using me as bait. Or there will be a shit-eating grin on his face.

  Like me, is he ready for something more from life? A way to expend the ball of energy swirling in his core? But what if we do a bit of living and I crash and burn like I did when I lost the baby?

  Then again, is Taron right, that I should stop being dependent on Dare for my worth? But instead of my worth, I’m dependent on Dare to keep me on the straight path of knowing what will happen every hour of my day, keeping things predictable and without much spontaneity.

  There is a way to find out. I’ll let Taron in, but not enough to break my heart. Because in this, I am certain of one thing. Taron won’t be sticking around if he ever finds out what a mess of a life I have.

  15

  Taron

  “You didn’t have to come back, Taron.”

  “Like hell you could stop me, Pixie Dust.”

  After shooting the breeze with the guys and creaming them in a game of darts, I drove home and chilled until Shades closed.

  I walk to her with my thumbs hooked in the pockets of my jeans, my eyes taking in how sexy she looks in her black slacks and white buttoned-up shirt that stretches sinfully across her chest.

  “How was your shift?” We meet near her car. Holding on to her waist, I turn her around and walk her backward until I have her resting against her blacked-out Honda Accord.

  “Playing referee.”

  I cock a brow. She explains.

  “Midnight and Riley, the server with the long black hair, they can go at it like mortal enemies.”

  “They’re part of your crew?”

  She nods.

  “But they don’t get along?”

  “Not tonight. Usually Midnight leaves Riley to do her job, but with the level of testosterone in the bar, he went overly possessive on her, and that pissed her off.”

  “If I were in his shoes and it was you those guys were looking at with hunger in their eyes, I’d go ape-shit too.”

  “So you’re saying they weren’t looking at me like that?”

  The uncertainty in her voice is what I remember well, a piece leftover from the shy girl I once knew. I grasp her chin and tip her head up until she is looking me in the eye.

  “They stared so long and hard and with such heat in their eyes, I was ready to knock heads together, Syn.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, baby. You are one sexy chick.”

  She smiles. Runs the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip, lingering on that sliver of metal that glints beneath the parking lot lights and the moonlight. Jesus, her ring will be cool on my mouth, the tip of my tongue.

  “Syn. Babe.” I lower my head and am about to slide my mouth over hers, but some ass-wipe whoops and hollers from where he is sitting inside his Jeep with the windows rolled down.

  I glance up and glare at Syn’s friend. “He should mind his own business. Leave you the fuck alone.”

  “Where I go, he goes. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “How about I have a lapse in memory?”

  “Taron.”

  “Okay, baby, for you, I’ll let him hang around. But he needs to keep his hands off you.”

  “Taron. He’s my friend.”

  “I’m your friend.”

  “That is as yet to be determined.”

  “If I’m your friend, do I get to touch you?”

  “In a friendly way.”

  “What’s considered friendly?” I ask.

  “Dare hugs me. Slings me over his shoulder when he’s in a hurry. Kisses the top of my head. Holds my hand in a crowd so we don’t get separated.”

  “Then we’re not friends.”

  “Of course not,” she says. “We’re exes.”

  “Our breakup wasn’t mutual,” I point out. “If I had my way, we wouldn’t have broken up at all. I’d take you with me to Stanford.”

  “And how would that have worked out? Me sitting at home waiting for you to be done with classes? Me wondering if some girl or girls is pawing at your body at parties? Me wondering if you would come home at all or whether you stayed the night at some other girl’s place?”

  “You think I would cheat on you?”

  “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Taron.”

  “Be clear what you’re insinuating, Pixie Dust.”

  “The other kids said your dad cheated on your mom and you have half-siblings.”

  “Every family has their secrets. What’s yours?”

  Her eyes widen. She bites down on her lower lip. Swings her gaze to the ground. Shit, I’ve hit on a sensitive topic. I pull her into my arms.

  “I’m sorry, Syn. I didn’t mean to pry, baby. You tell me when you’re ready. Or not at all.”

  Her arms hang loose at her sides. A heavy silence hangs in the air. I let go of her. Syn doesn’t want my comfort or my apologies. This, too, is different from the old days of high school. Back then, Syn would clin
g to me, her tears shredding me to pieces. Now? Now she is her own woman, a strong and independent woman.

  “I’m sorry too. I didn’t believe the stupid rumors then and shouldn’t now. Your father is the kindest man, Taron. He’s hardworking, and every time I went over and he was there, he doted on your mom.”

  My dad is a charmer. A great actor. He fooled a lot of people. He’s a cheater and a liar in his marriage, but in his profession, he is nothing but honest and fair, getting his clients the best deals. It’s the reason I hate and love my dad. He can be an upstanding guy one moment and a douchebag the next. How I see myself too.

  “Before we call it a night, I have a proposition for you.”

  Proposition? It’s the sexiest damn word from her mouth. She runs the plan by me.

  “You think this is the same guy?” I don’t say her name. The girl in question wants to keep this on the down low. Doesn’t want any trouble. Except the bastard who hurt her could hurt someone else, and that pisses me off.

  I agree to helping Syn. Not that I could refuse her. If she’s putting herself in the path of danger, Jesus H. Christ, I plan on being there and protecting her.

  “I can book us rooms for this Friday and Saturday.”

  “Friday, yes, but Saturday . . . Let me check.” She takes out her cell phone from her back pocket and swipes her fingers over the screen, bringing the phone up to her face. “I’m corgi-sitting for my friend on Saturday.”

  “Sunday?”

  “Open.”

  “How about we go over our assignment?”

  “It’s a plan.” She pockets her phone and sticks out her fist.

  I stare at her small hand. Fist bumps I reserve for friends. With Syn, I am aiming for more than friendship. I unfurl her fist, and bringing her hand to my face, I collapse her hand and press a kiss over each ring.

  “Taron?”

  There’s hesitation in her voice, as though what I did is something special and unexpected, but also something that shifts her feelings for me into new territory. I understand her confusion. My intention when I transferred to DU was to mess with Syn’s life for fucking up mine with her cheating and pregnancy. Except she is more different than I have ever imagined she’d be, and that stokes my curiosity and gets me hard in a way only Syn can do to my junk.

  I reach for her other hand, and holding her gaze, I drop kisses along her knuckles.

  “We are not friends, Syn. Or exes. We are a work in progress.”

  “What exactly does that look like?”

  She slips her hands out of mine, the friction of flesh sliding over flesh sending tingles up my arms.

  “Whatever we want it to be, baby.” My words come out in this gravelly timbre that speaks of hot nights having sweaty and noisy sex.

  She bites down on her smile. Swipes at the longer strands of hair falling into her beautiful eyes. Sticks her hands in her back pockets and rocks on her heels. She’s pleased with me. I’m over-the-moon happy too. This is our do-over. Our second chance. Our work in progress, starting from whatever the hell it is we have now to whatever it is we want it to be. That could take a day, a week, or a month, even a year, but we would get there together.

  “Did you find out if Hank is single?”

  I smile. Shake my head. Syn and her changing the subject in a heartbeat keeps me on my toes. It’s another reason I dig spending time with her.

  “He is.”

  “Thank you for asking.” She pulls out her phone and starts tapping on the screen. “Here is my e-mail address.”

  My phone in my pocket pings.

  “Send me the JD and we can start negotiating.”

  “What is there to haggle over?” I ask.

  “Work hours. Setting limits.”

  “What kinds?”

  “Business hours. Nine to five. Workplace romance is not allowed.”

  “What about after hours?”

  Sighing, she grabs my hand and tugs me to the Jeep.

  “Syn?”

  “Dare is my off hours, so you’ll have to take it up with him.”

  I should be pissed they’re putting me in this situation of having to win back my girl’s hand, but Syn is right. The new her is foreign to me. She comes with new friends. Friends I need to be in the good graces of if I want to spend more time with her. Also, from the excited way she speaks with them, including with the team’s kicker, Cooper Wilder, Syn’s friends are important to her.

  But is Dare Sterling a friend? Or does he mean more to Syn? What was his ask when she gave him the rings? What compelled her to give away her rings to him? What made her tell him about the rings? The rings and what she did with them was between me and her, goddammit. No other guy should intrude on what is our thing.

  How serious is her friendship with the Sterling douchebag? From what Andy and Jordan tell me, their friendship borders on a serious relationship. He goes where she goes, and same goes for Syn. She stays over at his place. A lot.

  He is also not shy with his threats, daring to kick any guy’s ass who dare come near Syn. Or he’ll do better than spout threats, like that time he rammed a dude’s truck with his lifted truck, causing serious front-end damage to both vehicles.

  That incident was from last year. The guy stared too long and hungrily at Syn for Dare’s taste. After he wrecked the front of his pickup truck, Dare had his truck towed and then went and bought another.

  Rich and entitled bastard.

  “Dare, this is—”

  “The dude with the boner for you.”

  I am not a fan of his choice of words. Nevertheless, I puff out my chest for one reason. He’s speaking the truth. I am very interested in Syn Winters.

  She glares. “You’re so crass.”

  He smirks.

  “Dare, this is Taron. Taron, Dare.”

  “Nice to meet you, man. A friend of Syn’s is a friend of mine.” He sticks his hand out the window of his Jeep.

  I stare at his hand for a second before I grasp it, squeezing hard. The guy doesn’t wince, and my respect for him inches up a notch. Letting go, I give him one of those bro nods, that he and I are all good when it comes to Syn. He smiles back and I hate it, but I am liking the guy.

  I mean, shit, he took care of my girl while I was making a mess of my life back in Cali, still torn up over what Syn did to me.

  “Dare, Taron and I are doing a favor for Midnight. We’ll be in Alexandria and staying overnight Friday.”

  “Yeah, Midnight gave me the four-one-one. Why don’t you stay Saturday too, and make it a weekend getaway? You only have weekends free for so long before all hell breaks loose with games, Syn.”

  “Are you sure? Won’t you be . . . unhappy?”

  “I got my fix last night. Just promise you’ll come by Sunday. That you’re mine for the entire day.”

  They’re talking as though I’m not there, and I am ready to cut the conversation short and tell Syn I should bounce, giving her time with her best friend. Except she slides her small hand in my big one and sidles up to me, anchoring me to her and the situation at hand, this weird push-pull, give-and-take thing happening with her and Dare.

  “I would, but I’m corgi-sitting Primie.”

  “How about I text Cindy the change of plans and you and Taron can meet at my place on Sunday? Come by in the afternoon.”

  Suddenly, I’m finding myself very much at home. More than I ever did at Stanford. This guy doesn’t know me. Could see me as a threat to his friendship with Syn. Yet, he lumped my name with hers, and bam, I am in their crew. Until he swings his gaze to me and, with a dangerous glint in his intense eyes, says, “Fuck with her heart, and I will rip out yours after I castrate you with a butter knife. Got it?”

  I stick out my fist. “Loud and clear.”

  16

  Syn

  On my drive home from work that night, I had two cars following me. One of the drivers was Dare and the other, Taron. I’m not surprised Taron is seeing me home. He did tell me before leaving Shades that he wo
uld feel better knowing I made it home safe.

  You would think we haven’t been apart for four years. As soon as I had my driver’s license and started working at this fast food joint a few months after I turned sixteen, Taron waited for me in the parking lot in his truck and made sure I arrived home safely. He can be so protective. If he didn’t like the position of QB so much, I’m certain he would be one of the guys who protected the QB from getting sacked.

  And Dare? Dare waiting for me in the parking lot was a surprise. As soon as I saw him inside his Jeep, I knew instantly him being there had something to do with Midnight’s text. He came charging up in his black supped-up Jeep like a knight on his steed, coming to my rescue. Thank goodness he was there. Taron and I had come close to kissing, and I am not ready to go there with him.

  Will I ever?

  His high number of sex partners gets my stomach in a knot, but that’s not the only thing. The last PA he had, the one he liked, according to Hank, is a girl Taron’s had with him since his junior year. She is willowy, with chestnut-brown hair, bright amber eyes, and flawless skin. She’s not inked and pierced like me.

  If I were to ship someone with Taron, it would be his ex-PA, Sydney. God, even her name is heavenly rather than dark and ominous.

  How can I compete with time even though Taron says he’s mine and wants to be mine again? Now I understand what he must have felt when I brought up Dare and how he understands me best because he’s been with me for the past three years. Dare and I never overstepped our friend zone.

  Did Taron with Sydney?

  My phone on my bed chirps, yanking me out of my thoughts. I grab it and check my messages. It’s Taron.

  Off limits: Ready?

  Me: Yep

  Off limits: Good. I’m sitting in your driveway.

  I grab my suitcase and hurry out of my bedroom and to the front door before Taron changes his mind and decides not to wait for me inside his truck but would rather come inside. We’re on our way to Alexandria. Too late. I took too long. There’s a knock on my door.