by R. Linda
The vein in Ryder’s neck popped and his eyes closed.
“Okay, I’m going.” Jack climbed out of bed, kissed my cheek, and whispered, “Worth a try.”
I shook my head and bit my lip to not laugh. He wasn’t serious. At least I didn’t think he was. He loved getting on Ryder’s nerves and pushing his buttons and knowing how anti-people Ryder was just made it more fun for him.
I flicked off the light and climbed into bed beside Ryder, snuggling against him, my head on his chest and his hands on my waist. It was my favourite way to sleep.
Chapter Eleven
Ryder
I’d taken extra shifts at the shop to save money because sharing a dorm with Jack was driving me crazy. We had no privacy, and it wasn’t like we could go to Bailey’s room without risking being impaled by a sharp object since Christina was still hellbent on blaming Bailey for her and Chace breaking up.
We had to steal moments together whenever we could. It was getting to the point I couldn’t remember the last time we’d had longer than five minutes alone together without being interrupted. And it was making me moody as hell. I took it out on everyone around me.
“Hey, wait up!” Jack called as I crossed the lawn.
“Fuck off.”
“Whoa, someone’s a little grumpy again today,” he teased. And he was right. I couldn’t help it. Technically, he hadn’t done anything wrong, unless you counted trying to follow me into the shower this morning, but that was usual for Jack. Normally, I’d just slam the door in his face. This morning, however, I shoved him into the wall and threatened to smash his stupid nose. That was how worked up I was. I didn’t even make fucking sense.
It was Friday afternoon, and I was meeting Bailey outside her class so we could head to the Coffee Pot together like always.
“What do you want, Jack?”
“What are you doing?”
“Going to get B.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I’m going to get Indie. I’ll walk with you until then.”
I grumbled a response. Not really agreeing, not really not agreeing as Jack fell into step beside me.
“So, what’s got Calvin in a twist?” Jack asked.
I whipped my head around to look at him and frowned. “Who the hell is Calvin?”
“Your boxers. Figured you’d rather me refer to them as your Calvins than your knickers.” He snorted.
I…I shook my head. I didn’t know what to say or think. My mind was stuttering. I didn’t want to even attempt to open my mouth.
After a while, my thoughts became coherent, so I answered his question. Sort of. “You wouldn’t understand, Jack.”
“Try me.” He smiled encouragingly.
Well, he asked for it.
“Blue balls. That’s why I’m moody as hell.”
“Hmmm…” He stroked the imaginary beard on his chin and nodded once. “You’re right. I don’t understand. But I think you should see a doctor. It sounds painful.” He cupped his junk and winced. “Dangerous.” His eyes widened. “Deadly, even.”
“The condition is lethal,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets.
Jack slapped my chest with the back of his hand. “Wait. Really?”
“To others. Not so much me.”
“I can die from your blue balls?” He gasped and edged away from me slowly.
“It’s highly likely.”
He was the main reason they were blue in the first place. If he just knocked or stayed out for an entire night every so often, I wouldn’t be ready to murder him.
“I’m not ready to die. There’s so much I haven’t done.” He placed his hand on his forehead and tilted his head back dramatically.
“Sorry, man.”
Jack sighed. “There must be something I can do.”
“Nope.”
“Help make them less blue somehow?”
I narrowed my eyes. “No.”
“Get the blood flowing?” He had a pep in his step.
“My blood is flowing fine.” That was the problem. It was all flowing to one area.
“A massage.” Jack clapped me on the shoulder.
“No,” I growled, but he smiled. I knew that smile, and I was already cringing in anticipation.
Yes, it will totally help to—”
“Don’t say it.”
“Ease tension and reduce stiffness in the affected areas.”
I hung my head and sighed. It was my own fault. I mentioned balls. Anything remotely sexual, and Jack jumped at the chance to turn it into something it wasn’t.
Jack threw his head back and laughed like a maniac.
I was on the verge of shoving my foot so far up is his ass he choked on it, when he spoke through his laughter. “There’s Indie’s class. See you soon, lover.”
He winked then he ran off.
Deep breaths.
Deep cleansing breaths.
Think happy thoughts.
But my happy thoughts all resulted in the same thing. Jack strung up at the top of the flagpole by his Calvins. Giant wedgie.
I smiled and continued on my way to Bailey’s class, all the while trying to come up with ways of suffocating Jack in his sleep that wouldn’t leave any evidence that pointed to me.
Bailey was waiting for me when I arrived, so I took her hand, and we walked to the Coffee Pot together for lunch.
Lennon gave us a thumbs up the moment we walked in, acknowledging us and letting us know she’d place our order. I wasn’t sure whether her knowing what we wanted was a good or bad thing.
It saved us time not having to order, but it also meant we ate here way too much. But the options on campus were limited unless we went to the dining hall for the free food, and this was the only place Bailey could get her chicken salad.
We had barely sat down when Jack and Indie showed up.
“What are you guys doing here?” Bailey asked with wide eyes, sliding across the booth to make room for Indie, which meant I had to move to accommodate Jack. He practically sat in my lap.
I shoved him with my elbow. “Space.”
“Massage?” He shuffled over half an inch.
I gave up with him. It was better just to ignore it.
“Ryder invited us,” Indie said. She was looking a little better than she had when we got home last week.
“You did?”
I nodded. “I have a proposition for you.”
Jack clapped once, and his face spread into a wide grin. “I love being propositioned, even if you don’t like mine.”
“Jack, be serious.” Indie held her hand up to stop him from talking anymore.
“You got it, baby cakes.” He mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key. He was a child. An overgrown, six-foot-two child with earrings in his ear.
“What’s this proposition?” Indie asked, and Jack squeaked beside me.
Shooting him a glare, I ignored the fact he was bright red and pressing his lips shut to stop from laughing at the word proposition.
Propositions. Massages. And blue balls.
He was having a field day.
“Friday night date nights,” I said.
“I don’t get it.” Indie frowned and looked at Bailey, who just stared back blankly.
“With Bailey unable to return to her dorm, and with me sharing with,” I pointed my thumb at Jack, “the walking, talking cold shower here, who has the worst timing imaginable, plus classes and work, Bailey and I can’t find five minutes alone.”
“Right…” Indie waited for more.
“I want Friday nights alone with Bailey. No interruptions. I want to take her out on a date and bring her home to my room. Alone.” I caught Bailey’s gaze, and she smiled. She liked this idea. “I need to find Jack a home.”
Jack slapped that table and held up one finger, telling us to wait. He then slid out of his seat and under the table for a moment before coming back up.
What the hell was he doing?
Pinching his thumb and forefinger together he held the
m up for us to see. Grinning triumphantly, he brought his pinched fingers to the corner of his mouth and twisted them back and forth. Mimicking unlocking a padlock and releasing a zipper.
He just mimed unlocking his freaking mouth.
Indie shook her head, and Bailey rolled her eyes.
“I am not an animal. You do not need to rehouse me.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll pay,” I said.
“What?” they all asked.
“I want the room every Friday night.” I looked at Indie. “If Jack can stay with you on Fridays, I’ll give you guys fifty bucks to spend on whatever. Booze, movies, strippers, your own dates. I don’t care. But I will pay for your Friday nights if it gets me and Bailey some time to ourselves.”
“Each,” Jack said.
“What?”
“Fifty bucks each, or no dice.”
“Fine. Whatever. But you are not allowed to come home before ten a.m. on Saturday mornings.”
“Fine by me. When do we start?”
I looked at Bailey. “Tonight.” I was like a dehydrated man in the desert, and Bailey was my fresh drink of water.
“Great. Cough it up.” Jack held out his hand.
“What?”
“The hundred bucks. I have a date to plan for my baby cakes.”
Indie grinned at him and winked.
Lennon showed up then with our food and asked if Jack and Indie wanted anything to eat. Indie shook her head, and Jack looked at me with an eyebrow raised expectantly.
“What now?”
“You invited us here. Are you paying for lunch?”
“Will it get you to shut up and leave faster?”
“Most definitely.”
“Then, yes, I’ll buy you and Indie lunch.”
“See, baby cakes? Who needs a sugar daddy when I have Ryder?” He leaned over and high fived Indie. At least she seemed to be smiling a lot more.
“You’ll need the emergency room if you don’t shut up.”
“You know, it would be much cheaper for you if you had just taken me up on my offer of a massage.”
I groaned. “You are not massaging my balls.”
“Just as friends. It’s what friends do.”
Lennon cleared her throat, while Bailey and Indie tried to hide their smiles.
“What?” Bailey asked, bursting into laughter, followed soon after by Indie. Even Lennon giggled.
“ Loverboy is all worked up and won’t let me help ease the tension.”
Drowning?
Drowning would be better than a flagpole wedgie.
I could lure him to a lake and hold his head underwater. That wouldn’t leave any evidence of me, would it?
“Do you want to eat or not?”
Jack and Indie placed their orders, and Lennon promised to get them out as quick as possible since Bailey and I had our food.
“Are you okay?” Bailey asked Lennon, thankfully steering the conversation away from me and my balls, which were no longer blue, but shrivelled up and hiding.
“Of course, why?” She smiled but it was too bright, and I was beginning to wonder if Lennon was hiding something.
“Well, you have a split lip. It looks painful to speak.”
“Oh, it’s fine.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Walking through the park and got hit in the face by a ball.”
“Hate it when that happens,” Jack said seriously.
“Balls hitting you in the face?” Indie laughed.
“Yes.”
“Liar.”
They high fived.
“It’s not a big deal. I just need to watch what I’m doing more. I’m such a klutz. I’ll be back with your order.” Lennon smiled and walked away.
“Tell me I’m crazy, but did that seem weird to you?” Bailey asked.
“’Bout as weird as the story about burning her wrist on the grill,” I agreed.
“Maybe she really is clumsy. I mean, have you seen me?” Indie said.
“Now, about that hundred bucks,” Jack said, changing the subject again. “Unless you want to negotiate a massage deal?”
I took my wallet out of my pocket and slapped a hundred bucks in Jack’s hand.
“Your loss. I happen to be great—”
“At handling balls?” I cut him off, already knowing what was coming.
He rolled his eyes. “Why do you have to be so crass and rude?”
Really? Coming from him.
He continued, “I was going to say I happen to be great with my hands. Aren’t I, Indie?”
She nodded. “His massages are the best. Though he only rubs my back and shoulders. I’m missing some anatomy.”
“Give me back my money. I’ll bribe Christina instead.” I reached for the cash, but Jack snatched it back.
“No!” He rubbed the notes over his face and sighed. “We’re living the high life tonight, baby cakes.”
“Hardly. It’s a hundred dollars.” Bailey laughed.
“But it’s not our hundred. That makes all the difference.”
By the time we’d all finished lunch, I was more than ready to go on a date with Bailey.
“I’ll pick you up at six?” I asked her, my stomach churning from nerves, even though I shouldn’t be nervous.
“From Indie’s?”
“Okay.”
“Thank you.” She leaned up on her toes and kissed my cheek. “I’ll run over to my room now and get my things. What should I wear tonight?”
“Something casual.”
“Okay.”
Chapter Twelve
Bailey
I left Ryder at the Coffee Pot with Indie and Jack and practically sprinted across the campus to my dorm. I needed to pack a bag to take to Ryder’s, plus I needed to pack clothes and makeup and anything else I could think of for our date.
I didn’t know where we were going or what we were doing, but I couldn’t contain the excitement. It had been so long since we’d been on a real, proper date. Between classes, studying, and working, it was hard to find the time. And then there was Jack, who always showed up where he was least wanted.
I pushed open the door to my dorm and ducked on instinct. Nine times out of ten when I walked through that door, something came flying at my face. Sighing in relief when I didn’t get smacked in the head by a book, I was pleasantly surprised to find Christina wasn’t home.
My relief was short-lived, though. When I lifted my head, I was looking straight at Chace. Backing up against the door, I shook my head. “What are you doing here?”
“Come to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk to you, Chace. You need to leave.” I felt around behind me until my fingers grasped the door handle. Pulling it open, I gestured for Chace to leave.
“Five minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”
“No. We have nothing to discuss.”
“Then why do you look so unsure?”
“I’m unsure because you’re in my freaking room, uninvited, and won’t leave when I asked you to.”
“You won’t even hear me out?” He stood and moved toward me. I took a step back into the hall, wanting to keep as much distance between us as possible.
“Nothing you could say would make me feel any different, Chace. We are nothing to each other. Strangers on opposite sides of the campus. That’s it.”
Chace sighed. “You know that’s not true.”
I folded my arms and turned my head away, refusing to make eye contact and wishing he would leave me alone. It was bad enough dealing with Christina. I couldn’t cope with his brand of crazy too.
“This isn’t over, B. You will talk to me.” He stabbed a finger in my direction before storming off down the hall, leaving me shaken.
What the hell did he think he was doing? I knew I needed to tell Ryder, but I didn’t want him to worry, or take matters into his own hands. If he found out Chace was waiting for me in my dorm, he’d lose it.
Rushing back insid
e my room, I hurried to collect everything I thought I might need for the night, wanting to get as far from that room as possible before Christina came home too.
It wasn’t until I was halfway to Indie’s room that I realised something was off.
Chace was in my room.
How did he get in there? I knew Christina never would have let him in to wait for me.
Did he have a key?
That thought rattled me.
I knocked on Indie’s door, and she pulled it open. “Hey!” The smile on her face fell the moment she looked at me.
Crap, did I look that bad? Was it obvious?
“What’s wrong?” She stepped aside to let me in.
“Nothing. Why would you say that?”
“Because your voice just raised three octaves, and you have that deer caught in the headlights look in your eye.”
I threw myself down on her bed and sighed. “You can’t say anything to anyone, at least not until tomorrow. I’d like one date with Ryder first.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, coming to sit beside me.
I propped myself up on my elbows and twisted my mouth as I thought about how to tell her.
“I got back to my room, and Chace was there waiting for me.”
“What, outside?”
“No,” I shook my head and whispered, “inside. Sitting on my bed.”
Indie’s eyes widened, and she jumped up. “No way. I’m going to strangle that little mother fu—
“In, relax, please.”
“You have to tell Ryder.”
“I know, and I will. Just not tonight. Let me have one night with him before he goes and gets himself in trouble.”
“So, what did he want?”
I filled her in on the brief exchange Chace and I had, and what Christina believed was happening, and Indie looked just as confused as I felt. “Why now? What changed?”
“I have no idea, but I don’t like it.”
The whole thing was weird and highly suspicious. Was it some twisted joke they were playing? They had to be up to something, right? What else could it be?
“Neither do I. You never can tell with those two. They’re manipulative and conniving and—”
