“Ryan may have won tonight, but I’m tucking you in.” Apollo kissed her temple.
Yawning hugely, she rested her head on his chest. “I like your plan.”
He brought her into Ryan’s bedroom, setting her on the bed and pulling off her shoes. She let him draw back the covers and then tuck them around her. They stared at each other silently, Apollo resting his hands on either side of her.
“I know it’s going to be hard, Nora, but I’m all-in. We can make this work.”
“I love you, Apollo.” She untucked her arms, drawing his face to hers to press a kiss to his lips. “I never want to hurt you.”
“You couldn’t,” he whispered, straightening and smoothing her hair away from her face. “These guys are my best friends, my family.” He kissed her once more and stood. “Trust us.”
She watched him go, and pulled the covers over her shoulders before burying her face in the pillow. While her stomach still churned with anxiousness, she made a promise to herself: if this relationship hurt them, if it threatened the bond they had with each other, she would leave. She would do everything in her power to protect their friendship.
THE END
Liked Finding Honor?
Check out Book 2 of The Searchers
Finding Ryan
Chapter 1
Needing Answers
Ryan Valore drummed his fingers on the countertop. He’d waited on hold for— he checked his watch— five minutes, to speak with the Dean of Admissions at Calvin Coolidge School of Law. He stared down at the letter laid out on the counter next to him; the letter he received a week before and the one which messed with all his well-laid plans.
His eyes sought out the worst words on the letter, wait-list, and reservation fee. A hand smoothed along his spine, distracting him. His girlfriend of not-very-long, Nora Leslie, gave him a half-smile before sitting on one of two kitchen chairs.
Moral support.
“Mr. Valore?” a bored voice asked.
“Yes, I’m here,” he answered.
“I’m sorry Mr. Valore, the dean is occupied at the moment. I’ll give her the message you called and she’ll return your call at her earliest possible convenience.”
“Ma’am.” He shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead, trying to hold off the headache threatening. “This will be the fifth message I’ve left the dean. May I schedule an appointment to meet with her?”
“Of course,” the woman answered, and for a moment, hope sparked inside him. “I’ll leave a message with her and she’ll call to schedule that meeting.”
Swallowing a groan, he asked, “Can you please schedule the meeting?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Valore,” she repeated. “The dean prefers to manage her own calendar.”
Phone calls were getting him nowhere. “Yes,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “Please do.”
Nora watched him worriedly as he ended the call, but he couldn’t manage a smile to reassure her.
“What happened?” she asked after a moment.
“Can’t get through.” He dragged a hand through his hair, dropping the phone on the counter before slamming his palm onto the countertop. “Dammit!”
Immediately, she came to his side, wrapped an arm around his waist and rested her head on his arm. He took a deep breath, his tension draining minutely with her presence.
“We should take a ride.”
Regarding her curiously, he sighed. “I can’t, Nore. I’m going to try the dean again in a while. Maybe I’ll annoy her into speaking with me.”
“That could work.” She nodded. “But it might be more effective to annoy her in person.”
He wrapped his arms around her and stared down at her upturned face, contemplating her idea. It was a good one. “You could be right.”
She hummed in agreement. “It’s not very far. An hour? All highway…”
He smiled, kissing her nose. “Let’s go.” He sent off a quick message to his best friends and roommates. Apollo and Cai were out, Matisse was sleeping, and Seok had disappeared somewhere without telling anyone.
He followed Nora to the front door while he typed. She held out his jacket for him and he smiled, putting in one arm and then another like a little boy.
“You’re in a silly mood,” he observed.
“I think I’m feeling a little sleep-deprived.” She yawned widely. “You guys are party animals.”
He chuckled, unlocking the door to his car and waiting for her to get in. He closed her door before circling the vehicle to get into the driver’s seat. She already had her eyes closed, her head resting on the palm of her hand. Her eyes were rimmed in dark circles he knew were his and his friends’ fault.
Nora’s twenty-first birthday had been on Friday, and he and his roommates, Seok Jheon, Apollo Morris, Matisse Boudreau, and Cai Josephs had taken her out for dinner. They went to a Chinese restaurant where the food was served as soon as it finished cooking and they all shared the dishes around a huge round table. All of them drank, with the exception of Apollo, who lived by the my body is a temple mantra. Poor Nora, the lightweight, struggled after one glass of white wine, which she didn’t even like.
Then Matisse demanded they order the sweetest, girliest drinks the restaurant served, so she could sip everything. And she had, but the result was a ten o’clock bedtime, with a round of vomiting at eleven, one, three, and five, at which point all of them were pretty much up for the day.
It had taken her longer to recover than the rest of them, though he still gagged a little when he thought about the appletini.
His phone dinged, distracting him from Nora’s tired visage. “Do you mind checking?”
She opened her eyes, peering around the console for his phone. “Want to put in your password?” She held out the phone.
He shook his head. “3333.”
She tapped the password and read his message. “Apollo wants to know if you’re making dinner, and if not, can he go grocery shopping.” She chuckled, and without waiting for him to reply, began typing a message back. “I’m giving him a very specific list. I’m going to cook tonight. Think he’ll follow it?” she asked smiling.
Knowing Apollo? Definitely not, and he shook his head, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at his girlfriend. Her golden brown eyes twinkled with amusement, and her lips turned up at the edges. Seeing her happy made him happy.
It made all of them happy.
He focused on the road, but he couldn’t help wonder if perhaps his wait-listing was due to just how happy she made him, and his four other roommates.
He’d met Nora first. A suspect in a horrible school shooting, she’d called Legal Aid for a lawyer. His professor from Brownington College was assigned her case, and Ryan, who was interning with the man, went with him to meet the girl they’d heard so much about. From the moment he saw her in the hospital bed where she was recovering from a gunshot wound, his life had changed. Something about her drew him in.
Back then—
It wasn’t so long ago, he realized, but it still felt like another era: pre-Nora.
Back then, she was a shadow of herself. In the wake of the shooting, she hid her beautiful personality. It took all of them to draw her out, and in the process, they fell for her.
He sighed, and she linked her fingers with his, sandwiching his hand between both of hers. She didn’t ask him what was wrong, just gave him the comfort of her presence.
After the initial shock and anger following in the wake of Ryan and his friends learning they’d all fallen a little bit in love with her, and she’d fallen in love with all of them, they came to an agreement. They would have a relationship with her. She was his girlfriend, but she was also Seok’s, and Matisse’s, and Apollo’s, and Cai’s.
It was remarkably easy, sharing her affection. Probably because she loved each of them so fiercely. Her love was additive, not subtractive. It didn’t lessen what she felt for him, and strangely enough, it didn’t lessen what he felt. He realized in thos
e early days, when she was still healing from her wounds, and hounded by the police, how his roommates protection and caring put him at ease. If he couldn’t be with her, one of them could. If she needed love, comfort, support, there was always someone there to give it.
For the first time in as long as he could remember, he wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But, of course, it did.
Nora began participation in an experiment at Brownington College. In exchange for answering questions and taking tests, she was offered tuition, as well as room and board. He was able to talk her out of moving into a dorm, but she’d already accepted Dr. Murray’s, the psychologist running the study, offer. Now she was saddled with a bill of fees for a dorm room where she never even spent the night.
Simultaneously, he learned the early admittance he was counting on at Calvin Coolidge School of Law was reneged, and he was placed on the waitlist. Given his well above-average grades, his near-perfect score on the LSAT, and the recommendations he’d received from his professors, it made no sense. No one at CCSL would tell him why he was waitlisted, and even his professor and mentor, Erik Bismarck, had no luck getting answers.
A part of him worried the reason was his relationship with Nora.
Which was crazy, wasn’t it? There was no way someone would have learned about it this early on, and then cared enough to report to a dean. Not to mention, it was illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Though he wasn’t sure this qualified, as the only person he was interested in being with was she.
He shifted uncomfortably. Thinking about being with Nora that way made him harden, and he was coordinated, but not coordinated enough to hold hands while driving seventy miles down the highway, and shift his dick.
Giving him a quick kiss, Nora let his hand go. He adjusted himself and allowed himself a quick glance. She propped her elbow on the window again and rested her head on her hand. She gnawed at her lip while watching the scenery pass by. As if she felt him watching her, she turned to him.
“Ry…” She hesitated, her brows drawing together while she gathered her thoughts.
He waited for her, watching the road and glancing over now and then.
She sighed and began again. “Do you think you were wait-listed because of me?”
Considering he’d had the same thought, he didn’t deny it. He hated to lie to her, but he hated to hurt her, too.
“I don’t know, Nore.” He reached for her again. “I admit I thought maybe that was it.”
“Because you represented me…” she trailed off, looking down at her lap guiltily.
Damn. He hadn’t thought his involvement in her case could be the reason. It made a lot more sense than what he suspected. Still, in the world of lawyers and lawyering, defense attorneys made their names with high profile cases. While the wider public may sneer at them, within the community, it was merely a separate branch of expertise, and not one particularly looked down upon. So, no, he didn’t think the fact he interned with Professor Bismarck, who represented her in a case now closed, impacted his admittance into law school.
He stayed silent, finding he was unwilling to have her second-guess their relationship. He realized with a shock he was willing to give up law school before he gave her up.
He’d wanted to be a lawyer since he started college, but compared to her, it paled in importance. Something about this revelation eased his tension and anxiety. He would get answers from CCSL. Maybe he’d have to apply to other law schools, but there was no way he’d give up Nora for it. No way.
About the Author
Ripley Proserpina spends her days huddled near a fire in the frozen northern wilds of Vermont. She lives with her family, two magnificent cats, and a dog who aspires to cat-hood. She is the author of the Reverse Harem series, The Searchers, and “Missing Linc” from the paranormal series, The Aegeans in the upcoming horror romance anthology, Bloody Kisses. Follow her on Facebook or sign up for her newsletter at www.ripleyproserpina.com.
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