The Junior (College Years Book 3)

by Monica Murphy

  Damn. He’s having a fight with Ava.

  Gracie snags my hand and we squeeze past Eli to head for the short hallway. We dart into her bedroom and she’s about to close the door, but I quietly shake my head.

  I feel like an asshole, but I want to listen to this argument, even if we only get one side. Why are they fighting? Yes, they argue, but I’ve never heard Eli sound so angry with Ava like this before.

  We settle on the bed, Gracie sitting near the pillows while I sit at the end of the mattress, our bodies leaning toward the slightly open door. Swear to God, Gracie and I are so quiet, we can actually hear Ava yelling at Eli through the phone. I can’t make out exactly what she’s saying, but I can definitely hear her, and she sounds just as pissed as Eli.

  “You have to make a choice,” he says, interrupting her. “You either come home for the summer, or you don’t. And if you don’t—”

  He goes silent.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Gracie whisper hisses at me.

  I shrug. “I don’t know,” I whisper back.

  “If you don’t come home this summer,” Eli continues, his voice eerily calm. “Then we’re done. Through.”

  Oh fucking hell. We used to talk about this amongst the friend group back in the earlier days. About the two of them not lasting. Someone has to break up, am I right? We can’t all end up together forever. That’s just not how life works.

  I just didn’t think Eli would be the one to try and end things in this situation.

  “Yeah, I mean it,” he says, sounding downright hostile. “You’ve been pulling away from me for months and you know it. Prove to me you still love me, Ava. Come home after finals. If you don’t, I know where we stand.”

  That’s it. That’s all he says. He must’ve ended the call. Now there’s nothing but weighted silence out in the living room, and even in Gracie’s room. We’re still watching each other, both of us almost afraid to move until finally, I rise to my feet first.

  “Uh hey, bro,” I call, my voice tentative. “You okay out there?”

  Eli comes stomping down the hall, pausing in the open doorway. “Did you hear that just now? She’s going to leave me all summer.”

  Gracie sends him a sympathetic look. “Come on, Eli. You can’t make ultimatums—"

  “The fuck I can’t,” he says firmly, nodding over and over like he’s a fucking bobblehead. “I just did. She always promised me her summers and breaks. That was part of the deal when she went away to college, and now she doesn’t want to come home. She’d rather go to Europe instead for some sort of school shit. What the fuck?”

  Eli starts pacing in Gracie’s bedroom, which isn’t that big and since she’s still kind of a slob, he’s kicking clothes aside while he does it, sending her a look of disgust. “You’re a mess,” he tells her, pointing.

  “Hey, ease up.” My voice is firm. Deep. He can be as pissed as he wants, but he’s taking his anger out on my girl.

  “Sorry.” Eli glances over at me, running both of his hands through his hair and gripping the back of his neck. “I’m just…this is fucked up, what she’s doing to me.”

  Always taking everything so damn personal. Typical Eli.

  “Why does she want to go to Europe?” I ask him.

  “She got accepted to some study abroad program, I don’t know. If she goes, she’ll be in Spain for eight weeks,” Eli says bitterly.

  “Eli. Come on,” Gracie starts, her voice soft. Like she’s speaking to a wild animal, trying to calm it. “This is probably an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. You shouldn’t—”

  “Fuck that!” he roars, causing Gracie to press her back against the wall. I go to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her into me. “She promised, damn it. She said she would always be there for me, just like I said I’d always be there for her, and now she’s bailing on me!”

  “Sometimes things just…happen that are out of our control,” I say, keeping my voice even. Not that I think anything’s going to work on calming him down at the moment. He’s so torqued up he looks like he could breathe fire. “There are opportunities we can’t pass up. And maybe that’s what’s happening here.”

  “What the fuck ever you want to call it, it’s not right,” Eli says, hanging his head. Damn, he looks sad now. And I’d rather see a pissed off Eli than a sad one. He glances up, his eyes blazing with fury. “Let’s see what she does. Let’s see where she goes. If she comes home to me, then that proves she still loves me. That I’m number one in her life. And if she goes to Spain…”

  His voice drifts. I squeeze Gracie closer, thinking of our good news we were going to share, and how there’s no way I’m telling him now.

  We’ll save it for later.

  Eli clears his throat. “If she goes to Spain for the summer, then I’ll know.”

  “You’ll know what?” Gracie whispers.

  “That me and Ava are over. Finished.” He glances at me, then Gracie. “Done.”

  YES! This means Eli Bennett is The Senior! What’s going to happen between Eli and Ava? Find out by preordering The Senior, coming November 4th to Kindle Unlimited!

  Playlist

  “Mr Rager” - Kid Cudi

  “No Type” - Rae Sremmurd

  “Strawberry Skies” - Kid Travis

  “Dick” - StarBoi3, Doja Cat

  “Traveling Alone” - Tom the Mail Man

  “Cupid’s Chokehold” - Gym Class Heroes

  “Knockin’ Boots” - Candyman

  “Always Forever” - Cults

  “Here If You Want (Pale Blue)” - MOSSS

  Find the rest of The Junior playlist here: https://spoti.fi/37ircmS

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  Dear Readers,

  I hope you enjoyed THE JUNIOR! If you haven’t already, please sign up for my newsletter so you can stay up to date on my latest book news. Plus, you’ll get a FREE book by me, just for signing up! Click below:

  Monica Murphy’s Newsletter

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  Acknowledgements

  Lets just get the hard part out of the way - I hope you weren’t disappointed in Caleb’s choice AKA my choice for Caleb. To me, they make complete sense. To have him with Baylee would’ve read too much like The Sophomore and I wanted to do something different. I wanted Caleb to work for it in a sense. To figure out what he wanted in a relationship - to realize he even wanted one in the first place. And Gracie needed to figure out some stuff too. Plus, they needed to be friends first. To respect each other before they could bang each other - ha HA.

  Anyway…I love how this book turned out. Caleb is my favorite. Such a perv! Says and thinks whatever he wants! Reminds me of someone else I created who is…The Senior. I’m sure y’all are mad at me for ending the book like that but DON’T WORRY. It’s all going to be okay. Eventually.

  Thank you to everyone at Valentine PR who make my life easier, especially Nina who holds my hand and tells me everything’s going to be all right. Big thank you to Hang Le for designing these gorgeous covers. Thank you to Kevin Roldan for being a delight to work with and getting Wyatt to pose for a few photos for my book cover. Big, huge thank you to Rebecca and Sarah for slapping my book into shape, as well as Brittany and Serena for the excellent beta reads and notes. You are all the absolute BEST!

  As always, thank you to the readers, bloggers, reviewers, etc. who read my books and share them everywhere. It means so much to me. I seriously cannot do this job with you!

  I also need to give my daughter props because she’s always sharing stories about her friends and their romantic entanglements and they are so good, y’all. Pure inspiration for current and future books!

  p.s. - If you enjoyed this book, I would greatly appreciate it if you left a review on the retailer site you bought it from, or on Goodreads. Thank you so much!<
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  Also by Monica Murphy

  Standalone

  Things I Wanted To Say (but never did)

  College Years

  The Freshman

  The Sophomore

  The Junior

  The Senior

  Dating Series

  Save The Date

  Fake Date

  Holidate

  Hate to Date You

  Rate A Date

  Wedding Date

  Coming 10/19!

  Blind Date

  The Callahans

  Close to Me

  Falling For Her

  Addicted To Him

  Meant To Be

  Coming 2/10/22!

  Making Her Mine

  Forever Yours Series

  You Promised Me Forever

  Thinking About You

  Nothing Without You

  Damaged Hearts Series

  Her Defiant Heart

  His Wasted Heart

  Damaged Hearts

  Friends Series

  Just Friends

  More Than Friends

  Forever

  The Never Duet

  Never Tear Us Apart

  Never Let You Go

  The Rules Series

  Fair Game

  In The Dark

  Slow Play

  Safe Bet

  The Fowler Sisters Series

  Owning Violet

  Stealing Rose

  Taming Lily

  Reverie Series

  His Reverie

  Her Destiny

  Billionaire Bachelors Club Series

  Crave

  Torn

  Savor

  Intoxicated

  One Week Girlfriend Series

  One Week Girlfriend

  Second Chance Boyfriend

  Three Broken Promises

  Drew + Fable Forever

  Four Years Later

  Five Days Until You

  A Drew + Fable Christmas

  Standalone YA Titles

  Daring The Bad Boy

  Saving It

  Pretty Dead Girls

  About the Author

  Monica Murphy is a New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over two million copies worldwide. Both a traditionally published and independently published author, she writes young adult and new adult romance, as well as contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She’s also known as USA Today bestselling author Karen Erickson.

  Copyright © 2021 by Monica Murphy

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design: Hang Le

  byhangle.com

  Photographer: Kevin Roldan

  Editor: Rebecca, Fairest Reviews Editing Services

  Proofreader: Sarah, All Encompassing Books