Wicked Rich

by C. Morgan

  Chapter 36

  HADLEY

  On the day of the rowing championships, I stared at the pile of brightly colored post-it pads on my desk and sighed. After two months of working day and night, I was finally all caught up on my studies and had managed to get ahead in the majority of my classes.

  It hadn’t been easy and, more than once, I’d wondered what the heck I’d been thinking to transfer in weeks after the semester had started, but I’d done it. The post-it pads were proof my intentions to keep studying today, but I couldn’t concentrate for the life of me.

  Ruby had gone to visit her family for the weekend, so I was alone in our room. Most of my friends from class had gone to watch the race, and as much as I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go, I couldn’t deny that I really wanted to.

  There had been such a cool vibe on campus this past week for the build-up to the race that it seemed almost treasonous to stay in my room when the rest of the school were out there cheering the team on. All day, when the wind had been right, I’d been able to hear the announcements, the crowd being whipped into a frenzy, and the chants and songs drifting on the breeze.

  It seemed wrong not to be down there with everyone else. Especially since I didn’t really have a good excuse not to be. There was absolutely no reason why I had to be studying while everyone else was experiencing one of the biggest events on the school calendar at Edgewater.

  My homework was all done. I didn’t have any tests coming up, and even if I got hit by a pop quiz on Monday, I was prepared. I could afford to take a break for the rest of the day, but I knew that if I left my room, I’d be heading down to the race.

  I wasn’t even about to lie to myself about why I wanted to go. The truth was simple. I wanted to support Dax.

  It had been two months, one week, and five days since I’d gotten back from Hawaii, and in all that time, I’d only focused on myself and healing. The healing was a work in progress, but it was happening.

  Mr. Breyer had been onto something when he’d said Dax and I had probably learned some things that weekend. I certainly had, though I didn’t know about Daxton.

  Since I’d buried myself in schoolwork and catching up, I hadn’t seen much of him and I’d deliberately not listened when anyone had brought up campus gossip. Only Ruby knew what’d happened between us, and she also knew I didn’t want to hear anything about him.

  For the most part, I’d kept myself isolated from anything that could possibly be related to him, but that hadn’t worked as well recently. It was impossible to totally avoid him when his name was on everyone’s lips and his face was on many of the posters hyping people up for the race.

  From what I gathered, he’d managed to make himself quite an important part of the team. It was impressive to have done that as a freshman. I had to admit that I was curious about how he’d done it. Rowing was huge at Edgewater. It would’ve taken some serious work—the kind I wouldn’t have believed he had it in him to put in—to have become such a big deal in the sport around here.

  Eventually, when another roar of the crowd reached my room, I pushed my chair back and shoved my feet into my sneakers. I’m going to go support him. Him and my school.

  Grabbing my scarf and woolen hat from my bed, I ran out the door while still wrapping the scarf around my neck and jamming the hat onto my head. Please don’t let me have missed it.

  As I got downstairs and jogged out onto the sidewalk, I could still hear people singing, screaming, and cheering. From what I could make out from the announcements being made over the loudspeakers, it seemed like the main event was starting in only a few minutes.

  Upping my pace, I hurried to the grassy shore along the banks and got there seconds after the race had started. There wasn’t any time to find my friends, so I simply moved through the crowd until I could see the water and then watched eagerly as our team raced by.

  My heart was in my throat when I caught sight of Dax, looking more focused and serious than I’d ever seen him before. I’d noticed it the other day too. About a month ago when Ruby and I had gotten out for a change of scenery while we’d been studying and had happened to be around for the team’s practice.

  His features obviously hadn’t changed much in the last couple of months, but something about him had. There was something in his expression, in his eyes, and in the way that he carried himself that made him almost unrecognizable to me at times.

  Not that I’ve been analyzing him from afar all this time. Obviously not. That would be ridiculous.

  The air around me rippled in anticipation. When the girl next to me started positively screaming Daxton’s name, I blinked myself out of my thoughts and looked down at the water again. The Edgewater team was a nose ahead and the finish line was coming up fast.

  They glided past it first, and I swore the people around me exploded. They went nuts, screaming until their throats were probably raw and releasing all manner of objects into the air in celebration.

  Some had obviously come prepared, shooting party poppers and streamers or releasing balloons, but others just tossed whatever they had. A boot and a package of condoms narrowly missed my head, and as I ducked, I caught sight of Mr. and Mrs. Breyer jumping up and down on the dock.

  I smiled when I saw them, genuinely surprised but also genuinely happy that they’d come to support him. When I moved closer, it was just to have a better of view of the team accepting the trophy.

  Yeah. Right.

  The fact that it also gave me a better view of Dax’s parents embracing him as they congratulated him after he got out of the boat was just a bonus. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, but they weren’t sad tears.

  Nostalgic ones, sure. Wistful ones, absolutely. Happy ones, yes. But not sad. My sadness over my situation with him had come and gone. We’d both hurt each other and I knew that, in order to heal, I needed to go through all the phases until I came to accept what’d happened. And I’d done that.

  With that thought in mind, I decided to go catch up to him. I wanted to congratulate him, and if I was going to prove to myself that I’d accepted our past, I needed to look him in the eyes and tell him I was proud of him. Just like he’d done the day he’d seen my law books.

  Getting to him was a mission, but as I slid past the last row of people closest to the dock, he saw me and made a beeline for me without hesitating.

  “Hadley?” he said, but with all the ruckus going on around us, I saw my name on his lips more than I actually heard him say it.

  His hands sank into the pockets of the sweatpants he must’ve pulled on at some point after the race, but he kept coming toward me. Stopping when he was less than a yard away from me, he seemed at a loss for words.

  “You came to my race?” he asked finally. “Why?”

  I shrugged, unable to help the smile that crept onto my face as I stared up into his very puzzled blue eyes. “I wanted to see you win. I’m happy for you. Truly. You’ve made our fellow students extremely proud today, and me too.”

  A hesitant grin spread on his lips, making him seem almost bashful. It was a little charming actually. “I really made you proud? Wow. I wasn’t expecting that. I wasn’t expecting to see you at all.”

  Lifting my hands up with my elbows bent, I cocked my head. “Well, in that case, surprise. Here I am.”

  “Here you are,” he repeated, rubbing the back of his neck with one large hand as he looked down at me with uncharacteristic shyness on his features. “What would you say if I asked you out to drinks to celebrate my victory?”

  I smiled. “You’d have to actually ask me to find out.”

  The corners of those sparkling eyes of his crinkled and then he arched a brow at me. “Yeah? Okay. Will you come out for a drink with me to celebrate my victory, Hadley Sage?”

  “What about your parents?” I asked. “They came all this way to be with you, didn’t they?”

  He shrugged. “They did, but we already had breakfast together and dinner last night. They’re going out with some of m
y dad’s old friends tonight. The race brings a lot of the alums into town, so they’re using the opportunity to catch up.”

  My earlier thoughts about how something about him seemed to have changed surfaced again while I listened to him speaking. His voice itself sounded the same, but there was a different quality to it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  It was almost as if it had lost that cocky, devil-may-care, boyish edge it used to have. He sounded less glib and more serious. More measured.

  It strengthened my gut feel that he’d changed.

  Shifted.

  Grown.

  Well, I did say that I can afford to take the rest of the day off studying.

  And the truth was that I’d missed him. Not the asshole who’d been plotting against me but the other guy. The one I knew was in there and who came out when we were just being us.

  “Okay, Dax. I’ll go have a drink with you,” I agreed eventually, hoping against all hope that I wasn’t making another gigantic mistake. “But I can’t stay out late and I can’t drink too much. If you want to go to a party or something, you’re going to have to go without me.”

  He laughed, shaking his head as he swept his hand out ahead of him. “I don’t really do that anymore. Will you wait for me while I take a quick shower back at the house? I’d go without it, but I stink.”

  I pretended to get a whiff of him and scrunched up my nose. “Yeah, you’re right. You do stink. How about if I just meet you at the Clubhouse?”

  “Not the Clubhouse,” he said immediately. “That place is going to be a mess this afternoon and tonight. How about Picasso’s?”

  “You don’t really party anymore and you’d rather go to Picasso’s than the Clubhouse?” My brows rose, but I shrugged my shoulders and nodded. “Sure. I prefer Picasso’s too. It’s much quieter, and they make the best milkshakes.”

  “Milkshakes at Picasso’s in fifteen?” he asked, then locked his gaze on mine. “Please be there, Haddie. I know I have no right to ask you this, but please show up?”

  “I will,” I promised. “I’ll be there. Just don’t make me regret it, okay?”

  “Never,” he swore, and there was a flash of such seriousness in his eyes that I was a little taken aback by it.

  As I walked away from him after promising again that I’d be there, I felt him watching me. Like he didn’t really want me out of his sight.

  A part of me knew that I was playing with fire by agreeing to this, but it also felt like the flames were much smaller this time. Sure, they could still burn but somehow, I doubted they would.

  It felt like Dax and I had turned a page in our story, and the only way I could find out what came next was by diving into the next chapter.

  Chapter 37

  DAXTON

  It felt like I was dreaming. I couldn’t believe that I was about to sit down at a table with Hadley again, and I especially couldn’t believe that she was actually smiling at me when I walked in.

  I’d almost fucking fallen over when I’d seen her waiting for me at the dock. Then I’d been tempted to poke her just to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating when she’d said yes to joining me for a drink.

  After I’d practically run back to the house to shower, I was sure she was going to stand me up. All the way over to the small, local diner type place we’d agreed to meet at, I’d braced myself for her not being here despite her promises that she would be.

  I shouldn’t have been so surprised when I saw her waiting for me at the booth near the front, though. Haddie had never been the dishonest one between us. When she made a promise, she usually kept it.

  Motioning to the lime milkshake waiting for me on the table as I sat down, she lifted her own to clink it against mine. “It’s not fine scotch or a whole keg of beer, which is what I’m assuming you were planning on drinking tonight to celebrate, but cheers. Congratulations on your win, Dax.”

  “Thanks,” I said, taking a long sip of the thick shake before setting it back down again. “How’ve you been, Haddie? I won’t lie. It feels a little surreal to be here with you right now.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it.” She looked into my eyes from across the table, letting out a slow breath as she seemed to struggle with where to start. “Okay, so, how have I been? Um, I’ve been good. I guess. Busy. Really busy. Catching up in all my classes nearly killed me, but I’ve managed to do it. I’ve pretty much only been studying for the last couple of months since I declared law as my focus area. You?”

  I echoed what she’d said. “Busy. Really busy. Believe it or not, I’ve also been studying a lot. Probably not nearly as much as you, but I’ve joined a few study groups and those guys don’t mess around.”

  “You, Daxton Breyer, joined a few actual study groups?” Her lips pressed in at the corners and she nodded as if she was impressed. “Wow. You’re right, I’m not sure I do believe it.”

  I laughed. “Well, I can give you some numbers to call if you don’t believe me. I can show you my grades, too. Surprisingly, actually studying and putting in some effort has made them much better.”

  “You don’t need to prove anything to me,” she said lightly, chuckling as she took another sip of her shake. “I’m glad you’ve learned that actually studying greatly improves one’s grades. Imagine that, huh?”

  “Yeah, I know.” I pretended to wipe my brow with the back of my hand, then grinned at her again. “Other than studying, I’ve only been rowing and trying not to be a dick.”

  “How’s that going for you?” she asked. “Not the rowing. Obviously, that’s going great. You guys kicked ass out there today.”

  “The not being a dick part, then? Okay, well, I think it’s going well,” I said, shrugging as I stirred the shake absently with my straw. “I’ve been working on all those faults of mine you pointed out. I’ve also been trying to let people in properly. To learn to trust people again. That’s going well, too. I trust my teammates, at least.”

  “Well, that was probably a good place to start,” she said. “You guys worked really well together out there. From what I’ve heard around campus, you’re the best team we’ve had for years.”

  My chest swelled a little at her compliment, but I didn’t let it go to my head. I’d long since filled my quota of puffing up and smirking like an arrogant jackass. “Thanks. We’ve worked hard to get to where we are today.”

  When I realized what I’d just said, I laughed and let my head hang between my shoulders as I shook it. “Fuck. Sorry. That sounded a lot like I was giving an interview, didn’t it?”

  “A bit, but that’s okay.” She let out a soft sigh. “It’s not like we’ve spoken a lot lately. It kind of feels like we’re starting over again, doesn’t it?”

  “Sure does,” I agreed, but then I looked up again and sat back, straightening my spine as I felt my expression growing serious. “Look, if you don’t mind, I’m just going to address the elephant in the room. I owe you an apology. A real, heartfelt apology. The truth is that I’d very much like to start over with you for real, but in order for that to happen, I need to clear the air between us.”

  Some of the color drained from her cheeks. “I didn’t come here to rehash the past, Dax. We’ve both done and said some hurtful things. I really don’t want to get into it again.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant.” I shook out my hands before raking them through my hair multiple times and then scrubbing them over my face. “Shit. I know exactly what I want to say to you. Ryker’s been helping me get my apology skills up to scratch, but it’s never this fucking difficult when you’re not actually there.”

  “You’ve been practicing this?” she asked, her lips parting as her eyes grew wide. “Are you serious?”

  “Every day for the past two and a half months,” I admitted. “Well, two and almost a half.”

  Her brows rose, but then she gestured for me to continue. “Don’t let me interrupt you, then. I’m curious to see what you’ve come up with.”

  “It’s all flo
wn out of my head,” I said, laughing at myself when I imagined how disappointed Ryker was going to be when I told him this story later. “The crux of it is this. I’m unbelievably fucking sorry about what I tried to do to you. I’ve done a lot of self-reflecting, and I deeply regret hurting you. I also regret letting my anger shape me into someone I never wanted to be. I refuse to let anything like that happen ever again and I’m trying to be better.”

  For what felt like an eternity, she just sat there staring at me. Her eyes became glassy and she took a few deep breaths but then, finally, she gave me the smallest of smiles. “I accept your apology.”

  When I opened my mouth to respond, she continued before I could. “But you said you wanted a fresh start with me and I’m not sure I can give you that. We’ve hurt each other so badly that I’m not even sure we should be trying to make a fresh start, but you also said you wouldn’t lie to me and I won’t lie to you, either. I miss you, Dax. A lot. I believe you, but how do I know this isn’t another ploy?”

  Right. This was a question I’d been expecting. At first when I’d asked Ryker what was wrong with my apology in its original form, the one he’d told me to rethink the day after I’d come back from Hawaii, I’d blown up when he’d asked me that exact question.

  I knew better now, though. “If you’d asked me that a couple of months ago, I’d have gotten annoyed and told you that there’s no way I can prove a negative. I’d have told you that there’s no way I can prove it’s not a ploy, and I’d have asked you to just trust me.”

  “Counterproductive, don’t you think?” she asked calmly, and I nodded.

  “That’s the thing. I know it hasn’t been years, but I’ve learned a lot since Hawaii. I still can’t definitively prove that it’s not a trap, but I can promise you that it’s not. I also won’t ask you to trust me blindly because I realize that I have to earn your trust. What I’m asking for is a chance to do that.”