Bo’s face falls slack at that. “You’re… you’re doing that again?”
I shake my head. “Not like you think. I got out of that situation, and I never looked back. But, once I got my career on track, and found Brandon…” I shrug. “I found my heart missing that piece. So, I found a new studio. I’ve been dancing and competing… they even asked me to teach,” I add with a small smile. Then, I nod down to my arm. “Until this, anyway.”
“I’m sure they’ll still want you,” Bo offers quickly. “Especially if you’re even half as amazing as you used to be.”
I nod, trying to smile, but the frown etched in my brows overpowers it.
“I never thought I’d see you again,” I finally whisper.
Bo’s eyes well with tears, and she moves closer, letting out a long exhale as she leans down to retrieve the sippy cup of wine I dropped. She places it on the bedside table before sitting on the edge of the mattress, hands folding in her lap.
“I thought the same,” she admitted, her eyes searching mine.
A long silence passes between us, no words necessary as we took each other in. I wonder if the memories are flashing in her mind the way they are in mine, but the way her eyes stay watery, the way her smile quivers a bit — I know I don’t have to ask.
“I graduated in the spring,” she explains. “My parents sent me to a tiny university in Montana, of all places. Can you believe it?” When my only answer is a deadpan look, she chuckles. “Yes, I suppose you can. But… strangely, I grew to love it. The mountains, the pastures, the quiet. I had space to think, and to grow, and to come into myself.”
I nodded. “You seem happy.”
“I am,” she says earnestly. “I really am. And I… I finally got my parents to understand. I mean, I know it’s still hard for them, but I brought someone home — someone I met in Montana who I love very, very much,” she adds.
There’s a strange cracking of my heart, a splintering of a piece of it I’d forgotten even existed. That piece will always belong to her, I realize — no matter what.
“I know it’s not easy for them, but they love me, and I think they’re beginning to realize that that matters more than anything else.” She pauses, brows folding over her warm eyes. “I’m just so sorry you had to bear the brunt of their shock and confusion at the beginning of it all.”
“Don’t be,” I tell her quickly, and without thinking, I reach out to cover her hand with mine.
We both still at the touch, eyes falling to the contact before we meet each other’s gaze once more. But it’s not a touch born of desire or lust, it’s one of true, unyielding love and understanding.
Of sisterhood.
She squeezes my hand, and I close my eyes, a single tear breaking free and rolling down my cheek.
“I’m not here long,” Bo says. “Just passing through, really. The company I’m with right now just secured a client in the Brickell Arch building, so we’re here to court them a little and go over how our technology will integrate into their systems.”
I arch a brow.
“Oh,” she says with a chuckle. “Yeah, I changed my major. I’m a coding engineer.”
“Not even a little bit surprised, you little baddie.”
She laughs. “Anyway, I just… When I found out I was coming here, I knew I had to see you. I wanted to explain where I went, wanted you to know I didn’t have a choice, and that I thought of you every day for quite some time.” She pauses. “I still think of you. And I’m just so happy you’re happy. You know — all things considered,” she adds with a smirk at my sling.
I smile, too, and nod vigorously. “I’m happy you’re happy, too. And thank you, for coming to see me, for… for caring enough to give me this closure I didn’t realize I still needed.”
“I needed it, too,” she says. “And… hey, maybe instead of closure, it’s a new chapter. I’d love to have a friend here in Miami. If you’ll have me.”
I pull her in for a long hug as my answer, closing my eyes at the way it feels to have her back in my life — even in this small way. “Always.”
When we pull back, I shoo her off the bed so I can wiggle my way out and stand, too. Then, I loop my good arm through hers.
“Come on, I need you to get better acquainted with the man who swayed me to the more phallic side of my sexual desires.”
She barks out a laugh at that. “I don’t want to impose…”
“Nonsense. Stay for dinner. Stay the night, if you want to.” I squeeze her. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
And with a smile from each of us, we venture down the hall to join Brandon and Skyler, and I find a bright gold lining on the dark cloud that had been hovering over me ever since the accident.
“I THINK WE SHOULD do it.”
I stifle a laugh at how serious Cassie’s face is as she says it, how wide her bright green irises grow at the thought.
“Come on, aren’t you even a little curious?” she asks.
“I’ve done it before.”
“Oh…” She waves me off. “Well, you’ve never done it with me. And you know… I heard the sex when you’re high is…” She makes a chef’s kiss gesture with her fingers and lips, waggling her brows at me as I laugh again.
“Hey, no need to convince me. I’m in. Do you think you want to smoke it?”
She shakes her head. “Maybe a chocolate or gummy or something? And I want to just hang out in your dorm when we do it.” She blinks. “Or maybe my hotel room. I’m sure they don’t allow it on campus.”
“They don’t, but that’s not a rule that’s exactly strictly followed,” I add with a smile. “But okay, it’s a plan. When you come for Thanksgiving break, we’ll get you high.”
“And you. Oh! And we should load up on yummy Thanksgiving food and munchies for the occasion.”
“I’ll order from a restaurant, that way we don’t have to cook. And get some Twizzlers.”
Her eyes grow even wider. “My favorite.”
“I know.”
She sighs, leaning her chin on her hands as her eyes wash over me. “I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, too,” I say, and my chest aches with the truth of it. “Are you going out tonight?”
“Nah, I think Skyler and I are going to court that girl I was telling you about who I want as my Little. Skyler invited her to come hang out in the president’s suite, and we’re going to make her introduce us to anime.”
My brows shoot up. “That should be… interesting.”
“I’m actually really excited! The characters seem so cool.”
“You’re the biggest nerd.”
“And you’re obsessed with me.”
I sigh. “Also true.”
“What are you doing tonight? And where are you?” She looks at the scene behind me. “It looks gorgeous.”
I tap the part of my screen that makes the camera switch from facing me to facing my view and show her around. “I’m just hanging out in this little park on The Hill. The sun is starting to set over the mountains,” I say, showing her the orange glow in the distance. “See it?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“We’ll get up for a sunrise hike when you’re here,” I tell her, putting the camera back on me. “It’s even more breathtaking.”
“You’ll have to peel me out of bed.”
“Oh, I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”
She bites her lip against a smile. “I’m well aware of those particular talents of yours.”
I chuckle, leaning back on the blanket I’m on and propping my phone up against my water bottle so I can relax. “How is Skyler, by the way? I haven’t talked to her since…”
I don’t finish the sentence, but Cassie frowns, a heavy sigh leaving her that tells me all I need to know.
“She’s… I don’t know. Numb, I think. She barely talks about it, about him. She’s just been focusing on the pledges and her last semester as president, talking to the girls who want to run for office, f
inishing up classes and making her plan for after graduation.” She pauses. “Have you talked to Kip at all?”
“I tried calling him, but no dice. He texted me a few days later apologizing, and just said things were crazy busy in California right now but that he’d get back to me when he could.”
“Ugh! So he’s just living it up,” Cassie says, throwing her hands up. “Just being busy when he’s left Sky back here with a broken heart.”
“Babe,” I say with a smile. “I know you love her, but if I have my facts correct, Kip tried to make things right with her, and Skyler essentially said too little too late.”
“Well, he clearly didn’t try hard enough, then.”
I laugh, but before I can argue the other side of it again, I’m nearly run over by a frantic tornado of hair and arms and legs.
“I need your help.”
I squint up at the silhouette of the girl I ran into on my way to the Student Union last week, frowning in confusion.
“Now. Please. I don’t know what to do. She’s… she’s fucking wasted, and I think…” She swallows, running her hands back through her long hair, her chest heaving. “Please.”
“Who is that?” Cassie asks.
“I’ll call you back,” I tell her, and I end the call, jumping to my feet to grab the girl’s arms. “Okay, it’s alright. Just take a breath here and tell me what’s going on.”
The girl looks so different than she did the first time I ran into her. Her tattoos are covered by a long-sleeve pink cardigan, a matching band in her hair, and she’s wearing long, slim, cream dress pants with small brown kitten heels. Her makeup is subdued and natural, and the combination of it all is what made it so hard for me to recognize her at first.
“I’m an Educational Leadership Consultant for Delta Beta Gamma, and I’ve been here with the girls all summer and they’ve been working so hard. They wanted to have a party at the house today and I… I covered for them and let them and… there’s a girl, a young girl — freshman — she’s… she’s really drunk.” She swallows, her blue eyes wild and animated. “I have her propped up in the bed, but I’m worried she might need to go to the hospital.”
“Let’s go,” I say instantly, and then in a flash, we’re flying up The Hill to the Delta Beta Gamma house.
The party is still raging when we run through, but we bypass all the games and shot taking and dancing, running up the stairs where it’s a little quieter. The girl guides me down a long hall, and then into a bedroom where the girl in question is propped up against the headboard.
Her head is lolled to the side, mouth hanging open, and there’s vomit on her shirt.
I cringe, rushing over to her side and taking her hand in mine before sweeping the hair from her face.
“What’s her name?” I ask.
“Martina.”
I nod, then start saying her name softly, shaking her gently until her eyes peel open like it takes all her strength to do so.
I know that feeling.
“Hey, Martina,” I say as soothingly as I can. “How are we feeling?”
“Mm…okay,” she slurs.
I nod. The fact that she’s responding is a good sign. “Just feeling a little drunk?”
She nods, making a horse sound with her lips before her head lolls back again.
“Stay with me for a moment, Martina,” I tell her. “I know you’re tired, but can you just talk to me for a bit?”
She sighs, but holds her head up, her eyes bouncing between mine.
“Good girl. Can you tell me how old you are?”
“Nineteen.”
The ELC curses from where she’s standing behind me, but I hold out my hand to calm her so I can focus on my task.
“What’s your major?”
She makes a sticking sound with her tongue and the roof of her mouth. “Accounting. But, youknowha?” she adds, holding up a finger. “I really wanna study litratrer.”
I smile. “Literature, huh?”
“Mm-hmm,” she says with an over-exaggerated nod. “I wanna edit booksh.”
“Who’s your favorite author?”
“I read romance,” she says, shaking her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“I like romance.”
Her eyes pop open. “Really?” Then she sighs, dropping her head back against the headboard. “I wish Josh liked romance.”
She pouts, and I relax a little more. The fact that she can remember names, that she’s talking to me, that her skin isn’t cold or clammy and she’s breathing normally are all very good signs that she’s going to be okay.
“Do you like Josh?”
“Sadly,” she admits. “But he’s oblivion.”
“Oblivious?”
“That,” she says, pointing at my chest.
I chuckle again. “Well, any guy who has your attention is a lucky one.”
She nods, but then I see her start to doze again, and I sit up from the edge of the bed, turning to the ELC who looks like she’s just killed a puppy.
“She’s going to be fine,” I tell her.
“Oh, thank God,” she says on a long breath. “What do we do? Should I get some Advil or water or?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “We just need to get her lying on her side. Nothing but time can make her sober up — not food or water or a cold shower or any of that.” I glance back down at Martina and her stained shirt. “If I step out of the room, do you think you could change her top? Just get her in something clean and maybe wipe her mouth a little?”
The girl nods, and then I step out for a few minutes until she calls me back in.
“Okay, let’s get her on her side, just in case she gets sick again. We need to prop pillows and maybe bags or whatever we have around her so she can’t really move without difficulty. And if you can, stay here with her and make sure she stays on her side. Check on her every now and then. As long as she’s breathing normally, not too slow, and she’s waking up and answering your questions… she’s alright.”
When we get Martina situated, the girl slumps down in one of the desk chairs in the room, and I grab the other, sitting on it backward with my forearms perched on the top. I extend a hand for hers. “I’m Adam, by the way. Adam Brooks. I’m a Field Executive for Alpha Sigma.”
She takes my hand and shakes it gently before running a hand back through her hair again. It takes the pink band off when she does, and she looks at it begrudgingly before throwing it to the side and raking her nails over her scalp. “I’m Chandler. Chandler Simmons.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I wish it was under better circumstances,” she remarks.
“You mean like when I ran you over last week?”
That makes her smile. “Even that was better than this.”
“Hey, I’m just glad I could help.”
“I am, too. They didn’t teach us this during training.”
“Really? I’m shocked. We went over it several times in mine.”
“Well, you’re a guy,” she shoots at me with pursed lips. “It’s acceptable for fraternity guys to get hammered. But as a sorority girl, you’re supposed to be a lady, to uphold a certain standard. They won’t even talk about what to do if a girl gets too drunk because it’s never supposed to happen.”
“That’s just naïve.”
“Welcome to the patriarchy.”
I frown. “I’m sorry. But consider me here to help however I can.”
Chandler relaxes a bit, and then she smiles, her eyes running the length of me. When she finds my gaze again, there’s nothing but true gratitude. “Thank you.”
I nod, and then a slightly uncomfortable silence falls between us — mostly because I’m remembering the tattoos hiding under her sleeves, and the well-endowed breasts hiding under her cardigan.
“Well, I should get going,” I say, standing. “Need to call my girlfriend back and explain what happened.”
I think I see a flicker of disappointment in Chandler’s eyes, but it’s
gone as quick as it came, and then she stands, too. “Apologize on my behalf for stealing you away. If she ever comes to visit, I’ll take you both out to make up for it.”
“It’s all good.” I clear my throat, heading for the door, but I pause at the exit and say, “See you around?”
Chandler nods on a smile, gives me a little wave of her hand, and then I’m out the door and pulling out my phone to call Cassie back.
“I DON’T WANNA,” I whine, sticking out my bottom lip as far as I can and batting my lashes for good measure.
Clinton chuckles, kissing my knuckles before he stands and tugs on my wrists to try to get me to stand. “I know you don’t wanna, but that’s exactly why we should.”
“It’s been such a long week. With the detective and school and tests and poor Lei being laid up and I just…” I sink farther into the couch, despite him holding my hands. “I really don’t wanna.”
He gives me a gentle tug until I finally groan and reluctantly stand, and then he sweeps me into his massive arms, encompassing me in his classic Bear Hug that instantly fills me with warmth. I sigh, leaning into the embrace, my head resting on his chest as I clasp my hands behind the small of his back.
“Tell you what. Give me one hour. If in one hour you still want to come back and get in these sweatpants, I’ll cuddle you all night and deliver wine on demand.”
“I want to cry just thinking about that.”
He smiles, pulling back to search my gaze. “What if I told you wine is still involved?”
“I’m listening…”
“And food.”
I tilt my head to the side, sighing. “Fine. But I’m not putting on makeup or doing my hair.”
“Good because you look perfect without doing a damn thing,” he says, kissing my nose, and then he releases me and practically skips into his kitchen, telling me to get dressed.
It still takes me a while to drag myself back to his room where my weekender bag is, and I dig through it, pulling out a pair of linen shorts and a loose, comfortable blouse to go with them. I tug on my Sperrys and put my hair in a ponytail, grimacing when I see my reflection in the mirror.
Greek: A New Adult College Romance (Palm South University Book 7) Page 9
