“I really do wonder what happened after we left,” Olive spoke up softly. “I hope they didn’t hurt her.”
“The guys have gone radio silent,” an unfamiliar voice stated.
“The boat in the middle of the lake is inconvenient so I knew they would be ticked off, but someone posted on social media that the boat caught on fire. I texted Ben this morning and he never responded. And Sarah said she hadn’t heard from any of the PROs either,” Sonya reported. “When we were driving back here last night, I got a text saying they had stuff stolen. That wasn’t part of the plan…”
“Well, let’s be honest,” Vivian interjected. “None of us really saw Brooklyn most of the night and if anyone needed to steal anything, it’s her. She can’t afford—”
I marched across the hall; arms crossed. “If you have something to say, say that shit to my face,” I spat, unable to keep my cool any longer.
“Oh, Brooklyn, we didn’t know you were here,” Vivian gasped, her hand flew to her chest. She feigned a look of surprise, but I saw the merriment in her eyes. “You didn’t hear us, did you? Unlike your thighs, the walls are thin.”
I looked around the room and the others averted their eyes. Sonya at least looked remorseful. Olive looked like she was about to cry. Holly stared out the window, clutching the cross on her necklace. My focus returned to the knock-off version of Dakota. “You’re right, Vivian. Like your hair and your lips, the walls are thin. So thin, in fact, that I know you’re fucking Andre behind your boyfriend’s back.”
Her jaw dropped. “What are you talking about?”
I curled my lip upward into a smirk. “So, before talking about my thighs, try closing yours.” The anger I felt made me want to lash out with more than my words. My hands balled into fists and I took a couple steps toward her. “And—”
“Brook, let’s go,” Jay commanded from the hallway.
I looked over my shoulder at him.
“It’s not worth it. Let’s go,” he repeated in a tone that was firm and insistent. He held my gaze with such intensity, I felt as though he was sapping the anger from me.
I nodded, breaking eye contact with him. Casting one last look at the four women in the room, I repeated my best friend’s words under my breath. “You’re not worth it.”
I turned on my heel and walked out with the intention to follow Jay into the room I shared with Carter. I’d barely gotten to the middle of the hallway when the door slammed behind me.
“Good riddance, bitch!” Vivian yelled through the door.
A laugh that I knew came from Holly followed.
I stopped in my tracks and debated going back in there and knocking Vivian out.
“Brook,” Jay called out, refocusing my attention on him. When I entered the room, he took my duffle and picked up my crate. “Is this everything?”
My mouth dropped. “Are you really going to act like you didn’t just hear that? I can’t believe you stopped me from slapping the taste out of her mouth.”
“She waited until she closed and locked the door before saying shit to you.” He shook his head. “You would’ve killed her. You’re bigger and stronger than she is. You would’ve broken her face with that slap. That wouldn’t have even been a fight worth watching.”
Even though I bristled, turning my head away from him, I stayed silent. I knew my anger wasn’t really about him, but my face hardened and I clenched my teeth.
“Brook…” He put the crate back on the desk.
“It’s cool. I got everything.”
Jay crossed the room, closing the gap that separated us. Gently, he placed his hands on my shoulders and he waited. When I met his gaze, his brown eyes burned into my own. Seconds passed and not a word was spoken, but I felt him.
He was a sturdy force, both in physical size and in presence. Without lifting my hands from my sides, I held on to him.
He took long, deep breaths and his shoulders rose and fell with each one. Without realizing it, my body mimicked his.
He had a woodsy, masculine, sensual scent and I inhaled him. Without warning, my breath left my body, expelling anger, hurt, and irritation.
In a brief minute or two, and with no words, James Williams had comforted me, reassured me, and encouraged me.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. “You’re welcome.”
We untangled ourselves from the embrace and he picked up my stuff again. I grabbed my keys and we left the house in silence. My car was blocked by Carter’s in the driveway, so I made a mental note to return later to retrieve it.
“I’m glad you came in when you did. Thank you,” I murmured as I climbed in Jay’s front seat. I stared out the window as we pulled off. “You’re a good best friend.”
“I’m the best,” he corrected me as he accelerated.
I rolled my eyes but smiled.
He wasn’t lying. He was the best.
We crossed over the street that ran along the south side of campus. We entered through the back entrance and maneuvered the paved roads.
“I can’t believe you walked from Fraternity Row,” Jay commented as he slowed to let a couple of pedestrians walk by.
“I didn’t have much of a choice. I rode with them.”
“Yeah,” he muttered under his breath as he accelerated.
“Do you have anything to eat at your place or do you want to go get—what is going on here?” I saw more people than usual standing outside of the library. “It’s the third week of school. The library is never this packed this early.”
“It’s hard for me to believe all these people are here for the library.” Jay purposefully missed his turn and continued straight.
I scanned the area between the library and Main Street, and I couldn’t help but feel unsettled that everyone was facing the lake.
As we got close to the end of the street, an officer flagged us down.
“How are you folks doing?” the campus police officer asked us when Jay rolled down his window. “Oh! James Williams! You ready for another great season?”
“Always. Trained hard, ready to show off my moves,” James returned. He had an admirable ease about him in most situations.
“Well, I have no doubt. If the football team plays like they did yesterday, you guys won’t be the only ones on campus with a conference championship to brag about this year.”
“Absolutely.” Jay cleared his throat and gestured to the police cruiser blocking the street. “What’s going on?”
“Can’t say. But it is going to take a while. If you head over to the south side of campus, it’ll add fifteen minutes if you’re going into town, but it’ll get you where you need to go.”
“Thanks, Officer.”
We turned around and instead of heading into town for food, we went behind the library and headed toward the campus apartments.
Jay backed into an available parking spot. “Well I was going to suggest eating at Gino’s, but I guess that won’t work. We can order from them and have it delivered.”
Staring straight ahead, I bit down on my bottom lip. “Do you think the fire got so bad that it completely destroyed it? Is the lake deep enough for a boat to sink? You think it may have sunk to the bottom and now the PROs and the police think I did it because that’s what Dakota—”
“Brooklyn.” Jay put his hand on the back of my head. “Stop stressing. I’m sure the fire department fished the boat from the middle of the lake.”
“Before I climbed out the window, the guys were saying something about stuff being missing and then earlier, Vivian tried to make it sound like if anything was missing, I stole it.” I looked over at the soft brown eyes staring at me. “Do you think the police are going to believe them over me?”
“As much shit that goes on with the PROs, I don’t see them getting the police involved in a prank—or whatever the fuck Dakota was up to. They called last night because they needed help with the boat. I can’t see them calling over some
bullshit back and forth between Trevor and Dakota.” Slipping his fingers into my thick, curly mass of hair, he gently scratched my scalp. “Once whatever happened on Fraternity Row is resolved, we can go over there and explain to the PROs what happened.”
I leaned into his hand and gave him a small smile. “You hate the PROs.”
“Yeah, but I love you.”
My heart skipped a beat.
What was that?
It wasn’t the first time we’d said I love you. I wasn’t sure why this time was any different than other times we’d expressed our platonic feelings for each other.
Why am I making it more than what it is? Do I want it to be more? No… no no no, I reasoned with myself. We’re best friends. It was platonic.
I was just caught off guard by the intensity in his eyes, the protectiveness in his touch, and the calmness of his presence. Jay’s words were a lifeboat rescuing me in my time of need and I was forever grateful for his friendship.
“Thank you for always being here for me and having my back. I love you, too,” I whispered the words I’d uttered many times before.
But in that moment, it felt different—and I was too exhausted to deal with it.
…
Chapter Four
After I finished filling the office closet with my clothes, shoes and belongings, I set up my laptop on Jay’s desk. My crates were in the corner and my duffle bag full of underwear and bras was on the futon. Once I checked to make sure my laptop was connected to the printer, I planned to take a long hot shower.
“You need anything?” Jay asked as he walked by the office.
I heard his feet continue moving down the hall, so I yelled. “Yes! Empty drawer space!”
His deep, but short chuckle traveled from the kitchen area back down the hall to me.
“I was serious,” I mumbled with a grin as I typed in my password.
“My laugh was serious, too.”
I jumped, startled. Turning toward the doorway, I glared at him. “Don’t sneak up on me!”
His eyebrows furrowed. “I walked down the hallway like a normal person.” He sighed loudly and threw his hands up in the air. “What have I done? Is this what living with a woman is going to be like, God?”
“This will give you practice. I’m going to make you a great boyfriend. And great boyfriends turn into great husbands. So really”—I stroked my chin theatrically— “you should be paying me for my services.”
His eyes swept over my body and after a quick lick of his lips, he said, “You’re sexy as hell, but I don’t pay for services.” And then with a wink, he was gone.
I stood, mouth slightly agape, staring at the doorway where he’d just been. I hated it when he disarmed me.
“Whatever!” I called out awkwardly and a few seconds too late. “Shut up!”
He laughed from somewhere in his bedroom.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, changing the subject. “I want to eat before I take this shower.”
“Yeah, I ordered a pizza.” He appeared in the doorway again. “Might as well take a shower now. And when you get out, I have to show you something.”
“What?”
He walked off without answering.
“That’s annoying!” I yelled after him as I scooped up my shower supplies and a change of clothes.
Closing the bathroom door and turning on the hot water caused the mirrors to accurately depict the cloudiness of my mind. Once I stepped into the shower, I let my guard down. My emotions had run the gamut from the fun, flirty highs of really hitting it off with Aiden to the lows of running for my life through the woods in the middle of the night. I turned my face up toward the stream of water, washing away the tears.
There were tears of red-hot anger from being sabotaged by my so-called teammates when I thought we had established a truce. There were tears of worry that the PROs would retaliate because they were led to believe I pranked them. There were tears of fear that the administration, or worse the police, would come after me because of the lies Dakota and the others were spreading. There were tears of hurt at the idea that Carter was in on it. But I cried hardest at the idea of getting kicked out of school or going to jail over something that I didn’t do.
A sob ripped through me as I struggled to make sense of my weekend and how things went so wrong so fast. Aiden Black kissed me. We connected over music and then he leaned over and kissed me for the first time. An hour later, I was running for my life.
“How?” I cried into my hands.
Seconds later, there was a knock on the other side of the door.
“Brook? You okay?”
Clearing my throat, I answered, “Yeah! Just…singing.” Moving my face under the stream of water, I exhaled slowly and deeply. “Be out soon.”
Grabbing my body wash and washcloth, I lathered my body in soapy water as silent tears slipped down my cheeks. With each pass of the cloth over my skin, I tried to cleanse myself of the hurt, the anger, and the pain. I rinsed off and imagined all my emotions going down the drain. When I stepped out of the shower, wrapped in a fluffy towel, I expected to feel differently.
I didn’t.
I wiped the condensation from the mirror and stared into my almond-shaped eyes. I didn’t look like how I felt. I didn’t look like what I’d been through. And I thanked God for that.
Quickly, I changed into a pair of leggings and a sports bra. Once I opened the bathroom door, my nipples instantly tightened, protruding through the thin material.
I need to put on a shirt.
Grabbing a white t-shirt from a duffle bag in the office, I pulled it over my head when I heard him clear his throat. I yanked the shirt down, making droplets of waters fly around me.
“Is everything okay? Was standing to take a shower too much?”
I smirked. “No, it was fine. But we’re going to have to do something about you lurking behind the door when I shower.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You wish.”
I walked toward him, squeezing past him to exit the office. “From the way you were watching me get dressed, it’s clear that you wish.” Turning on my heel, I padded my way down the hall and to the living room.
I was sitting on the couch with my legs stretched out in front of me by the time he caught up with me.
“I wasn’t watching you get dressed,” Jay argued.
I watched him as he grabbed the remote to the TV. “I guess that’s why it took you so long to respond.”
He shook his head and let out a light chuckle. “I was getting my phone from my room.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know you were checking out this body,” I joked, moving my hips and upper body as seductively as possible with my feet propped up.
“Give me a break,” he grumbled as he tried not to laugh. But the amusement was evident in his voice. He flipped the remote in his hand but didn’t attempt to turn on the TV.
I watched the corners of his lips curl up and a sense of contentment filled me. There wasn’t the tumultuous high and low of potentially unrequited love with a celebrity classmate. There wasn’t the fiery rage that ripped through me when I thought of Dakota lying on me and throwing me under the bus for what she did. There wasn’t the pit of anguish associated with thinking Carter was in on the plan to sabotage me. There was only contentment with Jay. An overall ease settled my spirit and although my troubles didn’t disappear, they didn’t feel like they were going to suffocate me.
“Thank you again for letting me stay with you. I know I’m cramping your bachelor lifestyle,” I mentioned apologetically.
“Yeah, true.” He turned toward me, resting his hand along the back of the couch. “But I would do anything for you. You know that.”
“And I, you.” I paused. “There’s only one thing I wouldn’t do.”
“What’s that one thing?” Jay’s eyes dipped to my lips and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I wouldn’t let anything come—”
There was an aggressive knock
on the door, interrupting my sentence. My eyebrows furrowed as I glanced at the door and then back at him.
He rose to his feet. “You wouldn’t let anything come? That’s odd and sexual at the same time.”
Rolling my eyes, I stifled a giggle. “I wouldn’t let anything come between us.”
He looked over his shoulder at me as if he didn’t believe me. “Yeah… I still think you meant it sexually,” he joked before opening the door.
I was going to argue but the smell of garlic bread and cheese wafted through the air and my stomach rumbled in excitement. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until the mere scent of tomato sauce made my mouth water.
Jay took the pizza and breadsticks. “I also ordered a two-liter.”
“What? You did?” the pizza guy asked in confusion as he looked around and patted his pockets as if a drink was hidden in there. “I’ll have to go back and get it. I’m sorry about that.”
They exchanged goodbyes and the delivery guy promised to hurry back.
I didn’t care about anything to drink as I made my way to the kitchen sink. I washed my hands and never took my eyes off the pizza box that Jay placed on the coffee table. I grabbed plates and two bottles of water and while he washed his hands, I closed my eyes and inhaled the smell.
“Why are you acting like you haven’t had pizza before?” Jay joked as he sat back down beside me.
“Because for the last month, I’ve been living with pod people.” I opened my eyes just as he lifted the lid of the box. I felt my eyes glaze over. “When they order from Gino’s, they order salads.”
For the next ten minutes, we chomped down on the delicious goodness. Ordinarily I would’ve eaten a couple of slices in ten minutes, but I was caught up in savoring the flavor and taste. “Mmmmmm.”
Our silence was only populated by intermitted moans.
“This is so good,” he praised with a full mouth.
I couldn’t even respond as the savory sauce and fresh vegetables danced across my tongue. Jay also took a minute to enjoy the slice he was working on.
When we had both finished our first slice, he looked over at me. “Who orders salads from Gino’s?”
Trouble's What You're In Page 4
