“Oh my God.” V’s voice is distant as I duck and push through the crowd to the bathroom. Everywhere I look, I see it now. The looks I’ve been getting all night aren’t guys checking me out, they’re guys picturing me naked in vivid detail.”
Tears threaten as I close the door behind us and lock it. I pace the dingy, smelly bathroom, wishing I’d made my getaway to the car instead of here. This space does not help the downward spiral of my emotions.
“What the hell is going on?” Gabby asks, looking a bit shell shocked.
“Breathe, sweetie. It’s gonna be okay. Mario is on his way. He’ll get us out of here and take us home where we can figure this out.”
“Figure this out? Ha! Everyone has seen me naked. Like, really naked, V.”
“I know. Fucking David. I’m gonna kill him.”
“David, your ex-boyfriend?” Gabby asks.
I stare up at the textured ceiling, feeling beyond humiliated as Gabby paces the floor and V scopes out the damage while filling Gabby in on the David drama from last semester.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” The way Gabby looks at me makes me feel horrible for not confiding in her.
“I guess I was afraid it’d make you even more hesitant to come to Valley if you knew how shitty people can be here.”
“Are you kidding?” She laughs. “There’s so much drama here I think I’ll fit right in. You had me believing Valley was filled with Ken and Barbie cutouts and I was going to be the weird scar girl. No one even noticed me out there. Which is probably in part because they were picturing my best friend naked.” She scrunches up her face in an apologetic frown.
V sighs and tucks her phone away. “Well, in good news, it isn’t just you naked on this horrible website.”
“That isn’t good news.”
“We’ll get them taken down, honey, I promise.”
“It’s too late. They’ll be saved and shared forever.”
They flank me and link their arms in mine. “What can we do to help?”
It’s a role reversal. I’m usually the one offering sympathy and comfort, or in V’s case, talking her down from cutting off someone’s balls.
“Nothing. I just want to go home and hang with my best girls. I’m not letting David ruin our night. I’ll deal with it tomorrow. Tonight, let’s just forget about it. Well . . . once we get out of here.”
“I think I have an old bottle of Apple Pucker stashed in our closet.”
For some reason, that sends us all into a fit of giggles, and I think maybe it might just be possible to survive this. Just as long as we’re together.
32
Wes
I’m standing next to Joel’s car, huddling in my hoodie freezing my nuts off while I wait for him to come out of the fieldhouse. Coming to practice was a mistake. Watching the team struggle and not being able to jump in and do it myself is torture.
By the time he appears with Z and Nathan, I could have walked home and back twice. I’ve taken to blowing into my hands to keep them warm.
“I’m gonna walk,” Nathan says and heads off toward the house before lighting a cigarette. Coach is gonna kick his ass if he sees him smoking. Not my problem now.
“What took you so long?” I ask as Joel unlocks the car and Z and I toss our bags in before squeezing ourselves into the small sports car. He starts the engine and then let’s out a long breath. “We have a problem.”
He hands me the phone, and I suck in a breath. “What the fuck is this?”
“It’s everywhere. Like fifty different people texted me the site.”
I read the title and scroll through the Valley Wild Girls website. What the actual fuck?
I pull out my own phone and dial Blair.
“She isn’t answering.” Panic laced with frustration and desperation fills my voice.
Joel’s phone beeps, and I read the text from Mario. “They’re at The Hideout.”
I scroll back through the text exchange between Joel and Mario where the latter outlines what transpired tonight. The short version: David is dead. “I’m gonna kill that fucker.”
Joel’s grip tightens around the steering wheel as he flips a U-turn. I tap restlessly on the dash until he screeches to a stop in front of The Hideout.
Mario and the baseball guys wait by the door.
“Where is she?”
“They’re hiding in the bathroom. She hadn’t seen it when they went in, and well, you can guess the rest.”
Mario steps in front of me, blocking my entrance. “You need to know something else. David’s in there. He was walking in as we pulled up. Thought we better wait for you.”
I push past him, and Joel grabs my arm to slow me down. “Easy, killer. You have a gimp leg, and there’s a bar full of people. Take a deep breath before you go in there and get yourself in trouble.”
“Don’t give a flying fuck, man.” I pull free and keep going.
I spot David and see red. I manage to turn to Mario. “You guys should go. Get the girls out of here.”
I’m anxious to get to Blair. There’s so much I want to say and so much I have to apologize for. This is all my fault. I need to make sure she knows I’ll take care of it, but first, I need to deal with David. I made him a promise, after all.
Mario nods.
David has the audacity to look surprised as he watches me stalk across the bar.
My hands ball at my side, and I don’t give two shits about the guys standing around him.
This asshole is gonna pay.
Before I can get to him, Vanessa flies across my vision and is up in his face. Mario and his guys flank Blair and Gabby. Gabby’s here? Blair doesn’t look up no matter how much I silently beg her to. I need to see her face. See that she’s okay. Vanessa’s voice pulls my attention back to David.
“You’re a worthless piece of shit.” She grabs him by the shoulders and knees him hard. So hard that my boys shrivel up and hide in fear. Damn, V is savage.
“Douche canoe,” she spouts as she flips her brown hair over one shoulder and marches back to Mario’s side. Mario gets the girls out of the bar just as it erupts in a collective groan. David doubles over in pain, but it isn’t enough. I want him lying on the ground. Joel and Z follow me to the table David and his cronies occupy. Z crosses his arms over his chest, displaying his massive size. Glad he’s on my side.
David stands upright, but he doesn’t see the punch coming, and as my knuckles meet his jaw, the pain feels fantastic. So good that I go in for another and another. My vision goes black.
“All right, all right. That’s enough,” Z says sternly, but I don’t miss the humor in his voice. He catches my arm, and I still as awareness returns. David’s buddies look torn between standing up for their friend and getting their own asses beat or letting me take my pound of flesh without their intervention. I’m almost hoping they’re stupid enough to come at me. I don’t have beef with them, but I’m looking for any reason to hit something else.
Z and Joel have other ideas. They pull me back and shove me down into a booth.
“Hope that was worth it.” Z points outside where red and blue lights flash.
“Oh, it was worth it.”
She’s worth everything.
It isn’t until Coach shows up that I feel even the tiniest bit of remorse. And even then, I don’t regret hitting David, just getting the rest of the guys involved and making the team look bad.
He leans against the side of the cop car beside me. I’ve already given my statement, and so far, no one has put me in cuffs, so that’s a good sign.
He’s silent for a beat before he says, “What a shitty practice tonight.”
Laughter shakes my chest, the sound foreign to my ears. When was the last time I laughed?
“Coming back tomorrow?”
I flex my hand. A sting of pain shoots up my arm. I search for words, an answer. Neither yes or no feels right. How can I be there? And how can I not?
Coach straightens. “Well, they aren’t pressing
charges, so get your ass home. See you tomorrow. Or not.”
As he walks away, Joel steps up. “Come on. I’ll take you to see Blair.”
“Nah, somewhere else I need to go.”
He raises both eyebrows, and I hold my hands up. “This stop doesn’t involve the police. I promise.”
Pulling up to the Morenos’ estate is like pulling up to something out of the movies. The massive house sits on the side of a mountain and is lit up like an amusement park. When we finally reach our destination, Joel pulls up under the old-school carriage style covered awning in front of the house.
“Thanks,” I say before we get out of the car. “I know you don’t like going to your father for help.”
He shrugs. “Guess there’s no other way around this one. He probably already knows.”
The Moreno house is organized chaos. Joel’s mother brings coffee and then orders her daughters, Joel’s sisters, to re-heat leftovers despite everyone’s insistence they aren’t hungry. Mr. Moreno sits at the head of a long dining table that looks out into the Rincon Mountains. A king on top of his mountain.
“Idiotic. This could end up splashed across every sports headline tomorrow. No respect for Coach Daniels.” He mutters more to himself than us, but Joel, Z, and I stare shamefaced down at the table anyway.
Joel is the first one to speak. “Pa, the guy posted nude photos of several Valley students.”
He slides his phone to his dad, who looks down at it and then slides it back. “I’ve already seen it. The site was taken down thirty minutes ago.”
“So, that’s it?” It’s my voice that yells out.
“There’ll be a formal investigation, and we’re sending out a reminder email tomorrow morning about the campus policy on sexual harassment.”
“You can’t be serious. He just gets to walk around campus while these girls are humiliated? That’s bullshit.”
Mr. Moreno raises his eyebrows at me as the three women in his life enter the dining room with dishes of hot food.
“Sorry,” I mumble an apology to Mrs. Moreno.
“I think it’s noble.” She pats my shoulder. “Too many young men thinking it’s okay to treat women like sex objects these days.”
Mr. Moreno sighs. “Without proof, I can’t do anything. Hence, the investigation.”
“But we know who did it,” Joel says.
“You have hearsay.” He shakes his head and stands. “We’re going to do everything we can to resolve it quickly. You think I want something like this going unpunished?” He looks in the direction the women disappeared. “I have two daughters who are going to be at Valley in a few years. I want others to know it won’t be tolerated, but there are appropriate channels to go through when dealing with stuff like this.”
All I hear is that it will be weeks or months where David goes unpunished, and it isn’t enough, but I can see resolve in Mr. Moreno’s face.
Mrs. Moreno insists that we stay the night, and I think we’re all too exhausted to fight her. I go to bed fully clothed and watch as the minutes tick by. I really screwed things up this time. I wonder what Blair is doing right now. Is she in bed, wishing she could rewind time and erase me from her life? I’ve made such a mess of things. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to protect her. As the sun rises, I’m still staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to make this right.
No grand gestures come to mind, so I settle for persistence. I’ll win her back the same way I’ve won at every aspect of my life—hard work and dedication. And heart.
33
Blair
My alarm wakes me at the usual time, but instead of jumping right out of bed, I lie there and play back the last year of my life like a highlight reel. Surprisingly, the most painful memories aren’t of David, but of Wes. David humiliated me, but his betrayal was expected and skin deep. Wes’s dismissal cuts at the very core of me.
When I finally step outside to head to class, he’s the last person I expect to see sitting on the front steps. Bags under his eyes, clothes rumpled, he’s still the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. “What are you doing here?”
“I called last night. I—”
“I heard what you did. Thank you for standing up for me, but really, I’m fine. Go home.”
Of all the times I wished he’d show up for me, he picks the moment I feel the least beautiful, the least deserving of him.
“Can’t do that until I apologize and make up for how I acted. I’m so sorry, Blair.”
“Apology accepted. Now go home.”
I take off down the sidewalk toward campus, and Wes follows beside me. Wordlessly, he walks me all the way to Stanley Hall.
“See you in fifty-five.”
I sigh. “Do you even have class right now?”
“Nope. My morning is wide open.”
“Go home, Reynolds. You aren’t doing me any favors by sitting outside my class like some sort of security guard.”
He challenges me with a determined set to his jaw. “You’re right. I’m coming in with you.”
“That’s not—”
“Up for discussion.” He pushes past me and holds the door open. Whatever, Wes wants to waste his day, then so be it. I have no more secrets to be used against me, and I’m more determined than ever to rock my classes.
Most people don’t even look up as I take a seat in the large auditorium, and the few guys who act like maybe they want to say or do something turn away when they see Wes glowering behind me.
I slump into my seat and breathe deeply as I pull out my phone and sit back in my chair, waiting for class to start. Wes silently does the same, and as I scroll through Reddit, a text flashes on my screen.
Wes: I want names of anyone who participated in what went down last night.
I roll my eyes as I respond.
Me: I don’t need you to protect me. Let it go.
Wes: Not a chance.
When class is over, Wes stands and blocks me from leaving before he’s stared down every single classmate. It’s so obvious he’s trying to make some sort of statement that I’m not to be messed with, and as annoying as it is, it’s also so ridiculous that my heart betrays my resolve. The struggle is real when it comes to hardening my heart against this man.
And so goes the rest of my day. Wes walks me to every class and even back to the sorority house. He’s limping and, as frustrated as I am, I’m touched too. But this is insanity. I don’t need him acting as my bodyguard. He didn’t want anything to do with me before, so why act like he cares now? I get that his loyalty makes him feel somehow responsible, but I don’t want him around out of loyalty alone.
“Okay, as you can see. I’m safe and sound. No one said a word to me all day. I relieve you from your duty.”
“They didn’t say anything because I was with you.”
That’s probably true.
“Seriously, Wes. You don’t need to do this. I’m fine. I can take care of myself. I don’t need your pity.”
“Pity? You think I’m doing this because I feel sorry for you? Fuck, Blair, this whole thing is my fault. I should have stopped him. I was supposed to protect you, and I didn’t.”
I shake my head. “That isn’t accurate, and even if it were, I’m not yours to protect anymore.”
My words cause him to frown and step back. “See you tomorrow,” he says and gives me a salute.
I bite my tongue as Joel’s car stops in front of the house. He waves from the driver’s seat. I don’t miss the grimace on Wes’s face as he slumps into the seat. His foot has to be killing him.
The next morning, I sneak out an hour early to avoid any possible Wes run-ins and hole up in my new cubicle at the tutor center. I’m teaching my first workshop on goal setting and career planning today and, though the timing sucks with my peers all having seen me naked recently, I’m excited.
My excitement is short lived.
“That’s it. Thank you so much for coming.” The words are barely out of my mouth b
efore the three people who stumbled in run for the door. I dig around in my backpack for a stray Spree. Certainly surviving that is cause for a reward. I exit the classroom, flipping off the light and pushing the door open with a hip, and stumble into a wall of muscle and my backpack lands with a thud next to a black boot.
Wes leans down and scoops up my bag.
Fingers brushing as I take it from him, I manage a mumble of thanks.
“How’d it go?”
“Only three people showed up. Luckily, they seem to be the only three people on campus who haven’t seen me naked.”
He pulls a bag of Chewy Spree seemingly from thin air, and I salivate like a dog in one of those Pavlovian experiments. “Now, how could you rephrase that to better represent your achievements instead of focusing on the things you can’t control?”
I balk, staring at him, delicious candy not forgotten but temporarily moved to second position of things of interest.
“You were listening?”
He shrugs. “We spent a lot of time together, some of what you said was bound to stick.”
I quirk an eyebrow and cross my arms over my chest. “What are you doing here?”
He looks down at his shoes before meeting my eyes. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I already told you, I’m fine.” I move to step around him, but he’s quicker and sidesteps with me.
“Also, I wanted to apologize again. Not for what happened with David. For everything before. I acted like an ass.”
“Apology accepted.” I take another step around him, but he cuts me off and shakes the bag of candy above my head.
I sigh. “Three people showed up today. That’s three more people that I’ve helped and three people who might tell their friends.”
“Good job.” He pats my head. I’d love to be offended, but the goofy smile on his face makes him look young and carefree. Like the Wes I fell in love with.
I swipe the Sprees from his hand. We walk out of the university building together. I can feel him watching me, but he doesn’t say anything.
The Assist (Smart Jocks #1) Page 20