by Nicole Dykes
Hunt just shakes his head in disapproval, “You know it’s seven in the morning, right?”
I nod and take another drink. “Yep. We’re graduating tomorrow, it’s time to celebrate. Just a little pregame for the party tonight.”
He laughs, shaking his head again. “Pace yourself, man.”
I laugh as I take a seat at the small table off the kitchen. “Where’s little Monroe?” I ask, referring to Cass.
“You know her last name will be Thompson soon, right?”
“Nah, she’ll always be little Monroe to me.”
He fills his glass with water again and takes the other chair at the table. “She went to her dorm. She has plans with Dani.”
So, Dani wasn’t lying. “You see Dani, this morning?” I try to keep my voice casual.
He nods, “Yeah, briefly. She was headed out as I walked in. What’s that about anyway? She never stays the night.”
I shrug it off. “She fell asleep.” I pause and then ask, “She seem weird?”
He quirks an eyebrow, studying me now. “No. Why?”
All right, keep playing it cool. “No reason. Just curious.”
He eyes me intensely now, and I know I didn’t pull off my cool attitude. “What did you do?”
I pick at the label of the beer bottle, not making eye contact. “Nothing.”
“Cam . . .”
“I may have called her the wrong name.”
My eyes line up with his, and he’s staring at me in amazement. “What name did you call her?”
I know my face looks guilty as fuck right now. “That’s really not important.”
He knows. Of course, he knows. It’s not really a secret that I’m still hung up on Van. Although, at this point, I’m starting to think she’s right and we can’t work.
“That’s messed up.” It’s all he says, and I can’t argue.
So, I change the subject quickly. “When does Luke get in town?”
He rolls with it because that’s just the kind of guy he is. “Not sure. Should be here by tonight though.”
“He better be. This is our last college party. The last party before you run off to Dallas.”
Hunt grins. We’ve played football together since our freshmen year. For me, it was a hobby, just something to pass the time. But for Hunt, it’s life. He was offered several NFL contracts, but he signed with the Cowboys. Cass and he had planned on getting hitched the week after graduation since they are moving down to Dallas, but finally came to their senses and pushed it to July. Choir boy is just going to have to live in sin for a couple of months.
He stands after finishing his water. “Aw, you gonna miss me?” he taunts.
Yep. “Nah, I’ll miss your cooking though. You sure know your way around the kitchen.”
We both laugh, and he heads out to take a shower.
Truth is, I’m not sure what I’m going to do without him.
Chapter 2
Dani
I walk into the small apartment I share with Cass and toss my purse haphazardly on the coffee table in our living room, knocking over a cup that’s been sitting there for too long. Luckily, it’s empty. Fuck, we need to clean this place up.
“Cass?” I yell down the hall.
My best friend walks out of the bathroom in a pink robe and a towel wrapped around her head. “Hey. Did you just get home?”
“Yep,” I answer, unapologetically.
She smiles, no judgment as always and walks to our couch sitting down. “So, details. What guy this time? Guy from class? Or a party?” She grabs a nail file off the messy table and uses it on her long fingernails. “Oh, or a sexy professor, maybe?”
I take a seat on the couch. That’s the thing about me. I guess you could call me slutty even though that fucking word makes me cringe. I like sex, and I like to explore my options.
I tried the whole, serious commitment, love thing in high school. My boyfriend at the time, who I was completely devoted to and gave my virginity to, thought it would be perfectly fine to fuck every willing chick in school, all the while telling me we were soul mates and he loved me. God, I was gullible.
Never again.
That’s when I decided maybe he had it right. Not the cheating dipshit part, but the fucking who you can, when you can, part. Life is short, why not enjoy it?
Especially while I’m still young and hot. So, I do. I don’t worry about labels and what other people think. If I meet a guy I like and I’m attracted to, I go for it.
It pisses me off that it’s accepted in our culture for a guy to fuck anyone he wants, but women are supposed to be virtuous little angels who wait for their future husband to stop man-whoring around and settle down. Fuck. That.
I laugh at her excitement at guessing my latest tryst and answer her, “Nah. I was with Cam at their house. I’m surprised you didn’t hear us.”
Her nose scrunches. “Oh. I did, but I didn’t know it was you. When Hunter and I got home from the movie, it was pretty late.”
Cam is my go-to cock when I’m bored and horny and don’t feel like making an effort on a date. He’s a cool guy, and he knows his way around the bedroom. He’s also Cassie's fiancé’s best friend. It’s not as complicated as it seems, though.
He’s friends with Cassie's older brother Luke, just like her fiancé, Hunter. So that’s how I met him. I was attracted to him right away. Who wouldn’t be?
The guy is fucking gorgeous. Blonde hair that’s always mussed up in a deliciously sexy way, dark blue eyes, beautiful face, and an even more beautiful body. I mean damn, that body. Cam is all muscle from years of playing football. He has a tattoo he got with the team on his pec when we first met, but he’s added several more over the years and damn, just damn. The man screams sex.
I like Cam, he’s fun to hang out with and, as far as I’m concerned, he has just one downside, and that’s his bitchy ex he insists on continuing to be friends with.
Vanessa.
I don’t get it. Sure, she’s beautiful in a traditional, boring way, but she’s cold and serious. Total opposite of Cam, but whatever.
“So, you stayed over? Isn’t that against the rules?” Cassie asks, breaking into my thoughts, as she lifts her right foot, placing it on the edge of the coffee table to paint her toenails a dark shade of purple.
One of the reasons things work with Cam is that I laid down some ground rules when we first started hooking up. Number one, never stay the night. That’s not my rule with other guys, but I don’t usually intend to see them again, so I don’t have to worry about getting attached. Number two, no discussing pasts. We’ve broken this one a couple of times, but try not to. Number three, don’t tell each other our middle names.
Cass laughs at that one, but think about it, how can get be intimately attached to someone if you don’t even know their middle name?
“I fell asleep.” It’s all I offer up. I did fall asleep totally innocently. After the things he did to my body, I was exhausted.
When I woke up this morning, I was freaked out about breaking our rule, but then I just decided to make the best of it and use his glorious bod.
Then he had to fuck it all up by calling me that vicious bitch’s name mid-orgasm. What the hell was that about?
Part of me wanted to nut-punch him, but I did what I always do and shrugged it off. I don’t want to be the high maintenance, clingy chick. It pissed me off, but I’ll get over it.
Cass just shrugs it off. The girl is so happy these days. I’m happy for her, I truly am, but part of me is a little disappointed she fell for Hunter so quickly. I was looking forward to trolling for hot guys together.
Now she is transferring colleges, moving to Dallas, and getting married. Her life is on a totally different trajectory than mine now. She’s moving out very soon.
Luckily for me, my parents like to buy my affection, so I get to keep the nice apartment since they agreed to pay the full rent instead of just my half. But I’m going to miss living with Cass.
I’
m happy for her. Sad for me.
Chapter 3
Cam
I’m sitting with Hunt on our couch in our now too-crowded living room, and that’s even by my ridiculously low standards. The amount of people got a little out of hand, but fuck it, it’s our last hurrah all together before everything changes.
Hunt is moving to Texas with Cassie in two days. Most of his shit is already in boxes in his room. Hannah is moving to Kansas City to live with Luke that same day.
Van has an internship with Brooke in Kansas City this summer. And me? Well, I’m interning at Tricked with Jax to learn the business side since that is the lame-ass major I picked.
Fuck. End of an era.
I’m about to open my mouth to ask Hunt if he’s heard from Luke when the cocky fucker strides in through the front door.
Luke Monroe and I got along from day one. We’re both arrogant assholes that like to have fun. Honestly though, it could have gone either way: two alpha males, vying for dominance. Maybe it was Hunt, the seeming submissive who actually ended up calling all the shots, which helped neutralize us. Holy shit, never thought of that before. I should have been a psych major.
Luke struts over to us, holding out his fist happily for us to bump, as he says, “Brown. Thompson.” Calling us by our last names like when we were out on the football field.
He takes a seat on the arm, and I grin like an idiot, happy he's here. “Monroe. You finally made it.”
He laughs, easily. “Yeah, had to load up some of Hannah’s stuff into Jax’s truck.”
“Is Jax here already?” Hunter asks.
“No. The family won’t be up til tomorrow morning, but Jax and I switched vehicles so I could get a jump start on moving,” Luke provides.
“Should have called, we would have helped,” Hunter states.
Luke hops up from his seat, walks to the nearby table stacked with alcohol, pours a beer and takes a seat again. “I got most of the little stuff, and Van is keeping most of the furniture.”
I can feel Hunt’s eyes briefly study me before asking, “Van is staying in their house?”
Luke takes a drink from the red cup in his hand. “Yep. She doesn’t want to live in an apartment, so I guess she’ll have to find a roommate.”
“Van is going to live with a stranger? She hates people,” I say, chuckling and taking a sip out of my fifth beer today. I’m not drunk, but I am feeling pretty damn good.
Hunt and Luke both laugh, knowing it’s true. Vanessa is picky about who she hangs out with, at least that’s the nice way Hannah puts it.
“So, what are your plans after the summer, Cam?” Luke asks, taking another drink. Just then a drunk dude I’ve never seen before tries to catch a ball thrown by a sophomore teammate of mine. He misses the ball and crashes into a small table shattering a lamp.
Damn. I liked that lamp.
I take another drink and answer Luke, all of us pretty much desensitized to the chaos these parties can bring after four years. “Well, the original plan was to go back to Boston and work at my uncle’s financial firm, but I applied to grad school and got accepted so, I’ll be here for a while.” I say it casually into my beer, hoping they won’t make a big deal about it.
Hunt throws a hand up, “Wait. You hate school, and you are staying longer?”
“I don’t hate school. I just think the actual coursework is boring,” I answer.
“Bullshit. You hated school as much as I did,” Luke says. He really did hate school, so much so that he dropped out.
“How are you paying for it?” Hunt asks, knowing full well that my parents won’t. They were pissed when I chose to go to a state school on a football scholarship instead of a snobby Ivy League.
They cut me off financially, but it was the first decision I made for myself in my whole life, and it felt damn good.
I shrug my shoulders, trying to pull off nonchalance. “I got a scholarship.”
“Bullshit,” Luke spits out.
Hunter laughs and has a little more tact when he speaks, “No offense, man, but how?”
I look back and forth at them, trying to put a serious look on my face, but finding it slightly difficult as a result of the amount of beer in my body. “Listen fuckers, I have a three-point-nine GPA.”
“Bullshit!” Luke states, clearly baffled.
Hunter stares at me in disbelief. “I’ve lived with you for three years and seen you with a book like three times. How is that possible?”
“Yeah, what are you, a genius or something?” Luke asks.
I squirm in my seat, not comfortable with that term. Truth is, I technically have a genius IQ. My parents had me tested when I was misbehaving in grade school and turned out, I was just bored. The school wanted me to skip a couple of grades, but my parents opted to put me in a prestigious boarding school instead. My dad had just made partner, and they started pulling in serious money and thought it was kismet or some shit.
Imagine their surprise when I wasn’t interested in being their little genius-boy prodigy. I was still fucking around and passing with the bare minimum effort.
“Let’s move on,” I say, uncomfortable with the subject.
Hunt shrugs casually and nods to Luke, “Guess what Cam did to Dani last night?”
Luke tips his cup back, sucking out the last drops of beer. “Fuck, with Dani, it could have been anything and I’m sure it was nasty.”
I roll my eyes. Luke has never been a fan of Dani’s, afraid she was corrupting his sister. Personally, I think that’s bullshit. Sure, Dani sleeps around, but so do I. So did Luke before he met Hannah. Hell, so did every fucking guy in this group besides Choirboy—Dylan, Jax, Shriller, for fuck’s sake. Come on.
“I didn’t do anything,” I say through clenched teeth at Hunter, who looks way too amused to let this go.
Luke chuckles, “Well fuck, you look guilty as hell, man. What did you do?”
“He called her Van’s name,” Hunt supplies before I can stop him.
Man, he’s really becoming more and more of an asshole. Luke and I are rubbing off on him. Luke’s eyes bug out of his head, and then he cracks up. “Holy shit! And you’re still breathing?”
“Drop it,” I say as seriously as I can muster.
Hunter takes a drink, shaking his head and grinning. “My theory is, she’s going to wait til he’s asleep and cut his balls off.”
Luke of course continues the joke. “Or slit his throat while she’s riding him one of these times.” He slaps me on the shoulder. “Better keep one eye open at all times, man.”
“Yuck it up assholes. She’s totally fine with it. You should have seen her.”
“Bullshit, there is no way she’s cool with you calling her another chick’s name. Especially when I’m assuming you were both naked,” Luke says.
Fuck. I know it doesn’t make sense, but she sure seemed cool with it this morning. “Whatever. I’m telling you both, it’s not a big deal.”
“And I’m telling you, no one is that cool. You fucked up,” Hunt says.
Before I get a chance to retort I hear Vanessa’s voice behind me. “Oh God, Cam, what did you do this time?”
I glare at Luke and Hunter.
They better keep their mouths shut.
Chapter 4
Vanessa
Cam has a guilty look on his face, but he doesn’t give me a real answer. Instead, he just puts that devastatingly sexy smile of his on that gorgeous face and says, “Oh Van, wouldn’t you like to know.”
Hunter and Luke both shake their heads, laughing at Cam’s playful and flirty demeanor.
God he’s gorgeous. Why can’t he just be ugly? Or get ridiculously fat or something? It’s been almost a year since that night in Kansas City, the last night he or anyone has touched me.
Sadly, he just gets hotter and hotter. Somehow, he’s added a little more muscle to his already perfectly sculpted body and has added more tattoos on his arms. I wonder if he has added more elsewhere.
Shit. I need to
stay strong. We’ve managed to hang out several times and not cross any sexual lines. I need to keep it that way. Surely, he will find a way to piss me off soon and put out the inferno in my panties. I’m honestly shocked he doesn’t already have one or two desperate hussies all over him. But the night is still young.
Hannah walks over and leans against Luke, who is sitting on the couch arm and wraps his right arm around her. They are so happy together.
I take the empty seat on the couch next to Cam and answer his question. “No. I probably don’t want to know.”
Luke laughs, “Oh I don’t know, Van. You might find this really amusing.”
“Shut up, shithead,” Cam says and seems a bit nervous, which is weird for Cam. I cock an eyebrow in his direction and am about to ask what this is all about when he looks from Hannah to me and says, “So, you guys ready to graduate tomorrow?”
“Smooth,” I tease about his transitioning skills and then say, “Yeah, Alex is coming to our house tomorrow to do our hair and makeup. So that will be fun. She said she’ll bring scissors in case you guys need a trim.”
Cam grins and wags his eyebrows suggestively. “Hell yeah. Any excuse for her to touch me.”
“Shriller will fucking kill you,” Luke says then looks at me laughing. “Of course I can’t believe you are trusting Alex with scissors.”
Ass.
I shrink back in my seat slightly and can feel Cam’s body tense next to me. Alex and Shriller are friends with Brooke and Dylan and have been friends for years, but are now an official couple. They’re even living together now. I’m truly happy for them. They are a perfect match.
The reason for Luke’s comment is I stupidly and drunkenly, kissed Shriller at the annual New Year’s Eve party. Like I said, I had way too much to drink and was watching Cam and Dani on the dance floor with her grinding her ass into him. Shriller was there, all hot and brooding and oddly enough, pining for Alex. I threw myself at him in front of everyone.
I’m never going to live this down. Truth be told, I’m nervous to see Alex tomorrow. She’s a strong woman, and I look up to her. I don’t want her to hate me.