Chapter 41
41
T o my surprise, Carly didn’t drop me like a hot rock after our Uber brought us back to campus. She just looped her arm through mine as we walked up the stairs to our floor, then told me she was getting changed into her pj’s—despite it barely being midday—and coming to my room for movies.
We got cozy together in my bed, watching chick flicks on my laptop and not talking about the messy scene at the guys’ apartment. It was nice, but eventually I had to fess up and apologize for not trusting her with the diary information.
Incredibly, she just shrugged. “I get it,” she told me. “But I hope you know I’ve got your back, no matter what.”
That, obviously, just turned me into a puddle of emotion again and she changed the subject by asking me about what happened with Carter. Reluctantly, I told her. Then she cracked up laughing so hard tears came out of her eyes and she couldn’t get words out.
“I don’t…I don’t know what’s funny,” I admitted, grinning at her antics.
She flapped a hand at me but was still laughing too hard to form words. Weirdo. Her cackles were contagious though, and I found myself chuckling just because she was so delirious.
“I’m so confused,” I admitted between giggles.
She finally sobered up enough to dab her eyes and draw a breath. “Sorry,” she said between easing laughs, “Sorry, it wasn’t even that funny. I just started thinking about Nate’s face when he realized all three of his friends are besotted with you. He looked like he was going to shit his pants.” More giggles.
I rolled my eyes, still grinning. “It’s not like that . Carter will probably go back to pretending I don’t exist and Royce is just a giant shit stirrer.”
“Uh-huh,” she snickered. “Sure. Holy shit, is that the time? No wonder I’m starved.”
“You go eat. I’m not in the mood to leave my bed for at least another year.” I snuggled down deeper into the blankets.
“Oh my god, drama. I’ll order in so you don’t have to leave your nest. Hey, where’s Royce’s bed gone?” She peered over the edge of my bed, looking at the patch of floor that Royce had set up as his camp bed for the better part of two weeks.
My face flamed. I also hadn’t told her about my new sleeping arrangement with Royce. “Um, it’s just in the closet.” Technically true. That was where the spare bedding had been stored when he graduated to sharing my queen size bed.
Carly didn’t question that response and went about ordering us dinner on her delivery app. It actually ended up being a really enjoyable night, despite the lingering pit of nausea in my stomach over how I left things with the guys.
She offered to stay the night with me, but I insisted she sleep in her own bed. No one had so much as knocked on my door the whole time Royce was babysitting, they weren’t going to suddenly break in now.
Reluctantly, she agreed, but made me lock my door after her and then tested it from the other side before wishing me sweet dreams.
All of a sudden, I was alone for the first time in a month. Alone, and so fucking sad. I crawled into my bed and curled up on the side Royce had claimed as his own, hugging a pillow to my chest. I really fucked things up today.
I must have fallen asleep like that because the next thing I knew I was jerking awake as my door opened and someone slipped inside. The light from the hallway lit up my intruder for just long enough to ease my fear.
“Royce,” I said on a heavy exhale, sinking back into my bed.
He locked the door again, then opened the closet to pull out his bedding. “Go back to sleep, Ash,” he murmured, and my heart sank.
Ash. Not Squirrel.
He slept on the floor that night, and the subsequent nights. We barely spoke, but he still followed our schedule as it was before the big argument. Just without the fun, and the joking. The air between us at all times of day was positively icy which wasn’t helped by the fact that I went out of my way to ensure I didn’t run into any of the other guys. Taking extra shifts at the country club helped and gave me a breather from Royce.
Heath’s texts and calls went unanswered—my guilt over destroying their friendships was too intense to choke down—and Carter didn’t try. I wanted to pretend that didn’t hurt, but it did.
Nate was probably thrilled .
The day before Thanksgiving break—we had a whole week off, which should have been nice—I found myself hiding out in a shower cubicle with Carly just to get a break from the oppressive silence in my room. She was leaving in a few hours to travel to her grandparents’ mansion in Vermont…with Heath. They had a whole big family get-together that Carly seemed to be dreading.
“Are you sure you won’t go home?” she asked for the dozenth time as I sipped my takeaway coffee, sitting on the little bench seat within the shower stall. “Your mom must miss you.”
I nodded. “I’m sure. She already told me that Max and Nate have plans to watch the football game so I’d rather not put myself under the same roof as him. I’ll be fine here. With everyone gone, I might actually get ahead on my coursework.”
She sighed, tugging out her hair tie and re-doing her ponytail. “Fine, I guess. I’m kind of jealous. Will Royce stay too?”
I grimaced. “I don’t know. Surely he has family he needs to see? I certainly haven’t asked him to stay.”
“Okay, but considering how he’s kept up the protection detail even when he’s pissed sort of indicates he won’t leave you here for ten days alone.” Carly was just full of logic today. I didn’t like it.
Changing the subject, I asked her what was happening with the guy she’d been casually talking with lately. He was not a DB which was interesting, since she said her family would strongly disapprove. I suspected that was part of the appeal.
Smiling like crazy she told me about the filthy text messages they’d been exchanging and showed me the pictures she’d taken for him. Tasteful nudes, she called them.
“Wait so you still haven’t met up?” I gaped at her in shock.
She shrugged. “You’d have heard about it if we did. But…I kind of like the anticipation. I like the conversation. It’s nice.”
Just as I was about to awwww at her, the cubicle curtain jerked open, and Nate glared at us both.
“Excuse me!” I exclaimed. “We’re showering! How rude.”
“Hilarious. Carly, don’t you have a plane to catch?” He folded his arms, glaring down at us both sitting on the shower bench seat.
My friend glanced at her watch then cursed. “Good save, Essex. Uh…if I leave right now will Ashley make it out of this cubicle alive or…”
Nate rolled his eyes. “Carly…”
“Dead serious question,” she replied with a shrug.
He exhaled heavily like we were the most insufferable people on earth. “Yes, Layne will live to see another day. Now please go, Heath’s waiting out front for you.”
Carly grabbed me in a hug, muttering to me that if Nate got out of line I can always kick him in the balls. I laughed and bid her safe travels before she left me alone with a very irritated Nathaniel Essex…inside a shower cubicle.
“Do you want to explain what you two were doing in here?” he asked after some moments. “And don’t tell me showering . Royce was worried you might have drowned because you’ve been showering so long.”
I shrugged. “I don’t owe you answers. What do you want?”
He puffed his cheeks out, running a hand over his hair with frustration. “You need to come home for Thanksgiving.”
My brows hiked. “Home? Where exactly is that?” Max’s house wasn’t my home, and I knew my mom had her house listed for sale and vacant. So…technically for me, home was right here at the dorm.
His teeth gritted. “You know what I mean. Carina expects you there for the holidays.”
“No she doesn’t, I already told her I was staying at school. Besides, since when do you give a fuck what my mom thinks? Last I checked, you hold her with the same lack of respect as you do me.”
His left eye twitched which told me he was really pissed off but trying to keep it in check. How fun.
“All right, fine. You need to come home with me for Thanksgiving so that Royce isn’t stuck here babysitting you the entire break. He needs to go home, his dad is going to be there for the holiday and he hasn’t seen him in nearly three years. It’s important for Royce so can you please put our issues aside and think of him for once?”
I swallowed the harsh truth of those words like a bitter pill, pulling my knees up to hug them to my chest. “I never asked him to stay. He should go.”
Another long-suffering sigh. “He won’t though.”
“So just lie to him. Or I will, if you’re too pussy to do it.” I stood up, intending to go out there and tell Royce whatever he needed to hear, so he’d leave for the holidays.
Nate blocked me with his arm across the front of the cubicle. “We aren’t doing that,” he snapped. “What’s it going to take, Layne? Hmm? What’s your price?”
Confused, I frowned up at him and regretted my bare foot status. He was too damn tall, especially in the close confines we were currently in. “My price? To spend a ten-day break with an insufferable bully like you?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “And pretend we don’t hate each other. What’s it going to cost? A new car? Your Firebird must be about to fall to pieces by now.”
A laugh of disbelief bubbled out of me. “You’re not serious. For starters, that car is a goddamn classic, and you not recognizing that fact only speaks to your lack of character. And for another—and I know this one will be really hard for your immature pea-sized brain to process—I’m not for sale . I wasn’t then, and I’m not now. Not everything in life can be bought, Essex.”
He pursed his lips, nodding slowly. “I see. So, you’re still holding a grudge for Royce keying your car?”
My jaw dropped. “Royce did it? That motherfucker! ”
“Irrelevant right now, isn’t it? He did what I asked him to do, so I’m the only one to blame.” He dropped his arm and moved further into the cubicle, leaning his back on the tiled wall and stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear? I’m sorry that we keyed your precious vintage car, and that we set you up to seem like a money-hungry whore. Happy?”
I scowled, facing him in outrage. “Are you joking? That’s the best apology you can muster up? You must really not care if I do this Thanksgiving trip.”
He threw his hands up. “I said I’m sorry, what more do you want from me? You want me on my knees? Here.” He dropped to his knees right there in the shower, putting his hands together. “Please, Ashley, will you come home and make both our parents happy?”
Fucking hell, talk about a low blow. Throwing a guilt trip in with his apology was just the kind of dirty tactic I should have expected from him. “It’s not enough,” I stated. “If I come home with you, then I want you to do this apology all over with more sincerity and I want you to apologize to my mom. In front of Max. With feeling .”
His lips parted and his eyes widened with confusion. “Apologize for what?” I flattened my glare and a small, guilty smirk touched his lips. “Okay, fine. Deal. Anything else? Money? Jewelry?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Just human emotion and a display of remorse. You can handle that, can’t you?” I was skeptical whether he actually could, but I couldn’t be the reason Royce missed out on seeing his dad.
Nate extended his middle finger in response. He was still on his knees in the middle of the shower cubicle though, so I simply reached over and turned on the tap.
“Fuck! Layne!” he roared, cold water dousing him.
I laughed, ducking back out of the shower before he could retaliate, my evil chortle echoing through the bathroom in a way that cheered me right up. So much for my nice quiet break alone at school…though I didn’t hate the idea of seeing Mom and Max.
Nate, without realizing, had actually done me a favor. Hell must be chilly today.