Chapter 28
Julia
Ace digs through the cooler in the kitchen of the Tau Kappa Epsilon house, which is an absolute freaking mess, despite the new brothers having only moved in at the start of school.
This is something like their eighth party in just under three weeks, and evidently, they don’t have the number for a cleaning crew on speed dial.
I wait patiently until Ace hands me a sealed bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, twisting off the cap before he does.
I smile gratefully and turn it up to my lips, excited by the tolerable taste.
I know some people are seasoned drinkers by the time they’re my age, but I’m still getting my boozy legs under me.
Ace takes a bottle of beer for himself and nods to Finn, nudging me forward to follow his roommate from last year as he exits the kitchen.
I weave through the crowd of rowdy partygoers, reaching up to hold my ear as we pass one of the giant speakers they have set up in the back sun-room area of the dining room and looking back over my shoulder to make sure Ace is with me.
He puts his hand to my back in reassurance, and I smile as I force my way through the last little clump of people to get to Lexi, Scottie, and Finn.
Today was Lexi’s official graduation from grad school. She’s now the proud owner of two PhDs and will most likely be winning Nobel Prizes, curing cancer, and creating the world’s most valuable AI technology in the next year or two.
There’s smart, and then there’s Lexi smart. Trust me, they’re different.
I’ve known Lexi Winslow my whole life, and right now, she looks a little like a fish out of water.
That shouldn’t be a surprise, given Ace practically forced her here on the excuse that this will be the last college party she’ll ever attend, but for as rowdy as these Tau guys get and as dirty as this place is, she’s hanging in pretty well.
“Holy shit!” Ace exclaims from behind me, barreling forward to wrap an enthusiastic arm around Finn’s shoulders and rock him back and forth.
“Is Finnley Hayes enjoying an alcoholic beverage tonight?” Finn is holding a red Solo cup, which is out of character for him, given his family’s abusive history with alcohol.
I’d never judge him for drinking or choosing not to—and Ace wouldn’t either.
He just sometimes forgets his damn manners.
Finn rolls his eyes. “It’s Mountain Dew.”
“Fuck me.” Ace groans. “And I thought you weren’t going to be lame for once.”
“Stop being a dick, Acer,” I chastise, shoving Ace in the chest. He’s extra hyper tonight, and while I know good and well he’s not an asshole, he has a tendency to get overly excited and sound like one.
“You’re like one of those bullies on an after-school special, trying to get everyone to drink his parents’ booze. ”
Ace cracks up. “Damn, Jules. Don’t hold back.”
I smile, saccharine and sugar all at once, and he moves to me, wrapping me under his arm tightly and tucking me into his armpit. I roll my eyes but melt into him, looking up at the jubilation shining from his handsome brown eyes.
He only moved out of my apartment yesterday afternoon after the extermination fogging took two days longer than expected, and as much as it pains me to admit, I miss having him in my space and bed all the time.
He looks down at me like he might feel the same, and an unexpected flock of butterflies skims the inside of my stomach with frantic wings.
Kayla sidles up to the group and says her hellos, and Ace seizes my teasing as an opportunity to take a trip down memory lane.
“Remember when we got drunk on your dad’s scotch our sophomore year of high school?”
I laugh. “Remember? I still hear about it to this day! We filled his Oban single malt with water, for Pete’s sake. We didn’t even put food coloring or anything. A couple of idiots. He found it, like, the next night and reamed us into next week.”
“Is your dad scary?” Kayla asks, and I shake my head.
“No. My dad is like the nicest guy on the planet. But we both felt bad about making him feel bad, and ultimately Ace’s dad ended up punishing us for making his best friend weepy.”
“Weepy?” Kayla cracks up.
“Yeah, that’s all my dad,” Ace interjects.
“Leave it to him to call a man like Kline Brooks weepy. He wasn’t, by the way.
He was the scariest I’d ever seen him when he talked about me needing to do a better job of protecting Julia and that I should have taken the fall completely.
He’s a real man of respect, you know? Car doors, sidewalks, trouble—he thinks the guy should always take the fall.
And truthfully, I agree with him. I can’t believe I didn’t then, but I was a dumbass high schooler.
It was a good, very important lesson to learn. ”
“What, now you’d take the fall for me any day?” I ask, my voice undeniably cocky.
“In a fucking heartbeat,” Ace responds without hesitation. “Yes, Officer, I am the murderer, and yes, I do wear red lipstick.”
I laugh, smiling up at him, and take my purse off my shoulder to slide it on his. “Cute purse, sir.”
He poses boisterously. “Thanks. I have impeccable style.”
Finn rolls his eyes when Scottie looks up at him to smile, but when I glance over at Lexi to make sure she’s doing okay, I find her staring across the room, her expression mildly horrified.
I follow her line of sight and find Blake dancing with some sorority girl, and just behind him, a group of frat brothers pull their pants down to do questionable things in the open bowl of punch.
I don’t know which one is scaring her, but both choices are valid, given the secrets Ace and I know.
I elbow him in the stomach, jerking my chin at Blake and the girl on the other side of the room, and he frowns before glancing back at Lexi.
I know Blake’s been an absolute wreck for a couple of weeks now, and judging by the depressing nature of their avoidance, I have to assume it’s because something happened between them.
Like a breakup of their secret relationship or something.
I don’t like seeing either of them this upset, and in some ways, it’s a cautionary tale against getting close with someone who’s already a huge part of your life. Seeing the person who got away on repeat for the next one million years sounds like the worst kind of torture.
“Hey, Ace, I’m gonna go,” Lexi cuts in suddenly, giving a halfhearted wave to the rest of the group. She shares a look with him I don’t understand, and he nods as though there’s an actual answer to their silent communication.
I don’t understand it.
“What’s that about?” I ask, turning under his arm and lowering my voice enough to keep the conversation between the two of us.
He leans down, speaking directly against the shell of my ear. “I’m guessing she’s upset seeing Boden exercising his popularity with the ladies.”
“No, I know that. I meant the look between the two of you.”
His eyes glaze for a brief second, and then he smiles, kissing the side of my head. “It’s nothing.”
I don’t feel like he’s telling me the whole story, but I have no option other than to accept it. Though, it’s probably just the loud, party environment.
He’ll tell me when he can. I’m sure of it.
Because Ace has never kept anything from me before, and he knows it’s important enough to me that he never will.