Chapter 4
FOUR
“I’m telling you, man, the blonde’s been eye-fucking you for the past twenty minutes,” Liam said, taking a swig of his beer and nodding toward the table across the bar. “And her brunette friend keeps looking at me like she wants to climb me like a tree.”
I glanced over at the two girls Liam was talking about. They were both hot, but the blonde caught my eye and gave me a smile that was pure invitation.
“Not bad,” I admitted, turning back to my own beer. “Though I’m pretty sure that brunette would eat you alive.”
“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for.” Liam grinned and stood up. “Come on, let’s go say hi. You need to get out of your own head.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve been weird since the auction thing. All brooding and shit.” He nudged me. “Look, I get that Harper gets under your skin, but you’ve never let her stop you before. And yet, I can’t remember the last time you left Murphy’s with a girl, which is not the norm for you.”
No, it wasn’t. And yet, despite my best efforts, I hadn’t been able to follow through on a hookup since the auction.
And that block had only gotten worse since her recital last weekend.
I’d never seen her like that before. Sure, I’d seen her play her violin plenty of times, but what she did on that stage was something different.
It was like she was in a world of her own and I felt every feeling she did.
Which was probably why I’d felt the need to dig at her when she got off that stage, glowing brighter than the sun with warmth and happiness.
Except I’d never expected for her to react the way she did—like I’d physically hit her.
I watched her warmth evaporate faster than water on the sidewalk on a one hundred-degree day.
I’d struck a nerve I hadn’t known was exposed, and instead of feeling victorious for one-upping her, I felt lower than pond scum.
I didn’t understand it and couldn’t explain it to save my life. But Liam was right about one thing—I had never let Harper get in the way of me living my best life, and I shouldn’t start now.
He smacked my arm and nodded his head toward the girls, so I followed him, mostly because I didn’t want to sit alone nursing my beer while he charmed his way into someone’s pants. They looked up as we approached, and the blonde’s smile widened.
“Hey there,” she said, her voice overly enthusiastic in a way that felt unnatural. “I’m Tatum, and this is my friend Sienna.”
“Drew,” I said, sliding into the booth next to her. “And this is Liam.”
“We know who you are,” Sienna said, giving Liam an appraising look. “Hockey team, right? I was at the bachelor auction a couple of weeks ago. That was quite the show.”
My jaw tightened involuntarily. The fucking bachelor auction.
Where it felt like all my problems had started—even though that wasn’t even close to the truth since Harper and I had been trying to one-up each other for years.
Why the fuck was I still thinking about her when I had a hot blonde in front of me?
I put on my most charming smile. “Hope you enjoyed it.”
“Oh, we did.” Tatum moved closer to me, her hand finding my arm. “Though I have to say, I was disappointed someone else snatched you up.”
“Well, lucky for you, I’m available tonight,” I said, falling back into the familiar rhythm of flirtation. This was easy. This was what I was good at.
The conversation flowed easily enough—Tatum was a business major, and Sienna was in education.
They were both juniors who lived in one of the nicer apartment complexes off campus.
Standard sorority girl territory. After about an hour and several more drinks, Tatum leaned in close enough that I could smell her vanilla perfume.
“So,” she said, her voice dropping to what she probably thought was a seductive whisper, “Sienna and I were thinking about heading back to our place. Want to come keep us company?”
Perfect. This was exactly what I needed—a night of uncomplicated fun with a girl who didn’t know about family feuds or have opinions about my character. A girl who wouldn’t challenge me or make me question every decision I’d ever made.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
“Let me just hit the ladies’ room first,” Tatum said, standing up. “Sienna, you coming?”
“Yeah, be right back, boys,” Sienna said with a wink.
I watched them walk away, admiring the view, while Liam leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin.
“See? Told you this was what you needed,” he said.
“And like always, you were right,” I said with a laugh. No one knew me better then Liam.
We talked about our upcoming hockey games while we waited for Tatum and Sienna. Liam frowned and I followed his sight line to see them making their way back across the bar.
But something was different. Tatum’s flirtatious smile had been replaced by a cool, distant expression, and Sienna looked downright uncomfortable. They stopped at our table, but neither of them sat down.
“Actually,” Tatum said, her voice noticeably chillier than before, “we’re pretty tired. We’re going to head home. Alone.”
I blinked. “What? Is everything okay?”
“Uh-huh,” Sienna said, avoiding eye contact. “It was…nice meeting you guys.”
They were already walking away before I could process what the hell had just happened. I stared after them, completely confused.
“What the fuck was that about?” Liam asked, echoing my thoughts exactly.
Before I could answer, our waitress—a girl named Katie who’d been working here for as long as we’d been coming—stopped by our table with a sympathetic shake of her head.
“I wouldn’t normally say anything,” Katie said, lowering her voice, “but…that review site? It’s spreading faster than mono in a freshman dorm.”
Liam choked on his beer as I stared at her in horror.
The what now?
“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” I asked slowly.
Katie blinked. “Oh, shit. You didn’t know.
” Her eyes widened a little and her tone immediately shifted from casual to apologetic.
“There are posters with your picture. In the women’s bathroom.
They link to this review site where people can rate your…
performance.” She winced. “Sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. ”
She backed away quickly, clearly realizing she’d just lit the fuse on a nuclear bomb.
What the actual fuck was going on?
Liam had started laughing so hard he was practically crying. “Oh my God,” he wheezed. “Oh my fucking God, this is beautiful.”
“This is not beautiful,” I snapped. “Did she mean what I think she meant when she emphasized performance?”
“Sure sounds like it,” Liam said, still laughing. “Dude, you have to see what’s in that bathroom.”
I was already standing up, my blood pressure spiking.
“Go look. I’ll wait here and try not to die of laughter.”
“Fuck that, you’re coming with. I need someone to stand watch so I don’t get caught in the women’s bathroom looking like a pervert.”
That only made him laugh harder, the fucker. If he wasn’t my ride or die best friend, I’d punch him right now.
We made our way to the women’s bathroom, my hands clenched in fists as my mind raced with all kinds of awful scenarios. Who would even do—
No.
No fucking way was Harper that mad at me.
There was no way Harper would have the balls to do something like this. No fucking way. How would she even get posters in here? She was a rule follower. I couldn’t see her using a fake ID like Li and I did.
I knocked on the women’s bathroom and put my ear to the door but there was no response. After a quick check to make sure no one was looking, I opened the door. “Anyone in here?”
Silence, and both stall doors were open.
I turned back to Liam. “Do not let anyone come in here.”
He saluted me with a smile, but I knew he had my back.
Once the door was closed behind me, I looked all around the room but didn’t see anything besides the “don’t drink while you’re pregnant” warnings that seemed to be in any establishment that served alcohol.
Where were these supposed posters?
My gaze caught on the open stall doors. I hesitantly walked into the nearest stall and closed the door, and there it was, taped to the inside where every woman who used that stall would see it.
A blown-up photo of me from our win against Idaho last weekend, arms raised in celebration, huge grin on my face—the same photo that had been all over the campus sports page. And underneath it, in bold letters:
THINKING ABOUT HOOKING UP WITH DREW DUMONTIER?
Check the reviews first.
Scan the QR code to visit:
Spoiler alert: 2.3 stars.
Below that were quotes in smaller text that had to be fake:
“All talk, no stick handling.” – Anonymous
“Got more action from my electric toothbrush.” – Disappointed but not surprised
“Took longer to find the condom than he lasted.” – Would not recommend
“Came, saw, ghosted. Did the same to my roommate.” – My vibrator does it better
I ripped the poster down, my vision going red around the edges as I exited the stall. What the fu—
“Fucking Tinsley.”
But there was no longer a doubt in my mind that she had done this. She was the only one who hated me enough to be this vindictive.
“Drew?” A girl’s voice made me look up from the poster in my hands. Two girls I recognized from campus stood in the doorway, staring at me with a mixture of confusion and alarm. Seriously? Where the fuck was Liam? Could this night get any worse?
“I was just—” I started, then realized how bad this looked. “There was a poster—”
“Okay,” one of them said, slowly backing away. “We’ll just…come back later.”
They fled, and I was left standing there holding the evidence of Harper Tinsley’s revenge, rage coursing through my veins like liquid fire.
I walked out of the bathroom, not wanting to get caught in the women’s restroom by anyone else, and bumped into Liam.
“Dude! What the fuck? Where did you go? You were supposed to guard the damn door.”
“I’m sorry. Some drunk girl was getting harassed by a guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I went over to help get rid of him and make sure she and her friend got out of here without being hassled. It only took like two minutes. Sorry, man, but I couldn’t just stand by.”
That deflated some of my annoyance with him. Even with a manwhore reputation that rivaled mine, he was still a good guy. And being raised by a single mom had made him extra protective of vulnerable women.
“Fuck. No, you did the right thing, man. I would’ve done the same. But we need to get out of here.”
The walk back to campus should have been a quick ten minutes, but we’d barely made it two blocks when I heard snickering behind us. Two girls from my economics class were walking about twenty feet back, and when I glanced over my shoulder, they quickly looked away, whispering to each other.
“Dude, what’s going on?” Liam asked. “You look like you’re about to murder someone.”
Before I could answer, we ran into Ryan Donovan from the football team. He was with his girlfriend, and when he spotted me, a shit-eating grin spread across his face.
“Yo, Monty!” he called out. “Tough break about the reviews, man. That’s gotta suck.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. “What did you just say?”
“The reviews? Sarah told me about the posters.” He gestured to his girlfriend, who was trying very hard not to look at me. “I mean…damn, bro. Someone seriously has it out for you.”
“How do you know about that?” The words came out through gritted teeth.
“Dude, there are posters everywhere. Sarah said she’s seen them in like three different bathrooms just today.”
No, no, no.
This was not happening.
My phone chose that moment to buzz with a text. I pulled it out with shaking hands.
Ava
Are you aware that your face is currently plastered in women’s bathrooms all over campus advertising a bad hookup review site? Please tell me this is some kind of joke.
Another text came through immediately after.
Ava
Because if it’s not a joke, I’m going to kill whoever did this to you.
I showed Liam the texts, and watched his expression shift from confusion to understanding to barely suppressed laughter.
“Oh, shit,” he said. “This isn’t just one poster, is it?”
“Apparently not,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Who hates you enough to—” He stopped before he could finish the sentence, coming to the same conclusion I had.
Only one person on this campus hated me enough to pull this kind of stunt.
Harper Fucking Tinsley.
I no longer felt guilty for how I’d made her feel after her recital because fuck her.
I crumpled the poster tighter in my fist. “This isn’t over.”
“Drew—”
“No. She wants to play dirty? Fine. Game fucking on.”