Chapter 24 – Clover
Chapter Twenty-Four
Clover
I wish his hands didn’t feel so good on my thighs.
I don’t want him to let go, but I know letting Thomas hold onto me is a slippery slope.
Didn’t I learn my lesson with the other guys on the rowing team?
Thomas isn’t any different from the assholes on his team.
If anything, he’s worse. He’s the instigator and he gets away with being the strong, silent guy calling the shots.
No one notices that he pulls the strings. I see him for who he is.
“You can stay on the floor,” I tell him, even if I don’t know need him to sleep there, if he wants to post up like a guard dog, who am I to stop him? I’m not really scared. I mean, those last emails were a bit freaky, but I can also get Kola or Sylvia to come over tonight. I don’t need Thomas here.
He smiles when I tell him that he can stay and I get this really weird funny feeling, nothing like what I felt with Jude or Kit. I can’t fool myself into thinking he’s different from them. What do they say about birds of a feather?
“Perfect. Though I don’t doubt you have an adequate capacity for self defense.”
Everything he says is so weirdly formal. Thomas talks like a prince from a fairy tale, but he looks like the villain with all those tattoos and the black nail polish.
“You’ll need a pillow.”
“Nonsense. I did a tour of Japan and we slept on mats. You have a rug. I can sleep there.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
I want him to head to the floor, but he just keeps holding onto my thighs. I could easily scramble off him, but if Thomas feels stuck… so do I. We pause for a moment and everything gets too quiet. I hear footsteps in the hallway and my heart races.
“They’re probably not coming here,” Thomas whisper-mumbles.
I bite my lower lip because I’m not so sure. I hear a body slam against my bedroom door. Shit. Before I can scramble off Thomas and double check that the door is locked, Sylvia pushes open the door to my bedroom and shrieks.
“Clover!”
Shit.
“Thomas?!”
Double shit.
Thomas practically flings me across the damn room. I fall on the ground and hit my back hard. “OUCH!”
Sylvia stands in my room with her hands on her hips and her face moves upside down.
“What the hell is going on here? Seriously? What are you two doing? This is breaking several school rules. You hate each other! I’m going to freak out if you two don’t explain what’s going on right now!”
Thomas gets off the bed, but he doesn’t answer Sylvia.
He sticks his arm out to help me up. I’m too embarrassed to turn him down, even if having the guy who tossed me like a volleyball to save me moments later has its own flavor of humiliation to it.
I grab his arm and hoist myself to his feet, doing everything in my power not to lose my balance and lean into Thomas’ chest. That would only make it worse.
Sylvia looks pissed. More pissed off than I expected.
“Listen, it’s calm,” Thomas answers. Does he want Sylvia to pop him in the mouth? Okay, that’s more my thing. But Sylvia looks pissed off. Pissed awf.
“It’s calm? How is that an answer? What the goodness gracious is going on!?”
“Nothing happened,” I tell her. “I swear. We were just…”
“Doing ethics homework,” Thomas blurts out.
Does he seriously think Sylvia is going to buy that? I was obviously straddling him. My cheeks burn as Sylvia’s face takes on seventy different expressions of rage in an exceedingly short space of time.
“Your hand was basically on her ass!”
“Sylvia, I’m sorry,” I tell her, because apologizing seems like the right thing to do and honestly, I’m sorry for real. Sylvia probably doesn’t want to see that. I’m not even sure that she doesn’t have a major crush on Thomas.
“Sorry for what? Did you two have sex?”
“Sylvia,” Thomas interjects. “Stop. I was just visiting Clover. That’s all. We’re friends.”
“I don’t have a problem with you being friends,” Sylvia snaps. “But this is all happening in some weird secret way. I didn’t even know you two talked. It’s like… oh my God how is this happening?”
“I don’t report to you,” Thomas answers coldly. I can tell he’s hurting Sylvia’s feelings and I want to jump in and defend her, but she gets to her self-defense first.
“Friends don’t lie to each other,” she says.
It’s my turn to give Sylvia a look. Oh really, Sylvia? She has her secrets and I never held them against her.
“Then where were you the other night?”
“Excuse me?”
“You lied. You said you were in your room but–
“That’s different!” Sylvia shrills.
“No it’s not. Listen, Syl. I love you, but it’s the same. Thomas and I were just… hanging out. I swear. It’s not some huge secret.”
“There’s nothing going on,” Thomas says, very convincingly. “I promise.”
Sylvia’s mouth seals itself shut. Her tongue runs along her lower teeth like she’s doing everything in her power to hold her tongue.
“Hold on,” Thomas says. “I know that face. You’re hiding something.”
“I’m not.”
Thomas and I exchange glances. Has he told her about the blackmail? He shakes his head gently when our eyes catch. I understand him.
“You are,” Thomas says. “Spill and I’ll tell you everything about me and Clover.”
“You and who?” I mutter under my breath. Thomas doesn’t hear me but our eyes catch. He nods. He’s going to do the talking.
“I can’t tell you,” Sylvia says, finally dropping her gaze and looking far less stubborn than defeated. “I want to, but I can’t.”
“What’s stopping you?” I ask her. I genuinely mean it. At first she looked defiant, but now she just looks downright scared and that makes me nervous as hell.
“If anyone finds out… this could ruin my life.”
“Are you gay?” Thomas says. “Because that might not be okay in America, but we’re fine with it in England.”
I elbow Thomas hard in the side and he groans.
“Dumb ass,” I grumble. Sylvia cracks a half-smile, but it disappears as soon as it comes.
“I don’t want to lie to you,” She says. “Please. I’m just not ready.”
“Is it a guy?” I ask her.
Thomas scoffs. “Don’t be ridiculous. Sylvia doesn’t date. She’s an entrepreneur.”
He sounds like he learned how to pronounce the word ‘entrepreneur’ a week ago from a very fancy walrus. I wrinkle my nose, but keep looking at Sylvia. Thomas might be her friend, but he’s naive if he thinks this isn’t about a guy.
“Syl?” he asks, tilting his head to the side and making that gorgeous head of light brown hair cascade down his neck. I wish everything he did wasn’t so fucking distracting.
“Please don’t make me screw this up,” she whispers.
“You won’t screw up,” I tell her softly. “We’re your friends. We can keep this a secret. Right Thomas?”
Thomas nods and Sylvia tells us her big secret.
* * *