Chapter 33
Guinevere
“Y ou really slept with him?!” Lainey squeals as we sit in the courtyard, sipping on hot coffees from Café Grind.
The fall air has now turned into the beginning of a cold winter chill, and the trees are pretty much empty. No one really sits out here this time of year, but there’s always a few people milling about.
“Shh! Keep your voice down,” I scold. Lainey rolls her eyes and looks around the vast space, seeing only four people scattered around.
“No one’s here! Besides, no one would know who we’re talking about anyway,” she swats my arm playfully.
I tug my black winter coat, wrapping it around me tighter as a cold breeze passes. This is really not the ideal place to be talking about this, but we both have a class in ten minutes, so we didn’t want to walk home .
“So, how was it?” Lainey asks, curiosity and a bit of jealousy swirl in her eyes. Rolling mine, I take a minute to answer. How was it? It was… it was earth shattering. It was mind blowing. It was like scratching an itch I didn’t even know I had. And I hate him for it. I hate that he’s made me feel this way about him. Like I want him, need him.
I don’t need anyone. I’m fine on my own. Although, I do want someone to share things with. Like when I have an awful day and need to rant, or when I’m upset and need someone to hold me. Could Ryker be that person?
No. He couldn’t. Ryker Steele could never.
“It was fine,” I tell her. I know she’s not going to accept that for an answer, but it was worth a try.
“Come on! Give me more than that! I need to live vicariously through you,” she begs. She’s acting like she isn’t constantly fucking a new guy like every week.
I love Lainey, and she can do whatever she wants, but why would she need to live vicariously through my sex life? Just because it’s Ryker?
I chuckle at her outburst. “I’m not giving you details! I shouldn’t have even told you. It’s not like it matters,” I huff as I watch Lainey’s smile fall. God damnit, I want off this topic. “He was good. Better than good, he was great. He made me…” I trail off. Lainey adjusts herself in the spot next to me, angling herself so that her knee is now touching mine.
“Made you what? Come? Well I’d hope so,” she teases.
I roll my eyes. “Of course, yeah. But… he also made me feel good. Like, he made me feel beautiful and wanted.”
Lainey’s face turns from a grin to a look of adoration.
“Omg! That’s so cute,” she squeals, clapping her hands together in excitement. “Okay, I need to know. Is it pierced?”
I almost spit out to coffee I just drank. Did she just ask what I think she did?
A few people walk by us, talking to themselves and not paying any attention the scene Lainey is creating with her laughter. She just loves making me uncomfortable.
“Lainey! What the hell?” I cry .
“What?” she asks innocently, as if she didn’t just ask if Ryker Steele’s dick is pierced. “I just wanna know if it’s true! There’s a rumor going around that he has three piercings on his-” oh my god.
“No, he’s not pierced. He has no piercings at all. Anywhere,” I say tersely. Lainey’s face falls in disappointment.
“Well, I also heard that he has a small mole right on his-”
“Okay, conversation over!” I hold both my hands up to stop her from continuing. If I hadn’t stopped her, she would go on and on about the rumors she’s heard from all the women Ryker has or hasn’t slept with.
I know he’s had sex with a lot of the girls on campus, but I’d rather not think about it.
Lainey chortles. “Okay, okay,” she swats her hand dismissively. “Ellie and Ty Manning fucked,” Lainey shrugs casually, as if she didn’t just drop a bomb about our friend. My eyes widen.
Holland is so not going to be happy. He was pissed about her even going to the party with him. Obviously, none of us are going to tell him, so there’s no way he’ll even find out. As long as Ty Manning doesn’t decide to be a fucking idiot and brag about it in the locker room.
Ty is a moron, but he’s sweet and Ellie seems to really like him. I don’t know if he’s exactly the boyfriend type, and Ellie is so innocent and traditional, she’ll want him to be.
Holland will kill him if he breaks her heart.
“Seriously? When?” I ask.
“The night you were with Ryker. I didn’t know he was there, but I ran into him on his way out. It was super awkward,” she explains, a smirk on her delicate features. “I made Ellie tell me everything once he left.”
Taking another sip of coffee, I try to imagine Lainey pouncing on Ellie for details like she’s currently doing to me.
“Wow. I mean, good for her.”
Lainey shrugs. If Holland ever finds out, he’s going to beat Ty’s ass. It’ll definitely be a sight to see.”
—————————
It’s Saturday night, which means I’m being dragged out with Ellie and Lainey to a dance club about twenty miles away from campus against my will.
Lainey has already done my makeup and given me a tight black dress that barely covers my ass with a pair of heels that I’m probably going to take off at some point of the night.
I took the liberty of curling my hair, leaving it down so the long curls cascade down my back. Lainey gave me a smokey eye kind of look and put on some false eyelashes. I look like a completely different person, and I hate wearing this much makeup. But it made Lainey happy, so I didn’t argue.
With one last spray of perfume and a quick glance in the mirror, I strut into the living room where Ellie and Lainey stand, looking deep in conversation. My eyes narrow. Whenever they’re like this, there’s usually something they’re not telling me, or something they don’t want me to know.
Lainey turns around to look at me, her curly brown hair up in a bun on top of her head, two curly strands hanging out in the front. Her makeup is flawless, and she looks stunning in her dark green tank top that shows off her breasts, and the tight black skirt that makes her ass look perfectly round and perky.
“Oh good, you ready?” she singsongs, grabbing her clutch off of the coffee table and walking passed me to the front door. Ellie hasn’t moved from her spot.
“What aren’t you guys telling me?” I ask accusingly.
Ellie’s eyes shoot behind me to Lainey who now has the front door open and one foot out.
“Nothing,” Lainey shrugs suspiciously. “Let’s go, I want to get a good table!”
Lainey casually strolls out of the house, hopping into the passenger seat of my old beetle. I look back to Ellie who just shrugs her shoulders, hooking her arm through mine and leading me out of the house.
What they’re up to, I have no idea. But I have a feeling I’m not going to be too happy about it if they’re being so secretive about it.
The parking lot of Party Glowers is packed, which is to be expected on a Saturday night. The building is a large two story with an exclusive upstairs area and a huge dancefloor with a stage on the lower level.
They provide glow sticks, glow necklaces and bracelets, and glow paint for their patrons. There are colorful flashing lights that shoot across the space, and the dancefloor lights up with different colors while people dance.
It’s a pretty cool concept, and it’s right between the colleges, so both Groverland and Ellington U students congregate here.
The nice thing about the club is that Holland and Ellie’s father owns it, so we get free entry and free drinks when we come.
I’m usually the DD since I don’t drink too much if and when I do go out. Lainey and Ellie typically get shitfaced, and I end up having to drag their asses out of whatever club or party they’ve dragged me to.
I can usually get out of it since a lot of the parties they go to are over at the Elite mansion. I’m not really sure why they wanted to come here tonight.
Lainey heads straight to the bar, Ellie and I following close behind. With a swift wave of her hand, a handsome bartender with tattoos up his arms and muscles that make your jaw drop comes over to take her order. She orders her signature drink of choice, a whiskey sour, and Ellie gets a gin and tonic.
I of course opt for a water.
Lainey leads us over to a corner booth, away from the huge throngs of drunk patrons.
Taking a sip of her drink, Lainey leans in to yell something in my ear over the thumping of the bass.
“You should get a drink! One won’t kill you,” she urges. I shake my head.
“I’m good for now, maybe later.”
Lainey rolls her eyes and takes another sip. I catch a glimpse of Ellie staring up toward the exclusive area above us and notice a few familiar faces. My stomach flips and my nerves skyrocket. My eyes catch with emerald green ones that I’ve come to know over the last few weeks.
He cocks his head, narrowing his eyes as he takes me in.
I avert my gaze quickly, feeling my cheeks burn. I turn slowly to see Lainey watching me for a reaction. So this is what they were hiding.
“What are they doing here?” I seethe. I was not planning on running into Ryker tonight. Lainey shrugs.
“Holland texted and said they’d be here. I figured it would give you and Ryker a chance to talk,” Lainey explains simply. I try to tamp down the annoyance that’s boiling deep in chest, but it’s proving to be rather difficult.
“We don’t need to talk, Lainey. There’s nothing to talk about,” I explain.
That’s a lie. There are some things we should probably talk about. Like, I don’t know what Ryker and I even are. Are we friends? Are we fuck buddies? Do we even actually like each other?
But I’m not about to be the one to bring that up. I don’t need him thinking I want a label on us or anything. Because I don’t. Do I?
“You should ask him if his brother is single. He’s like, really freaking hot, in an ‘innocent rich boy’ kind of way. I could teach him a thing or two,” Lainey winks.
“Teach who what?” a male voice asks. Our heads turn to see Holland, Ryker, Mason, and a guy that looks vaguely familiar, standing at the edge of our table.
Ryker’s green eyes watch me as I take a sip of my water.Ellie glares at Holland and he just smirks, knowing his presence bothers her. Holland’s gaze skips over to Lainey, who is looking at him over the rim of her glass.
“Hey, Barkley,” Holland nods toward Lainey. Lainey rolls her eyes, looking seductive and bored all at the same time.
“I knew you were going to be here, but I was still hoping you wouldn’t show,” she says cooly .
“What’d they put in that drink? You’re bitchier than usual,” Holland comments, rolling his eyes.
“Why don’t you crawl back down to Hell where you belong?” Lainey questions sarcastically, glaring at him.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat as the tension at the table shifts to borderline sexual.
“Meet you there, Satan,” Holland muses.
I’ve never noticed it before, but Holland and Lainey argue like an old married couple.
Ellie doesn’t even seem bothered by it anymore. She just sits back and lets it go. I think she finds it entertaining honestly, and most of the time it is.
But right now, it feels a bit like I’m interrupting something.
Lainey sets her drink down and sighs.
“I’m going to dance. El, Gwen, you coming?” she asks with a hopeful expression. Usually I’d say no, but right now there’s a little too much happening at this table.
I nod, taking one last sip of my water before walking passed the guys. I can feel Ryker’s stare as we make our way onto the dance floor.
The song changes to something with more of a techno vibe, and Ellie, Lainey, and I dance together shamelessly. I’m not as sensual as they are, and I’m definitely not a dancer, but I’ve always liked having little dance parties just us girls.
As we dance and the songs change, I periodically find myself looking back to the booth to see if Ryker and his friends are still standing there.
They’ve taken up residence at our booth as they watch us carefully from their seats. I’m suddenly very aware of the short dress and tall heels I’m wearing, and the way the dress is riding up, almost revealing my thong to everyone in the club.
“Who’s that guy sitting next to Mason?” I ask, leaning into Lainey so she can hear me over the music. She looks back to the table to see who I’m referring to.
“Oh, that’s Logan, Ryker’s brother. He’s my year, and the total opposite of Ryker,” Oh Lainey, the perpetual gossip. Thank God for her or I wouldn’t know shit that happens on campus .
That explains why he looks familiar. He’s got Ryker’s eyes, and the same scowl that I’m pretty sure is permanently engraved into Ryker’s face. Seriously, does the guy ever actually smile?
“I heard they don’t really get along, and their dad is like, a total jackass.”
I look back to the table, but this time Ryker isn’t there. I look around the dark but colorfully lit space, landing on the bar, where I see Ryker and some tall, leggy blonde with her hands all over him.
My stomach sinks, and the dancing mood I was in just minutes ago vanishes, now replaced with a sour, bitter feeling that I most definitely do not like.
I glance around me and pluck someone’s shot out of their hand, downing it. The burn in my throat distracts me from the unfamiliar feeling in my chest. Am I jealous?