"Fuck."Ezra yanked his phone out, fingers flying across the screen.His curse was soft but vicious as he found what he was looking for."Seventeen thousand likes.'Even players have hearts.Spotted: Yale's resident bad boy carrying his new conquest home.'"He turned the screen toward her, showing a series of dimly lit photos - his arms cradling her against his chest, her face pressed into his neck, his expression softer than she'd ever seen it.
"I'll handle it," Ashley said quickly."I'll tell everyone you were just being nice, that I was-"
"That you were what?"A new voice cut through the garden's quiet."Drunk?Desperate?Both?"
Ashley's blood ran cold.She turned to find Cole standing at the garden's entrance, face unreadable in the dappled morning light.He moved toward them with deliberate steps, each crunch of leaves under his shoes making her headache spike.
"You know," he continued, his voice carrying that dangerous calm she remembered from their confrontation in the lab, "when Marie showed me the post this morning, I actually laughed.The idea of Ezra Martinez playing knight in shining armor was too ridiculous."His eyes fixed on where Ezra still held his phone, a screen displaying the damning evidence."But here you are."
"Cole-" Ezra started, but Cole cut him off with a sharp laugh.
"I see the rumors are true."His voice carried across the garden, precise and cutting."Careful buddy, this one bites.Not necessarily in a bad way."The reference to their moment against the wall made heat rush to Ashley's cheeks.She'd only done that because he'd liked it, but she wasn't about to humiliate herself further by saying so.
Cole's gaze shifted to her, and something in his expression made her want to sink into the earth beneath her feet."And you.How easily you ditched us brothers and moved on to this manwhore."His laugh was sharp enough to cut glass."Your savior complex is off the charts.No wonder you're into behavioral psychology.Good luck with him.Just make sure to test for STDs every now and then."
"Hey man, not cool."Ezra's voice had lost its anger, replaced by something that sounded almost like defense.He shifted slightly, putting himself between her and Cole.
"Oh, sorry."Cole's smile was all teeth."Did I offend the lovebirds?My deepest apologies.But then again," he glanced at his own phone, "seventeen thousand people can't be wrong, can they?"
He turned on his heel, leaves crunching under his feet as he walked away, his dismissal more devastating than his anger.
"Well, shit."Ashley sank onto a nearby stone bench, dropping her head into her hands.
"Seems like your plan worked, sweetheart."Ezra's words came through clenched teeth."You're my girlfriend now."
"No."Ashley looked up at him, immediately regretting the movement as pain lanced through her temples."This is too toxic, even for me."
"Then fix it!"He stepped back, running a hand through his already messy hair.The morning light caught his overly expensive watch, throwing angry sparks."Because thanks to your drunk ass, those photos, and this lovely performance, nobody’s going to believe me when I say these rumors aren’t true."
He walked away, leaving her alone in the garden with a headache that somehow felt worse than before.The fountain's gentle trickling felt like mockery now, the dappled sunlight through leaves too bright for her aching eyes.
Her phone buzzed - another notification from Yale AfterHours.She didn't need to look to know it was probably a follow-up story about their morning "lovers' quarrel" in the garden.Everything she'd tried to fix had somehow gotten exponentially worse.Now, she was apparently dating the one person at Yale who might be more emotionally unavailable than Cole Westwood.
Perfect.
* * *
Sarah was waitingoutside her behavioral psychology class, phone in hand and murder in her eyes.
"What the actual fuck?"She thrust the screen in Ashley's face, showing yet another angle of last night's princess carry moment.Someone had even added a romantic filter."I leave you alone for twenty minutes, and you end up as Yale's newest power couple?"
"Can we not do this here?"Ashley glanced around at the students filtering past, some not even trying to hide their stares.Her hangover had evolved into a persistent throb behind her eyes that made every whispered comment feel like a physical blow.
Sarah grabbed her arm and dragged her to their usual study corner in the library's basement - a windowless nook between Ancient Philosophy and Medieval Literature where no one ever ventured.The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead as Sarah crossed her arms, waiting.
"It's not what it looks like," Ashley started.
"Really?Because it looks like you got wasted, made Ezra Martinez carry you home like some rom-com heroine, and now the entire campus thinks you've somehow tamed Yale's most notorious player."Sarah's voice dripped with sarcasm."Please, tell me how that's not exactly what it looks like."
Ashley slumped into a chair, letting her head fall onto the dusty table."I'm going to fix it."
"How exactly?Those photos are everywhere.Marie's already texting me about how you've 'moved on so fast.'"The air quotes were audible in Sarah's tone."And Cole-"
"I know what Cole thinks," Ashley cut her off, remembering his cruel smile in the garden."I was there for that delightful conversation."
"So what's the plan?"Sarah sat across from her, her anger softening into concern."Because being tied to Ezra Martinez, even just in rumors...that's not going to help anything."
"You think I don't know that?"Ashley lifted her head, wincing at the movement."He's Cole's best friend.He's probably slept with half the female population of Yale.He's..."She gestured vaguely."Ezra."
