“Not exactly. I didn’t know JU had a program, that’s all,” Rafferty said.
Tundra chuckled. “Bet you’re more motivated than Jackie for her to apply there.”
Rafferty turned as though he were checking his blindspot. It struck me that he was probably hiding his disgruntled reaction to Tundra’s razzing.
“It’s not like the brothers will give him much free time. Or have you stopped running prospects ragged?”
Beast laughed. “You're right. He couldn’t be so lucky.”
Rafferty pulled into the parking lot for a large shopping center, and parked in front of McAllister’s.
By the time I was half way through with my food, Beast crumpled up his sandwich wrapper. When I glanced his way, his concerned expression made me brace.
“When your roomie was working for the auto parts place, did she ever talk about someone giving her a hard time?” Beast asked.
I thought back, then frowned. “No. She talked about them being misogynistic, but that goes with that territory.”
Tundra picked up a potato chip and pointed it at me. “Anybody ever corner her outside your gym? You two were workout buddies, right?”
I nodded. “We were, but she was far more committed to gym life than I was.”
“What do you mean?” Rafferty asked.
“She’d go twice a day some weeks. It depended on which classes were on offer. So, if someone confronted her in the parking lot or something when she went alone, she never told me.”
We lapsed into silence.
I caught Beast’s attention. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Should I be on the look-out for someone who was giving her a hard time?”
Beast sighed. “No. It happened when she first met Brantley.”
“It’s how they met, to hear him tell it,” Tundra said.
Rafferty looked at Tundra. “You don’t believe him?”
Tundra shrugged. “Like I told Alexandra, I don’t trust anyone when drugs enter the picture.”
“I don’t think Brantley was lying about that. Ines said she met him outside the gym one night. I never really asked more than that because it was a while before I met him.”
Beast sipped his drink and put it down. “It’s good you’re coming back home. You probably don’t have anything to worry about, but giving this shit a week to die down doesn’t hurt.”
Tundra glanced at his watch. “We gotta get you back if you’re gonna make it to your study group.”
The following afternoon, I opened the door to my apartment, and saw Rafferty in the kitchen.
“Did your finals go well?” Rafferty asked.
“They’re done. At this point that’s all I care about. I’m starving,” I said, while setting my backpack on the couch.
He grinned. “I thought you might be hungry when you got back, so I took the rest of the mochi out a few minutes ago.”
I hurried into the kitchen. “You’re the best!”
Rafferty held the plate out to me. I grabbed a mochi piece, popped it in my mouth, and gave a small moan.
Rafferty stared at me like I was cute. “You aren’t going to like this idea.”
I swallowed the ice cream. “If you know I’m not going to like this, why not come up with a different idea?”
