“Guilty as charged.”
“So we’re all in agreement?” I said.
Jace held out his fist. Cam and I both bumped it with our own fists.
“The Fellowship of the Criminology Professor,” Cam said.
“We don’t need some big official title for it,” Jace replied.
“It’s another Lord of the Rings reference,” I explained.
Jace rolled his eyes. “You two are killing me. For fuck’s sake.”
We spent the rest of the day at the library together, then got a late dinner at the school cafeteria before heading to our respective homes.
And after making the pact with Jace and Cam, my mind was at peace about everything with Lila.
Normally, I wouldn’t be able to sleep the night before exam week began. But I felt more prepared than I ever did when I was a student athlete the first time I gave college a try.
My first exam was Monday afternoon, and I crushed it. My first instinct was to see if Lila wanted to hang out, but I stopped myself.
We couldn’t do that. We were supposed to be keeping our distance.
Even though it made sense for us all to lay low until the semester ended, it was difficult not to text Lila. She had become such a big part of my life that I instinctively wanted to text her about my anxiety for the final exams. I wished I could leave campus and go to her house for the night. Not to have sex, just to cuddle and fall asleep with her curled against me.
It had been easy keeping our distance the previous week when the blackmail was hanging over everything we did. But now that was over, it felt like we should have been allowed to go back to normal. Staying away was tortuous.
It was probably for the best, though. It forced me to study.
My next two exams were on Wednesday, followed by Criminology 101 on Friday afternoon. The first half of the final was multiple choice, but the second half was essay format. We were given four hours to complete the exam, and I used up about three hours and fifty-five minutes of it.
Lila gave me a hopeful smile as I left class.
Even though I was well-prepared, and even though IthoughtI did well, I was a nervous ball of energy while waiting for the grades to be posted online. I wanted to text Lila about it, to tease her until she gave me a hint about my grade, but I knew she was swamped since she had to actually grade the papers.
That night, while I was driving to the bar, my sister called me. “How’d exams go?”
“Too early to tell,” I replied. “I’ll have them all back by Sunday.”
“But you should have an idea about how they went. Did you do well? Did you blow it?”
“I think I did well,” I said cautiously.
My sister scoffed on the other end. “That means you aced them all. Trust me, I know you, Brock.”
“From your lips to my professors’ ears.” I cleared my throat. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to tell you, Kerry.”
“Uh oh. I don’t like the sound of that.”
I pulled into the parking lot behind the bar and turned off the engine, but I didn’t leave. This was something I had wanted to tell Kerry for a long time. We didn’t keep secrets from each other, not since Mom had died, and this had been weighing on me all semester.
“I’ve been seeing someone,” I said. “And it’s getting pretty serious.”
“BROCK ALLEN RADLEY!” Kerry squealed. “You’ve been holding out on me! How long have you two been together? What’s she look like? What’s her chest situation like? You’ve always been an ass man, but youdiddate Courtney Perkins in middle school, and she had some secret biggins underneath her sweater.”
“One question at a time,” I complained. “We’ve been hooking up since February. She’s gorgeous, Kerry. Beautiful in a way that makes it difficult to breathe. And I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
