“Brittany?” the girl asks.
Alex opens his mouth but I quickly add, “His girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” she says, her tone higher pitched.
“We broke up,” Alex grits out.
“Yeah, but that happens all the time, doesn’t it? I mean, you guys break up every other day, but we all know that means you’re still together.”
“That is not true,” he says, his shoulders tensing. For the briefest moment, he almost looks hurt, but it’s gone quickly. Maybe I’m imagining things. Probably the alcohol.
The girl watches him carefully.
“We broke up for good,” he says.
“Heard that one before.” I tip my beer back, taking a mouthful. “Anyway, have a good night.”
I head back over to Austen and Paul who are having a lively conversation about football. Itshould interest me, but my head is a mess. The only thing on my mind is Alex.
“Thanks, asshole,” Alex growls as he comes over, shoving me. It’s not aggressive, but not quite friendly either.
“Hey, no problem.”
He holds my gaze, and I swear it’s on the tip of his tongue to say something stupid—really fucking stupid. Like about what happened. I narrow my eyes, giving him a look that says he better keep his mouth shut or I’ll throw him over the edge of this rooftop bar he so badly wanted to come to. Thankfully, he walks away. One more day free of a murder charge. I’ll take that as a win.
I shove all my stuff into my bag, not caring what’s clean or dirty. I’ll deal with that once I’m back on campus. I do make sure all the stuff I need for the plane ride is in my backpack, though, like my tablet and my headphones. We take two cars to the airport, since we all can’t fit in one. I sleep the entire flight. When we touch down, we’re like a group of zombies walking off the plane and to the rideshare area. I sleep on the ride back to campus too. This weekend really wiped me out. I’m going to need a whole week to recover, which sucks because I haveclasses, practice, and a game. Meaning I don’t have time to catch up on sleep. It’s bad enough I’ve already missed my Monday classes this week. Still, I wouldn’t take back the weekend. Well, most of it. There aresomethings I’d have done differently—or not done at all. Nothing I can do about that now, though.
I keep worrying that Alex is going to betray me and tell someone, but I’ve known him a long damn time. He’s wild, but he’s not a shitty person. I truly think the guy would go to the grave with my secrets and that’s something I appreciate about him. If ever there was a guy to dothatwith, I’m glad it was him. Of course I’ll never tell him that. I don’t need his head getting any bigger than it already is.
Another thing that’s helping with the whole thing is that I don’t have to see him. He doesn’t go to college with us, and so he’s gone. After the wedding this upcoming Friday, I’ll never have to see Alex again. At least, not for a few years, anyway. Maybe when I go back home, I’ll run into him. But if he ends up playing hockey, he likely won’t be around. He’s tried out for a few teams over the last year, which I only know because Austen’s mentioned it, but so far he hasn’t made it anywhere. He’s good, though. I’ve watched him on the ice for years. As long as he keeps trying, he’ll make a team one of these days.
We disperse when the car drops us off on campus. Paul, Hudson, and Andre all head their way, while Trey and I head into our building and up to our room. I hated the idea of sharing a room with someone when coming here, but I didn’t have much of a choice. The commute home is too far and living off campus is too expensive. Thankfully, Trey is cool as shit. And though he can be a bit of a party animal, as we all are, he gives me my space when I need it. Which I admit, is pretty often. As much as I like to party, I like my peace and quiet too.
“I’m fucking beat,” he says dropping his bags beside the closet before falling onto the bed.
“Same,” I groan, dropping onto my own bed and throwing my arm over my face. “You have class tomorrow?”
“Yeah, but if I feel like this in the morning, I’m not going.”
“You wanna order some food?”
“Hell yeah.”
He orders the pizza and I send him my share of money, before gathering my things to go take a shower at the community bathrooms. Only the fancy rooms get the bathrooms in their rooms. I don’t mind using the community ones; they’re always clean and not super busy.
By the time I return, feeling a little better, Trey has eaten his half of the pizza and is lying in bed, scrolling on his phone.
I drop into the desk chair, flip open the box, and eat my half as I look through my class syllabus and figure out when I’ll have time to make up the work I missed. Not finishing school isn’t an option. This is my one and only shot to get the hell away from this place and do better for myself. I can’t end up trapped like my mother—or worse, like my father.
When I finish my pizza, I toss the box by the trash, and drop into bed. Trey gets up with a huff.
“Party at the frat house. You coming?”
I hold his gaze for a moment. “You kidding?”
“No way. I’m leaving now.”
“Only place I’m going is to sleep.”
