Page 133 of His Reckless Freshman

I’m absolutely spent after practice today. All I want to do is lie on my bed with Jolie nestled beside me. She can tell me about her day, and I can drift off to sleep holding her.

But that’s not going to happen, because I have an assignment to get through.

I text Jolie, telling her I’m not free until after eight, because I have to dedicate a couple of hours to this thing.

She sends me back a thumbs-up emoji, which is a weird response for her, but I don’t really have time to think about it.

I eat while I work, trying to be efficient with my time, and end up working for two hours straight. By the time eight rolls around, I’ve broken the back of this essay and am feeling good enough to set it aside for the night.

Hopefully now I can get myself a little quality time with my girl.

I’m just picking up my phone to text her that I’m free when Darian calls from downstairs.

“Benny Boy, your girl’s here!”

“Send her up!” I shout back, stoked that Jolie took the initiative to come on over.

Opening my door, I step into the hallway and open my mouth to welcome her, but my sweet greeting quickly dies when I see her face.

“What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head. It’s obvious she’s been crying, but there’s nothing fragile about her expression right now. If anything, she looks pissed off.

“I need your help,” she clips. “I’ve got to figure something out, and I need to talk to someone about it.”

“Okay.” I rest my hand on her lower back. She kind of flinches at my touch, and my worry spikes as we step into my room.

I close the door gently behind me and prepare myself for whatever the hell this is.

For a second, I worry that she’s about to dump me, and the thought only grows when she starts by saying, “You’re not going to like this, but I need you to hear me all the way through and then help me figure out what to do.”

I nod because I can’t find my voice right now.

Crossing my arms, I stay by the door while she paces from my bed to my closet.

“So, you know that rumor I told you about last week? Turns out it’s true, and I know this because I couldn’t just drop it. I needed to find out more. And I know you said I shouldn’t, but it was eating at me, Ben. It was eating at me!” She taps her stomach, and this look of panic washes over her before she manages to catch it and hide it behind this determined mask that, in all honesty, is kind of scaring me. “I went back to those girls to ask for more information, and they told me their friend of a friend had left. Just packed up and split, and that got me thinking about my old roommate who just suddenly left, so I texted her to ask about it, and she actually called me back.” Jolie sucks in a breath, then releases it in a rush, blinking rapidly as she rests her hand on her forehead and talks in fast-forward. “And she confirmed it. The same thing happened to her. He asked her out, acted sweet as pie, and then he recorded them having sex, and then he used the threat of posting that footage online to coerce her into doing things at the paper that she really didn’t want to do!”

“What? At the paper?” My mind starts whirring and then veers into an ugly place that I don’t want to go.

Jolie works at the paper.

My gut starts to vibrate with dread.

“She was trying to do exactly what I’m trying to do. She wanted to be a journalist just like me, and he used that to his advantage. He wooed her and then used her…” Her words trail off, her jaw starting to tremble as she rasps, “Just like he used me.”

My mouth flatlines, this cold fury sweeping through me as I absorb what she just said.

Used her?

As in slept with her and recorded her and⁠—

What the actual fuck!

Is it that Kieran shithead? I am going to end that little fucker!

My insides are storming, but I keep the emotion on lockdown, not wanting to unleash this fury raging through me.

Jolie doesn’t need that shit right now. She needs supporting, protecting.