Page 58 of Pucking Good Girl

“They kicked me out of Zeta Theta Beta,” her voice is barely above a whisper.

Like I thought, “they” means Genevieve. “Why? Can you tell us a little more about what happened?”

Talia lowers her gaze, clearly embarrassed. “It was because of girl code. She accused me of stealing her boyfriend and then of cheating on you with Becks. She saw me and Becks kissing last week when he took me home after our date. I’m sorry for barging in here in the middle of the night and waking you, but I had nowhere to go, and I was so cold. If I could stay here tonight, I’ll think about another option for tomorrow, I promise.”

I’m about to tell her that she can stay here, but Becks beats me to it.

“Pretty girl, you can stay with me and Mack. Right, brother?”

I nod. “Of course. And you shouldn’t have walked all the way here in the rain. We would have come to pick you up in a heartbeat.”

“My phone was dead,” she explains. “Are you sure it’s ok if I stay here? I would have gone to my parents’ but Tucker is taking the only spot they have on their couch and…”

“Pretty girl, we want you here,” Becks says, and for once in my life I could hug my brother. “You can stay as long as you want. But forgive me if I ask, where’s all your stuff?”

The answer makes me see red.

“Gen had all my things ready in trash bags and she had me escorted out of the house. She had called that meeting without notifying me. If Sam hadn’t texted me, I wouldn’t have even known what was happening. I think she was planning on having me expelled and throwing all my things out to the curb. My keycard was already inactive when I got there.”

“What the fuck?” I growl, rising to my full height from my perch on the edge of the tub. “Becks, stay with Talia please.”

“Where are you going?” She asks.

I lean down to brush my lips over her forehead. “To the Zeta House, where else? I’m going to fix this.”

Her eyes widen. “Macklin, please don’t. It’s not that easy. They voted on it. Gen turned all the sisters against me, and no one wants me there.”

“That’s exactly what I’m going to fix,” I seethe. “Gen and I were broken up way before we got together. I’m going to make sure they all remember that. And I’m going to set the record straight about you and Becks. They need to know that the only cheater in that house is their president.”

Talia looks paler again. “Are you going to tell them everything about us?”

I clench my fists at my sides, too furious to think clearly. “What we do is none of their business. But they need to know that you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Macklin, please wait. Let me get out of this tub. We need to talk about this.”

“Becks, get Talia a towel or a robe.” I instruct as I offer her my hand to help her out of the bathtub.

Once Talia is wrapped in one of the hotel-style robes provided by the complex, we settle on the couch.

I hate how worried she looks. “Baby,” I lace my fingers through hers. “What they did to you tonight isn’t fair. Please, let me fix this for you.”

Her eyes fill with tears again. Gen is lucky that I would never hit a woman. Right now her gender is the only thing that’s stopping me from teaching her a lesson.

“Macklin, think about this,” Talia urges me. “My sisters already think I’m a slut. Things would only get worse if they knew that we’re fake…”

My heart is beating so hard against my chest that I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire town could hear it.

I take her small hand in mine. I’m relieved that it’s warmer now, but I’m so nervous about what I’m about to say that it’s my turn to tremble. “Baby, there’s something I need you to know. When I offered you that deal, I didn’t mean it.”

She looks confused. “What are you talking about?”

I force the words out before I lose my nerve. “For me it was never fake. When I came to pick you up to go to breakfast the day after we kissed at the party, my original plan was to ask you to be my girlfriend. For real. But then I realized you liked him, and I was scared I would never get the chance to show you how good we could be together. So I came up with the fake dating deal.”

“Really?” Talia looks shocked, but not angry.

“Really. I’ve had a crush on you since the first time I saw you. At the beginning, it was just a little, harmless crush. I was with Gen, and I would never have acted on it. It’s not the way I’m wired. If I commit to something or someone, I give them everything. And Gen and I were caught in that vicious on and off cycle, so even when we were off, I didn’t think it was fair to start anything with you. Things changed this summer when I knew Gen and I were over for good.”

The look on her face is hard to decipher. “Why didn’t you say anything at training camp? I’m not judging you, Macklin, but you hooked up with pretty much every woman who even smiled at you; you never even looked at me.”