I watched him carefully as I stood up. “Yeah, I’m going to use the bathroom and then I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
His eyes pinged my body before looking away. “Okay cool.” Turning, he headed toward the kitchen.
I shook my head as I went to wash my hands in the bathroom. It was going to be awkward if I didn’t address the situation head on. With my scholarship in jeopardy, I couldn’t afford additional housing issues on top of that. I looked at myself in the mirror and it was so obvious I’d just gotten off. My face was flushed, my hair was a mess, and my nipples were still hard.
We’re going to have to talk about it. There’s no getting around it.
I went to the office to grab my matching satin robe and tied it so that my protruding nipples weren’t so obvious.
“That smells good,” I commented as I sat on the couch.
He busied himself by putting pizza on a plate. “Yeah it does.”
I grabbed a slice for myself and he turned the volume up on the TV. We ate in silence for a few minutes. He barely looked at me.
After I finished eating the first slice, I grabbed a second. I looked over at him and he seemed deep in thought.
It’s been ten minutes. This is ridiculous. I just need to apologize for getting off in his bed and then we can move on.
I closed my eyes and shook my head at the awkward absurdity of it all. I stared at his profile for a second, bracing myself to address the elephant in the room.
“How was your meeting?” I asked.
“It was cool.” He sat back and finally looked me in the eye. “We were given the practice schedule and we start October 15th. They want us to start conditioning with workouts at six o’clock in the morning and then we’ll have practice at six o’clock that night. They gave us the breakdown of our workouts and it’s crazy.” He shook his head. “I’m glad I don’t have many classes left before graduation. Even with the practices and workouts, it’s not going to be as bad as last year.”
I swallowed the food in my mouth and took a sip of water. “Yeah, you were exhausted last year. I’m glad it’s not going to be as tough.”
“Especially for the spring semester.”
I laughed. “I don’t know how you arranged it so that you only have easy classes in the spring, but I salute you.” I lifted my bottle.
With a chuckle, he tapped his bottle against mine. “If my mom hadn’t made me take those dual enrollment classes, I wouldn’t have been able to set up my senior year like this. So”—he lifted his bottle in the air— “to my mom.”
“To Mrs. Williams!” I cheered, lifting my bottle as well. “My mom away from home.”
“Speaking of moms, have you talked to yours?”
I shook my head. “Not since I told her about Carter. She said she wants to come to the funeral next week.” I used a napkin to wipe my hands and then pulled my legs up on the couch. “I haven’t told her about the other stuff yet. I don’t want her to worry.”
He gave me a look. “She’s going to worry regardless. You’re going to have to tell her something. You don’t want her to find out some other way.”
“I know. I’m just…” I sighed, letting my head fall back. “I don’t even know what to say at this point.” I felt the muscles in my back start to tense up. “Things keep going from bad to worse.”
“Oh, shit.” He turned his whole body toward me, resting his arm on the back of the couch. “How was your meeting with the coach?”
I closed my eyes. I didn’t open them until I felt his hand on my head.
“What’s up?” he asked, scratching my scalp.
I turned my head until his hand was cradling it. Staring at him, I didn’t even know where to begin so I exhaled loudly.
“Coach Ainsley said it doesn’t matter what role I played in the whole thing. Since the whole team was there, the whole team is suspended. And if the administration says our season is done, I lose my scholarship.”
Jay’s mouth fell open and his fingers stilled in my hair. “What does that mean for school?”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “But she made a point to say that the suspension was the least of my concerns because Carter’s dead and Trevor’s boat was destruction of property—which is a felony since it was two hundred thousand dollars.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait…” His face twisted in confusion. “You didn’t have anything to do with Carter or the boat so why was she talking to you about felonies?”
I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. “I guess because everyone lawyered up and Dakota’s bitch ass is trying to throw me under the bus.”
“You have an alibi that proves you weren’t anywhere near anything that was stolen or on fire. Once the police follow up with Aiden—”
“They already did,” I interrupted. “His lawyer advised him not to incriminate himself by saying he was even at the party.”
“People saw him at the party though. He can’t just act like he wasn’t there.”
My shoulders started feeling stiff. “Apparently rich kids can do whatever they want.”
Jay’s jaw clenched. “So, what does that mean for you?”
“That means that Aiden is going to consult with his lawyer and then they’ll make a decision about validating my alibi.”
He moved his hand and grabbed his bottle. He finished the water and then got up. When he returned a couple minutes later, he had a rum and Coke in a tumbler. It wasn’t by a huge margin, but I noticed that he was
