“I’ll drive you back. You wanna come?” Cassius turned to Winter, and she jumped to her feet.
“Yes, please. Can we stop at the shop on the way back? I’ve got a craving for Doritos, and you ate the last bag.”
“Deal. As long as we can get chocolate.”
“Goes without saying. Anyone else want anything?” Me and Z both shook our heads, and they left the room. We fell into silence as Zayde started packing away all his tools and whatever other shit he’d brought in.
“Z.” I hadn’t even meant to speak, but his sharp gaze shot to mine at my tone. Fuck it. May as well say what was on my mind. “I saw you and Winter earlier, when you got back from meeting Creed. You looked…” I trailed off, shrugging helplessly. “I don’t know, comfortable with each other.”
He remained silent, reading me as well as he always did, and I continued, asking him the one question I needed to hear the answer to. “Do you trust her?”
When he finally replied, after a long silence, he spoke the words simply, with no hesitation. “You know what? Yeah. I do.”
“Why can’t I have that with her?” I scrubbed my hand across my face, frustrated.
“You feel too much for her. Mate, I know you. You’re not allowing yourself to trust her completely because it means opening yourself up to be hurt by her. You’re trying to protect yourself.”
Fuck. Am I? “I’ve fucked this up.”
“No. Get your shit together, and let her in.” He stood, holding the tray. “Just don’t leave it too late.” I saw an expression that could almost pass for sadness flicker in his eyes, gone before I could work out if it was really there or just my mind playing tricks on me. Then he was gone, and I was left alone with my thoughts.
Trust.
It went against everything I’d known. But then, the only people I did trust all trusted her. Maybe it was time to take that leap, and yeah, that was a scary as fuck thought, but the thought of Winter not being in my life? Or being with another man? Those were thoughts I wasn’t even willing to entertain.
Time to man the fuck up and put myself on the line for my girl.
TEN
My first day back at university, and I was itching for some normality. I’d managed to keep up with everything I’d missed, thanks to my lecturers sending me notes and assignments. In actual fact, we were so close to the end of the semester that the workload had eased right off. I only had one week left, and I’d be done until January.
After my morning lecture, I headed to the library, then met Cassius and Kinslee to get lunch.
As we entered the cafeteria, a hush descended on the room. People stopped talking. Literally stopped mid-conversation and turned to stare at me.
What the fuck?
Then the whispers started, growing in volume until they were too loud to ignore.
“I heard she gave James Granville a blowjob in the library.”
“No, you’re wrong. She had a threesome with James and his cousin. You know, the TA?”
“Yeah, he’s hot. I’d have a threesome with them.”
“What’s so special about her, anyway?”
“Fucking slut, cheating on Caiden Cavendish.”
“Who would even cheat on him?”
&
nbsp; “I sucked his dick once. It was so big, I couldn’t fit it all in. Made my jaw ache.”
I gritted my teeth, straightening my spine.
Fuck them all and their rumours.