Hoping he doesn’t notice the way I freeze, I twist the cap off my drink. “Sure. Why?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs and finally enters the room. “You’ve just been distracted all day. Emory said you were coming to play Madden with us after dinner, but you never showed.”
“Ah, right. Sorry about that.” I peel the banana and take a bite, talking around my mouthful. “I just forgot I had some PT scheduled.”
His eyes shift to my shoulder. “You worried about making captain?”
I scoff. “Against Adams? Fuck no. That shit’s in the bag.”
My father’s donated so much money for the new natatorium that there’s no way they pass me up. Is she a good swimmer? Sure, I guess. For a chick, at least. But Adams doesn’t have the leadership qualities needed to take us to state. The team needs someone who understands how important it is to win.
Against my will, my mind flashes back to the memory of her underneath me, all soft curves and hard edges. That soft, eager mouth. That hot, slick tongue. The way she panted through her nose against my cheek. How her body responded to me, surging up into the kiss.
Shit shit shit.
I grab the drink and down half of it so fast, I nearly choke.
Feeling half-crazed, I clumsily offer, “Let me shower and I’ll come down and kick your asses, okay?”
Xavier rolls his eyes and starts for the door.
But before he leaves, I give in to the impulse to call, “Hey, wait.”
He looks back at me. “What?”
I glance around like a paranoid lunatic, as if someone could be listening. “So, like.” I wet my lips and keep my voice low. “That night. You know, at the party…”
Xavier’s eyebrows hike up his forehead, and then he turns, easing my door shut. None of us talk about that night. Ever. No one. The board, the headmaster, our parents—they made it clear what would happen if we did, but I just...
I need to know.
“Why did you invite Sky to the party?” I ask.
Xavier’s expression is cautious, wary. I don’t blame him. He’s my best friend. I shouldn’t be digging it up, it’s not good for anyone. But I know if I don’t ask, the question will just keep bouncing around inside my head until it drives me batshit.
I genuinely want to know. “Like, for real. The truth.”
Xavier crosses his arms and looks away. “I thought she was hot. Funny. Kind of naïve, easy to get in bed. You know?” He looks embarrassed to admit it, which is enough to make me know it’s the truth. “Why?”
I chew my lip, thinking. “So how did she go from being your date to being in that room… doing that?”
“We had a fight,” he admits. The wariness is back, his jaw tense. “She wanted us to leave the party, go do something else. But I wanted to hang out with you guys for a while. I…” He pauses, dropping his gaze.
“You what?”
He shrugs. “I didn’t want it to look like I was that into her. Because.... well, you know…”
I guess, “Because she’s an Adams.”
Xavier’s eyes narrow. The name is like a slur. “Yeah, because of that. I knew how you and the other guys felt about her. It just—” He makes a sharp gesture. “—escalated, probably from the booze. She got mad and started flirting with some dopey Northridge kid, which just pissed me off, so I called her a slut. She said, ‘If you think I’m a slut, I guess you don’t care what I do with any of these guys.’” His expression turns sour. “I guess I just assumed she was going to hook up with the Northridge kid. But turns out she was in that room, doing…well, you know.”
He also glances around like someone may hear us. I get it.
I shouldn’t need to say it, but I do. “You know I didn’t know what was going on in there that night, right?”
He nods. “Yeah, I know.”
Gwendolyn didn’t.