“We’ve been calling you.”
“I know. I was… busy.”
“Busy? Dipping your cock in Marissa again?” he asks, a smirk appearing on his lips. “I didn’t think you were one for the hussy cheerleaders.”
“Maybe last night was an exception,” I mutter, stalking toward my room. “How do you know, anyway?”
“How do I know?” he asks, his eyes widening as if I can’t possibly be asking that question.
“Marissa’s been bragging about snagging the most eligible bachelor on the team all over social media. Everyone at Sterling Prep knows she’s already been through the team at least once, and you were the only one left.”
“Fucking loud-mouthed bitch.” I continue forward, swinging my door open and marching inside.
“You enjoyed it then?”
“Do yourself a favor, Con. Keep it in your pants when she’s around. Not fucking worth the energy of unzipping your pants.”
His laughter rings out long after I slam the door in his face.
“Nice talking to you too, bro,” he calls, but I’m done with him. I’m done with people in general.
Stripping down to my boxers, I crawl into my bed and almost instantly fall asleep.
“Fucking hell, he is alive. Look,” Ace mocks on Sunday night when I invite myself into his pool house.
“Fuck off.”
“Jeez, Marissa must have worked you over good and proper to have you sleep away the weekend.”
“Can you stop talking about fucking Marissa? She’s no one. Not even worth the effort of thinking about.”
“Jesus, what crawled up your ass and died?”
“Nothing. I’m just not in the mood.”
“You spoken to James?” Ace asks while Remi stares at me as if she can see more than I’m allowing her to.
“No, why would I have spoken to that lying cunt?”
Ace’s eyes widen in shock. “He just wants to talk to you, try to clear the air.”
“The air’s fucking clear as far as I can see. He’s a liar, and I want nothing to do with him.”
“Cole…”
“No, don’t Cole me. I have nothing to say to him.” He’s the reason I am the way I am, he’s the reason I saw the things I did, experienced the things I did. All I’ve got to do is get through the next few months, then I’m fucking out of here and away from him and the money he tries to buy us over with.
“Have you spoken to Hadley?” Remi asks, her soft voice immediately changing the atmosphere in the room.
“What? No. Why would I have spoken to her? What the fuck is this, twenty questions? I’ve been in my room all weekend. I haven’t seen or spoken to anyone.”
Okay, so it’s not entirely true, but like fuck am I telling them that.
Chapter Thirteen
Hadley
I stare at the message, unblinking and paralyzed.