Page 41 of Veil of Lies

Hopefully.

Maybe I needed to take a leaf out of Quinn’s book and try the ‘softly-softly’ approach. In the meantime, I had 230 pounds of drunk Brax to shove into bed. Fuck my life. The dude really needed to stop working out quite so religiously. Even I was struggling to lift his heavy ass and I was no string bean.

“Some help would be good!” I yelled in Quinn’s direction as Brax slumped against me like a sack of rocks. Whatever he’d been drinking had finally kicked in big time. I was amazed Stella had managed to get him this far. She was such a petite thing, barely any muscle on her. Even Svetlana, the conditioning coach for the boys’ football team, would have struggled to lift Brax. And she ate steroids for breakfast, no word of a lie. That woman was so scary my dick took a vacation every time she so much as blinked in my direction.

To my annoyance, Quinn was too busy cornering Stella in the kitchen. He completely ignored my plea for help. So I tried again, this time a bit louder.

“Yo, asshole, I need help here!”

He turned and scowled at me obnoxiously, presumably to let me know I was ruining his vibe with Stella. Not that he was getting anywhere. She had a ‘rabbit in the headlight’ expression all over her face and was probably about to do a runner.

“Not strong enough?” he taunted.

I dropped Brax to the floor. “How about you try lifting this fucker? Then we can see how you fare, eh?”

Quinn never could resist a challenge. He was lean but muscular and I knew he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to show off to Stella. Well, good luck to him. I hoped his medical insurance covered a slipped disc because he had that to look forward to in his near future.

Sure enough, as I grinned like an asshole, he struggled to lift Brax. I didn’t miss the way he strained at our friend’s weight, his biceps bulging. Stella winced when he dropped him again.

“You two should be working together,” she snapped. “Isn’t Brax supposed to be your friend?”

Yeah, she had a point. I huffed a bit and moved to help Quinn while praying Stella didn’t see it as an opportunity to cut and run. We managed to maneuver the bastard into his bedroom and on to his bed. He barely stirred. I drew the line at removing his jeans but I did place a glass of water on his bedside table, along with some Tylenol. The idiot would likely feel like shit in the morning.

“Will he be OK?” Stella asked from the doorway.

“Yeah, he does this a lot. He’ll snore all night and then wake up like an angry grizzly with a bee sting on its butt,” Quinn reassured her with a laugh.

Stella still looked concerned. “But what if he vomits and chokes on it? One of you should stay with him.”

“Hell no.” No way was I sharing a bed with that fucker.

“Sweetheart, trust us, he’ll be fine. We deal with this shit at least twice a week.” I threw an arm around her shoulder, ignoring Quinn’s glare. He was still pissed because I won our little bet.

“OK, if you say so. But make sure you check on him later!”

“I’ll be in bed later, it’s nearly 2 AM,” I reminded her. “With you, hopefully.”

She pulled away, her eyes narrowed. “I have to get back, I have an early morning lecture.”

“You can stay, it’s too late to be wandering around the campus. There could be bad people out there, anxious to steal your virtue,” I teased.

“People like you, you mean?” she muttered under her breath.

“Don’t be like that.” I pulled her close and pressed her back against the kitchen counter. Quinn was staring daggers at me from behind her back as he filled a glass with water. “It’s better if you stay. I’ll look after you.” There was a double meaning in there and I knew she heard it because her cheeks turned a delicious shade of magenta.

“It’s cool if you want to stay, Stella,” Quinn chimed in. “You can sleep in my room if you like. I don’t mind taking the sofa.”

“She’s not sleeping in your fucking room!” I growled and he smirked.

“Seriously, stop it guys. I’m going back to my room.”

I sighed. God, she was stubborn.

“OK, if you insist, but I’ll walk you there.”

“You’re not dressed,” she said with a pointed look down at my semi-nakedness before her eyes skittered away.

“I’ll pull some sneakers on. Don’t need to get dressed for a quick walk across campus. There won’t be anyone around this time of night.”

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