Page 13 of Stay

“That’s fine. I’ll work from home and hire staff in a couple of months. Right now, I’m focusing on networking and getting my foot in the door with all the right people. I’d like to hit the ground running once I have this space up and in good shape.”

He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bouncing. “How booked are you already?”

“Well…” I hate to admit this. “Not very. I’ve missed the window for holiday parties and weddings. Those would have been booked out months ago. I haven’t had a chance to advertise heavily yet, because all my savings is going into this place.” I run my hand along the dingy wall. “But my website’s all good and I’ve got a ton of appointments set up to introduce myself to bridal shops, florists, and all that jazz. Hopefully, I’ll hit spring wedding season with a bang.”

“Solid plan.”

“I have a lot of goals to reach.”

“Some things don’t change.”

Is that a compliment or an insult? Before I can find out, Cole walks away.

Chapter 5

Cole

I’m fucked.

Haley and I kept things professional between us for the rest of the site visit, which gave me a chance to build my walls up. Being back in Haley’s orbit is terrifying. It’s crazy how she can turn her feelings on and off so fast. Her lust, too. I once loved that about her because we could fuck around all over campus, and she’d act like I hadn’t just bent her in half and railed her in the laundry room fifteen minutes before ethics class.

Now I hate it.

I’m not good at shoving my emotions into a box. I feel everything and it all shows in my expressions, my voice, my body language. I’m a positive, upbeat guy, so it’s usually not a problem. But when I hurt? Fuuuuck, I can’t hide it at all.

The one time I tried nearly killed me. It was the day Haley left college. The day I heard her say, “I’m better off with a clean break. There’s no sense in pretending what we have is going to go anywhere beyond this campus.”

Sometimes I trick myself into thinking she was right that day. Everything we had was pretend. Yeah, people knew we were hooking up, but that’s all we did. And studied together. Ate together. Slept together. Watched movies and partied together. Confided in each other.

She became my best friend. The love of my life. The woman I thought was my endgame. But we never put a label on what we were, and I never told her how I really felt. Haley wasn’t in college to find a man, and honestly, I wasn’t ready to wife up.

Our situation was perfect for us, and it all started with a game of flip cup at the beginning of junior year…

“Ohhh Mr. Hotshot thinks he can take on this?” Haley drags her hand down her body. Her tits spill out of her tank top while the beer sloshes out of her cup. “You don’t stand a chance, buddy.”

“Shots fired!” my boy Jared yells. “Get him, girl!”

Leaning across the table, I flash a huge flirtatious smile. “Baby, these fingers are fucking magic.”

Haley’s head tips back as she laughs. Standing on the opposite side of the table, she makes me want to climb right over it to kiss her. She’s sexy as hell. We share a few classes together and it’s hard to not get distracted by her. She wears this perfume that makes my dick immediately hard every time she walks by me.

“Game. On. Buster.”

“Cole?” Jared cocks his brow. “You down for a one-v-one with this spicy girl?”

I drag my gaze down her body, making it very obvious that I like that idea. “Definitely.”

“What’s the winner get?” Haley asks, while Jared pours beer into the lineup of solo cups.

“Whatever they want from the loser.”

She flashes me a sexy smile. “Perfect.”

Jared rubs his hands together and gets the crowd pumped up. “Ready. Set. Go!”

I beat Haley before she’s able to flip her second cup. Cheers roar in my ears as I saunter over with a big told-you-so smile. “Accept defeat?”

“Never.” She keeps trying to flip the cup and failing. There are three more beer-filled cups waiting for her to flip after this one. She didn’t stand a chance against me.

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