Page 88 of Learning Curve

I spot Kayla and Julia near the kitchen, making their way back to us with beers in their hands, and gesture to them to follow us. By the time we get past the dance floor, Dane is bouncing on his toes waiting for us. “Come on, come on, slowpokes. We’re gonna miss it if we don’t hurry up.”

Blake and I both roll our eyes but follow Dane down the hall to the back of the house where all the sorority sisters’ bedrooms line the hall. He opens the door and waves his hand, dramatically gesturing for us to walk inside. “After you.”

Blake goes first and I’m right behind him, but when he stops in his tracks, my face rams right into his T-shirt-covered back. My nose stings with the impact, and I rub at it as Blake tenses in front of me. “What the fuck?”

Curiosity makes me peer around him to see what’s going on.

Oh my God.

Nausea overwhelms me instantly, puke climbing my throat so fast I have to throw a hand over my mouth to prevent its escape.

“Oh, wait. Holy shit, Scottie. Isn’t that your mom?” Dane comments, his taunting tone making it obvious he’s getting actual enjoyment out of this sick and twisted situation.

“Wait. That’s Scottie’s mom?” Nadine joins in from the corner of the room, where she holds her phone toward my mom and one of the guys from Alpha Pi having sex in the pink-comforter-adorned bed. I recognize him immediately as one of the bandoleros from the Halloween party.

Blake turns and shuffles me, trying to push me out the door, but it’s too late. I’ve already seen more than enough.

“Get her out of here,” Blake orders Kayla and Julia, who’ve just arrived behind us.

“What’s going on?” Kayla asks, just as Julia gets an eyeful for herself, crying, “Oh my God!”

Thanks to our commotion, my mom finally realizes she has an audience and sits up in the bed, her chest exposed and her hair a tangled mess.

“Scottie?” she says when her bloodshot eyes lock with mine. With just a look at her, I can tell she’s shit-faced. After all, it’s her most familiar look.

So much for fucking sobriety, huh?

“I think Scottie is ready to talk to you now, Mrs. Bardeaux,” Dane comments snidely, his snakish charm so blunt, the only thing missing is a split tongue. Nadine continues filming and laughing from her spot in the corner, swinging the camera to me for a brief capture of my devastation.

The text messages, the torture, my mom somehow finding me at a random college party in the middle of my university—I’m surer than ever that Dane and Nadine are behind it all.

“Scottie, honeys,” my mom slurs as she literally climbs off the guy’s cock and starts searching for her clothes. She’s completely naked and too drunk to make any attempt to cover herself with a sheet, instead walking right toward me like we’re seeing each other at a sidewalk café somewhere. “I’m so happy you’re here. I miss you. I want to talk to you.”

“Aw, Scottie,” Nadine chimes in. “Your mom misses you so much that she came to Dickson and fucked a frat guy just for you.”

As gossip does what gossip does and starts to spread like wildfire, people flood in from the living room to get a look at my personal hell.

“Everybody get the fuck out of here!” Blake yells at the door, trying his hardest to manage the situation, but the nausea in my stomach becomes so intense that saliva floods my mouth, and I throw up, right there, all over the floor.

Nadine and Dane cackle like hyenas as I fight to standing again.

Dane forms a gun with his hand and points it straight at me, mouthing a single word of pure evil. “Bang.”

This isn’t some random guy I had a fling with or someone I hardly know. This is a guy I spent two years of my life with. A guy I thought was my first love.

I can’t pretend I’ve got it together anymore. The phenomenon is over.

This is my breaking point.

Finn

Gary drops us off right in front of the Delta Omega house on the way home from poker, where winter-break-happy students swarm every available part of the yard and front steps.

It’s a smart move by Ace, considering he would have had to stun-gun me to get out of our room had we gone back there first, but now that we’re here, I’m at least moderately okay with it.

The state of things with Scottie has gotten entirely out of hand, and after some self-reflection forced on me by the billionaires, it’d be so fucking pointless to leave things the way they are going into the new year. She was trying to help me and made a mistake. Fuck knows I’ve done a lot worse, and it’s time for the stubborn dick in me to let it all go.

A girl in a skimpy red dress runs down the stairs at the sight of Ace, barreling into his arms immediately, and my eyebrows draw together. Is there really a Scarlett? I thought Ace was bullshitting.

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