Page 27 of Raise 'Em Up

“Would you be mad if I said not right now?” I ask.

He gives me a soft smile. “No.” He shakes his head. “You’ve been through a lot. And if you want some time to forget about it, I understand. But, I’m here to listen whenever you're ready to talk.”

“You're amazing, you know that, right?” I smile and lean up onto my tip-toes to kiss him. “I’m glad I’m back. I missed you,” I tell him again.

“I missed you more.” He smirks against my lips, his hands falling to my ass.

“You're corny as hell.” I laugh. “But I love it.”

He kisses my nose, and I all but melt into a puddle at his feet. “So, the guys filled me in on everything with the Dean.”

I groan. “God, I can’t believe this has been my life.” I sigh and place my forehead against his chest.

He holds me and rubs my back. “I’m sorry any of that happened to you.” His voice is laced with anger. “It never should have. That man is a predator. I just hate that it took so much to finally get him fired. They should have done it a long time ago.”

“I’m just glad he’s gone. Now, we just have to get rid of his bitch of a daughter from the school.”

“At least she’s no longer on the cheer team. That should make your life a hell of a lot better.”

“Agreed.”

We head back to school, but when we get there, we don’t go to my dorm. “Ah, Trevor?” I blink over at him. “Babe, you're going the wrong way.”

He smiles, not looking at me. “No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. The dorm is that way.” I point over my shoulder.

“You don’t live in the dorms anymore.”

“What?!” My eyes widen. “What is going on?” I narrow my eyes at him.

“They will tell you,” he says as he brings the car to a stop.

Looking out the front window, I see that we’re at the Cheer house. Brows furrowing, my eyes drop to the front lawn, where all of my guys are waiting.

Once the car is in park, I’m out and over to them in seconds. “You all better tell me what's going on.”

“Well, hello to you too, Cherry.” Donny chuckles and steps forward to hug me, but I put out my hand to stop him.

“No. No one touches me until you tell me what's going on.”

“Relax, babe.” Mateo rolls his eyes. “What's going is that you live here now.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I blink a few times. I thought it would be a little bit before I was completely moved.

“You didn’t think that now that Missi is no longer living in the house that we weren’t going to move your fine ass in.” Donny grins.

“So, you took my things from my dorm and moved me in here without my help? I know you mentioned something about me moving in, but you did it all without me.”

“I told them it wasn’t a good idea,” Colt says. “I said we should involve you.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Mateo growls. “You’re so damn pussy whipped.”

Colton glares at Mateo, flipping him off.

“You're on the cheer team, you belong here. Also, if you want to keep Peaches, this is your best bet,” Lennox says.

“Yup. Every day living in the dorm was one day closer to someone finding out about her, and the school making you get rid of her, remember. But here, we’re allowed pets. Remember, Rylee, you’re doing it for Peaches.” Donny pouts.

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