Page 132 of Out of Bounds

Third Season Recurring Character

I drove into Marrs campus with my phone in my hand, ringing for the eleventh call. When I’d started the drive, I didn’t think Zariah wouldn’t answer. What the hell else could I do? Every makeup store was closed. Roman Forest was just around the corner and I swung the car around, scanning the brick walls.

How hard is it to scale the side of a dorm?

"What?" Zariah grumbled through the phone.

"Goddamn, am I fucking glad to hear from you." I pulled the car up to the loading zone and slammed the door behind me.

"Ryan?" She yawned. "It’s almost two in the morning."

"This is an emergency."

"Where’s Kassie?"

"That’sthe emergency." I pushed through the front doors and groaned when I spotted who sat behind the receptionist’s desk.That same guy who hated my guts. Fuck. Nothing was going to be easy. I dropped my voice into the phone. "It’s a makeup emergency."

"What are you making up?"

"No. Makeup—the powders and liquids people put on their face. Just buzz me into the dorm!"

"She can’t just call you in,sir." The receptionist pressed his hands together and rested his chin over them. "It’s past midnight. She has to come downstairs."

I stared at him. "That has never been a rule."

"It is tonight."

I took a deep breath and held the phone up again. "Zariah, you have to come downstairs."

"What?Do I have to? Is Kassie with you?"

"No. She’s at UrgentCare."

"What?!"

My patience was gone. I had no idea how many more minutes I had while Zariah didn’t want to come downstairs and the receptionist openly despised me behind his glasses. I stared ahead at the elevator.

"I just ate Kassie’s pussy on my couch after we canceled a football obligation and when Cleo arrived to see what happened, we realized Kassie’s entire fucking neck is covered in hickeys. I need all the makeup she has to cover them up. Now.Zariah. Can youpleasebuzz meup?"

With a click, the phone call ended.

I stared down at it, speechless, and glanced back up at the receptionist.

"No resident approval, no going up.” He thumbed towards the phone. “You have two minutes before I call the police.”

"Can I just ask why you hate me?" I demanded.

"Your friend, the MarrsManwhore,disintegrated my friend group." He folded his arms over his chest. "He slept with three ofmy best friends, one of which was in a relationship with another good friend in the group, and when—"

The elevator door opened and Zariah poked her head out. "I’m so glad you and Kassie two are fucking. It was weird without you coming over all the time."

I breathed out a sigh of relief and left the receptionist behind. There wasn’t anything I could do to help out. Adam already fucked his friends. Nothing to be done now. Had to focus on the present and the present meant getting Kassie’s makeup.

"Why thehelldid you tell Kassie I didn’t want to fuck her?" I shoved my thumb into the button for their floor. "Zariah. I thought we were friends."

“I asked you.”

“You did not.”

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