Page 53 of Faking the Play

I led us to the edge of the dance floor and put my arms around her, my hands settling at the small of her back. She stretched her arms up, barely able to lace her fingers together at the back of my neck, but when she put her cheek on my chest, we couldn’t have fit together more perfectly. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and began to sway with me. We weren’t really dancing, not like the people around us, but as long as I got to hold her, I didn’t care how we looked.

We made it through two songs before something a little faster came on and I reluctantly eased back from her.

“I can take this one,” Ethan said as he came up beside me.

“Ethan!” Amelia threw her arms around him. “Look, Ry-Ry! Ethan’s gonna dance with us!”

I was so focused on the ridiculous nickname that it took me a second to realize what else she’d said.

Dance withus.

“Um, Lia, why don’t you go ahead and dance with Ethan? I’ll go wait with Logan.”

“Don’t be silly,” she said, grabbing my hand. “Why would I want to dance with one when I can dance with two?”

She turned to face Ethan as she wrapped my arm around her waist and held it there. With her back to my front, that firm ass of hers brushing against my crotch, I didn’t know how to get away without making a scene. And Ethan wasn’t being any help. He simply started moving in sync with her as if this was completely normal.

“C’mon, Ryan, please.” She looked up at me with those gorgeous eyes of hers and I knew I couldn’t say no.

“All right.” I sighed and found their rhythm, matching it as easily here as I had in the bedroom.

Me being awkward when I danced wasn’t because I didn’t know how to move. I just always felt out of step with whoever my partner was, and now I realized that maybe the problem wasn’tthat I didn’t like dancing. Maybe the problem was that I’d never had the right partner before.

Amelia reached out for Ethan, grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer. His hands settled on her hips and we were suddenly all three dancing together. This wasn’t just a couple guys dancing around a woman. We were very clearly dancingwithher.

And her hands were wandering.

She slid her palms over Ethan’s chest and up to his neck, then reached back to brush her hand against my side. It was all I could do not to lean down and press my lips to that sweet spot where her shoulder met her neck. On some level, I knew that we were being a little too touchy-feely in public, that there was a good chance we’d unintentionally gone public with our less-than-traditional relationship way before we’d even talked about it. But I couldn’t bring myself to pull away from her.

I needed her in a way I hadn’t needed anyone before, and the fact that I’d wanted her for so long just made everything I felt that much stronger.

So I let it go. Let her dance with us until she said she was thirsty and we went back to our table where Logan was waiting. After she finished her water, he took her onto the dance floor while Ethan and I took a break. It took two more songs before the pair returned to the table and Amelia announced that she was ready for bed.

I caught a few people giving us looks when they heard what she said, but a glare from me had them minding their business before Amelia noticed them. Putting an arm around her, I led the way out to our car, satisfied with Logan’s assessment that he’d sobered up enough to drive. We’d take her home with us, but only because I didn’t trust her roommate to take care of her if Amelia was hungover in the morning. And I wouldn’t even letmyself think about what could happen if Jason was at the dorm and Amelia came in this drunk.

No, she was ours and we’d take care of her. It was that simple.

Chapter twenty-nine

Amelia

Giving the evidence of Jason’s deceit to Jefferson Hardwicke had been strangely anticlimactic. I’d considered getting Dr. Isenberg involved, but then I thought about how he hadn’t stuck up for me when he was told to ask for my resignation and I decided to bypass the department altogether. I didn’t want it to look like I was trying to retaliate against Jason for his accusations. Going with Hardwicke meant I was also able to lodge a complaint against Jason for putting those photos on the internet. Only Logan had gone with me, since he was the one to talk to Jason’s other victims, but Ryan and Ethan had waited for us outside.

I was also feeling particularly grateful that in the two days since I’d handed everything over there hadn’t been much attention given to my behavior at the bar. I didn’t remember much, but I’d made the guys tell me everything and, based on what they said, I’d either finally gotten a lucky break, or they’d made it clear that anyone who posted anything about me on social media would have to deal with them. I hadn’t flat-out asked because I didn’t want to put them in the position ofdeciding whether or not to lie about it, but I’d made a point of telling them how much I appreciated all the support they’d given me.

And tonight, I intended to cook them dinner, both as a gesture of appreciation and as a way to show them that, while I might not be able to put my feelings for them into words yet, I cared very much about all three of them.

Almost to my dorm, I was in the middle of going through my list of ingredients when someone stepped in front of me, blocking out the sun. Some primal part of me must’ve registered his presence before I raised my eyes from my phone because by the time they reached Jason’s face, every muscle was already tense, adrenaline pouring into my system.

“You fucking bitch.” Color suffused his cheeks as he glared down at me.

I took an instinctive step back, needing to put a little more space between me and him, but I didn’t look away. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how hard my heart was pounding in my chest.

“I got fucking expelled!” He practically shouted the words, his hands curling into fists.

I pushed back the impulse to cheer. Hardwicke had told me that I most likely wouldn’t hear back about the cheating accusations, and I knew that proving anything about the pictures would be difficult. I hadn’t let myself hope for anything more than a black mark on his reputation, even for the cheating, because I had no idea how much he’d be able to talk himself out of it. Expulsion was more than I had dared to anticipate.

“What the fuck, Amelia?! How could you do that to me?”

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