Page 1 of Toxic

SKYE

"I just need a good fuck."

I dropped the line while lying sprawled out on my bed, arms folded behind my head. Alvin tore his eyes away from whatever he was studying on his laptop and glanced at me with a bit of sympathy. My other roommate, Archer, didn’t even flinch, still buried in his phone.

"That bad already? It's only the start of the semester," Alvin muttered.

"So what? I broke up with Martin four months ago, and since then, I haven't felt like getting into any flings," I shot back.

He gave me a look, then shrugged. "I get it. It’s tough finding time to date with all the shit in our major. Just a crazy-ass workload. So—" he cleared his throat, "I had to make some compromises."

There was a moment of silence. Archer still didn’t say a word, ignoring our conversation like he usually did. But Alvin seemed ready to talk, even though I wasn't sure if I wanted to dig into what he meant. His sex life never overly interested me, but for some reason, I decided to ask, "Back in high school, you weren’t much of a… dater. ‘Education over ejaculations’, you always said. Did something change?"

Chuckling, he stretched out his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"No fucking way, you know my priorities. But I still need to fuck; I just don’t do long-terms. It’s too much of a time-suck. Freshman year, I was drowning in work—sometimes didn’t even have time to buy groceries. I almost lost my scholarship! So, dating went out the window," he admitted.

I watched him for a sec; he seemed a little embarrassed, like he thought I’d judge him. He glanced at me and scratched his chin. I’ve always been more into long-term relationships, and Alvin knew that. Maybe that’s why he never talked much about his sex life before.

"What's up, Alvin? You got something to tell me?" I pressed.

He snorted lightly and looked out the window, like he wasn’t sure if he could trust me. That’s when Archer finally looked up and eyed him.

"You can’t be serious, Alvin. You really gonna tell him about this shit?"

Alvin rolled his eyes and bit his lip. I was even more curious now, so I sat down on his bed and gave him a look. He grimaced and avoided my gaze.

"C’mon! Spit it out already, you’ve got my attention, fucker," I demanded.

Alvin cursed under his breath, then muttered, "This is a secret, and it's really risky. If I tell you, and you spill, it could fuck things up for like twenty people."

My jaw dropped. Archer just snorted and went back to his phone.

"The fuck? What did you get yourself into?"

Grunting and snorting unhappily, Alvin made a face, then he sat up straight, giving me an annoyed look. "At the beginning of senior year, a bunch of us realized this major is a bitch, and it’s almost impossible to have a love life. So, we came up with something quick and practical."

"You just realized it at the beginning of senior year? Well, it took you some time."

He pouted. "Before, we all tried and tried… but we finally gave up!"

Alvin and I have known each other since high school. We weren’t best friends or anything, but we hung out in the same group because we were both into programming. After high school, I ended up going to a different college that was closer to my family’s place. But then, at the beginning of last semester, my boyfriend, Martin, broke up with me, and I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t keep going to classes with him every day while he was already with his new guy.

In a desperate move, I decided to transfer to another college in the middle of my senior year without telling anyone. I didn’t know any students here except Alvin and Gabriel Nolan—my second cousin. I found out that transferring from one college to another for the senior year was nearly impossible—that’s just how their rules were—so I needed a little miracle. Luckily, Finn Delgado, who was my brother Winter’s ex, worked here as a professor, and he helped me pull off that miracle.

Then Alvin offered me a free spot in his three-person dorm room on campus. Since Archer and Gabriel were also friends, I didn’t feel like I was among strangers—and I needed to be around familiar people, hoping it would lift my mood—and… it actually did.

The second semester started two weeks ago, and I’d been slowly getting back to normal. Alvin still irritated me sometimes—he’d gotten even more full of himself since high school—but overall, I didn’t regret the decision.

"Can't you just tell me? I'll keep my mouth shut," I said, giving him a questioning look.

Alvin looked at me cautiously. "You gotta swear on everything that you won't say a word."

I leaned back against the wall, settling onto his bed. "You know me, Alvin. I'm not about to go looking for trouble."

Alvin sighed, got up from his chair, and sat on the other edge of the bed. He lowered his voice, "Me and a few other students decided to pay for sex."

"Wow, what a bombshell!" I rolled my eyes in irritation. "What’s so dangerous about that? Lots of students hire escorts, especially the ones with money. I doubt you’d get kicked out for that. You’re all adults, so why all the secrecy?"

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