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I’m a connoisseur of fine tastes. Even the ones I can only imagine the taste of.

Victoria’s final response of the evening arrived shortly thereafter. Even if that disappointed him, the message itself did everything it needed to do. He became hopelessly addicted to thetaste he’d imagined, desperately hoping that the wait for Fiji—for the chances that Fiji would bring—wouldn’t be as painful as Victoria had said it might be.

May your imagination get as close to the taste of reality as it can. Have a good night, Liam.

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Best Outcome

As she’d implied, a week could feel far longer than it should. After an amazing Sunday spent with the women he loved, Liam’s final week of midterms awaited him. He only had three exams to worry about, and he hadn’t gotten so consumed in everything else as to forget to study. Between that, further chess and massage-related self-education, and plenty of time spent texting four beautiful women, he was plenty busy.

Yet, by Wednesday, after finishing his second-to-last midterm, the final one set for early afternoon on Friday, he found his patience whittled away to a fine point. Unfortunately, his mind used that point to stab him repetitively. How much time had gone by? Fifteen minutes?! That was it?! It was still Wednesday! Damnit!

It was like unfurling a new rug yet finding it was infinite, never running out of fabric. It just kept opening and opening, spilling more and more across the floor. A tongue that could keep unrolling itself for all eternity.

It made him a little testy, which Grant pointed out when Liam snapped at him over a simple matter—had a pair of his shorts ended up mixed with Liam’s in the dryer? Yes, the answer was, and sorry, his reply to his roommate was.

“It’s fine; midterms are stressful. We’re almost through it.”

“Yeah,” Liam said, forcing himself to nod. He wasn’t worried about his test results, even if it would have been sensible for him to worry a little. Those results needed to be good. If he was going to prove attractive enough to get Bellmore’s interest, he needed to do well—more than well. He had a few advantages in his pocket, including Victoria’s promise to speak on his behalf, but he didn’t come from a family of upper-echelon elites. He came from a family of… lower-echelon elites? Or was Avril in the upper echelon, and people like Anna and Trent were in the lower echelon?

Wherever his social standing fell, he knew he couldn’t heap a sudden mountain of financial burdens on his parents. Either he got enough of a scholarship to Bellmore to generally keep things about the same as they were in Perrymont, or he knew he couldn’t ask his parents to support the transfer.

Thursday lumbered into existence like a sloth yawning in the canopy. With absolutely nothing imperative for him to accomplish today, Liam found this day the hardest to survive. Fortunately, he, Grant, and some others decided to go out and enjoy themselves. Grant was heading home later today, as he’d finished his final midterm just a couple of hours ago.

Unfortunately, that left Liam alone in his dorm in the evening. Suffering, waiting, suffering, waiting—that was the gist of it. None of the shows he liked, even the ones with newepisodes, seemed appealing. He didn’t want to do or play anything, not even chess. He had the aid of the four women a hundred miles away but not thepreciseaid he wished for.

“Oh, you’re such a needy baby,” Avril laughed while they FaceTimed one another. “You’ll already be back with us this time tomorrow night. You can’t survive six more hours tonight without seeing my tits?”

“If you’re going to taunt me over it, I can call someone else,” Liam retorted dryly.

“Keep it together a little longer,” the woman wearing a deep blue sports bra said. “I’ll—”

Her attention snapped toward her left. Dismally, Liam knew why that must be.

“Hey, Anna, welcome back,” Avril said, fluttering her fingers toward the beautiful woman he couldn’t see. “Earlier than I thought. You and your mom decide not to have dessert?”

“No,” Liam heard from off-screen, though Avril soon tilted her phone’s camera so that he could see Anna as she entered the living room. “She had to go early. We’re going to have lunch on Saturday, and—” Anna started, noticing him on Avril’s screen. “Oh, hi, Liam.”

Her smile caused him to smile, even if it meant an end to what he’d been hoping for from Avril. Especially when Avril called Anna over, making space for her on the couch. In short order, he had two gorgeous sets of eyes to stare into, two beautiful mouths to see in motion, and two unfathomably attractive women to spend his evening with. Nevertheless, one part of him whined incessantly.

“Liam’s depressed,” Avril said to Anna. “He’s all alone in his dorm and can’t stand it one more minute.”

Before he could defend himself, he watched as Anna’s expression came together sympathetically. It almost made him feel bad for having complained, even though hehadn’tcomplained like Avril was saying, and it hadn’t been to Anna that he’d done it.

“Grant’s gone?” she asked.

“Yeah, he left earlier today. Avril’s just making it sound worse than it is. I’m… listless. A little bored.”

“A little lonely, too,” Avril chimed in.

He didn’t deny it, which caused Anna to give him the same reaction as before.

“I hope we can help a little,” Anna said.

That, of course, was the beginning of her—of him, too—falling into Avril’s trap. She really could just come up with them on the spot. Until a minute ago, she’d been thinking that it’d just be the two of them, Anna off enjoying her mother’s company for a while longer. Yet, quick as a blink, she’d already adapted. A master improvisational schemer. That was what she was. She should stick that on a business card and hand it to villains everywhere.

“Wecan absolutely help out our poor, poor Liam,” Avril said, nodding sagely. “He just needs some company, that’s all. From two beautiful, generous women. That’s all it takes. Liam doesn’t ask for much. He definitely hasn’t developed a taste for the finer things—and getting lots of it.”

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