Page 22 of Pin-up Girl

That was all Milo had to say. The manager nodded, slipping away quietly, and our new friends packed up their books and left without looking at any of us. Their pride was hurt and they—rightly—wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

With the other couch completely empty, Emmett moved his stuff to that one, laying his book on the table, then pulling a pen and notebook out of his backpack. He pushed a few dark strands of hair out of his eyes, flipping to a specific page in his textbook.

“I really hate chasers,” Emmett mumbled under his breath.

Almost afraid to see how our little Pin-up took in that display, I slowly took my seat, avoiding her altogether. This time when I sat down, I was at the far end of the couch Emmett had claimed.

“I don’t know whether to laugh, call you names, or hug you. You didn’t have to come to my rescue, you know. I don’t care what a couple of college students think. They can’t do anything to me.” She crossed her legs on the seat, her knee touching my thigh.

“For now, you can consider yourself the unofficial fourth member of the Alpha Delta Omega Kings. That little scene won’t be happening again. And wasn’t it you who was so adamant about avoiding this very situation, where people think you were our whore?” Milo used his logical voice, calmly inferring why she shouldn’t expect anything less in the future.

She sighed, like this was all a big production she’d rather avoid. “Look, I wasn’t wrong, was I? I knew the moment you took me out in public, this would happen. Even after we go our separate ways, girls are going to pick fights and start rumors, while the guys are going to think I’m an easy lay, doing everything they can to take a ride on the King’s castoff.”

Now I did look at her, because she wasn’t spiteful or bitter in her explanation, just resigned. I couldn’t stop the stab of guilt in my gut at hearing the truth in her words. That would happen. We’d go on our merry fucking way, manipulating our future to play out a certain way, while she’d essentially be alone, without protection. It didn’t sit well with me, or with the others by their grim expressions.

“Don’t give me those faces. I told you how it would be, you just had to witness it for yourself before it became real to you. If it makes you feel any better, since breakfast this morning, you three have started to grow on me like a bad fungus. You’re not nearly the walking STDs everyone says you are. Well, maybe Emmett is, but that’s neither here nor there.”

“Hey!” Emmett went from guilty to offended in the span of a heartbeat.

Milo inched forward on his seat, twisting around to have a clear view of us all. “We’ve been working on a plan that will allow you to go back to your life without any hard feelings, and I think it’s a good one. But Elise, you won’t have any backlash from this. I won’t allow it. Emmett and Jules won’t allow it. Even after you’re back at your place, if there’s a problem, bring it to us, and we’ll make it go away.”

She looked down to her open hands resting in her lap. When she lifted her lashes, her gaze was only for Milo. “Like you made last night’s problem go away?” Her words were so soft, I leaned forward to catch the ending.

She wasn’t talking about kidnapping her, she was talking about how we handled Fuckface in the alley. This was getting to be a dangerous conversation, one that definitely shouldn’t be held in the corner of a crowded college hangout spot. I opened my phone, quickly tapping out the message.

She watched me, probably curious about what I was doing. When I showed her the phone, the black letters were stark against the bright white of my notes app background.

Yes, exactly like that. No matter where you are, or when it happens. You have a problem, you let one of us know. And it will go AWAY.

I capped‘away’so she’d understand we wouldn’t let harm come to her from mere association with assholes like us. She gulped, glancing between me and the screen several times before falling back to her lap.

The fireplace crackled beside Emmett, the only noise in our corner of the room. There were tons of people, but after our unfortunate scene, everyone present gave us a healthy distance, and all the sound seemed to be outside, muted as if we were miles away.

I was dying to know what she was thinking. For the first time since last night, she really seemed shaken. The few times I thought I saw fear were nothing like this, even her fingers trembled.

She reached down and grabbed some books out of her bag, apparently done with this conversation and us. Unlike our rigid textbooks, she had a well-used paperback,One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. A little morbid, but whatever settled her nerves was fine with me.

The next couple of hours passed more comfortably than I had thought possible. We each dove into our own work, barely coming up for air until Elise’s stomach rumbled so loudly, the couch seemed to vibrate. By this point, she had her back pressed to Milo’s shoulder and her sock covered feet in my lap, having abandoned her clunky shoes a while ago. I doubt she even realized she moved from her original position. She was so engrossed in her book, she hadn’t paid a bit of attention to anything around us. Which was probably very lucky on our part. If she had noticed how everyone stared or walked by to get a better look at the girl between us, she might have freaked out again.

Emmett sat up, stretching his arms above his head. “Let’s go grab some food. We can’t let our girl lose her curves. She wouldn’t be a Pin-up anymore.” He smirked, but it seemed so genuine, I had to do a double take.

Expecting Elise to go off the handle, I tensed, ready to do what damage control I could. But she yawned and nodded her head.

“That sounds great. The hibachi place is calling my name, the little shrimps are amazing. How about the one with the best track record on catching those little suckers gets to have me in their room tonight?” She grinned.

Okay, so we were pretending our earlier discussion never happened. Sounded great to me.

There was zero time wasted as we packed up our stuff because we were all starving, having skipped lunch. On our way out, Elise led the way, on a mission to be first in line for hibachi when a random girl bumped shoulders with her.

“Oh! Hey, E! I haven’t seen you in forever. Community college was great, but isn’t this so much better? This is my second year at Wellington, and I’m loving it.” The girl was cute in a tiny sort of way, maybe five foot to Elise’s five foot seven. She chatted away, not noticing that Elise had company.

Feeling something strange settle over me, I stepped forward, placing my hand on the small of Elise’s back. This touch wasn’t anything like the controlling touches from the night before. This time it was just saying I’m here, and who the hell was this girl to hold us up from dinner? I doubted she caught even most of what I was trying to convey, but it didn’t stop me from trying to send it to her anyway. Shame people couldn’t converse through touch, it would make my life a hell of a lot easier.

“Oh…” The girl finally stopped, noticing Elise wasn’t alone. “Oh. I didn’t know you were out with friends. I was just so happy to see you.” Her face turned bright red, and with an awkward wave to Elise, she backed away from us. “Call me sometime. We have a ton to chat about.” One more shy glance at the three of us, and she dashed away.

“Well, that was fun. She knows exactly who you are, and you scared her.” She shook her head. The skin around her eyes was still a little tight, but the panic from earlier was quickly fading.

I shrugged. We hadn’t done anything to purposely scare her friend.

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