Page 116 of The Friend Zone

Again, he remains calmer than I would normally give him credit for. “Maybe. But you have to be careful, Bay. Dean Williams is a very vindictive man. If you go around accusing his daughter of cyber bullying, you better have indisputable proof.”

Topher might be an asshole most of the time, but I’ve always appreciated his ability to analyze a situation. I would have never won my first presidential election without his help.

“I know.” I sigh. “This is why cyber bullying is such a hideous crime. It’s so easy to commit and there are a lot of ways to cover your tracks. Even Luca’s intelligence service hasn’t been able to pin down where the first post came from.”

His smirk is full of scorn. Topher hated Luca from the moment he set foot on campus. “That’s some fucking royal intelligence service.”

“Shut up,” I snort. “Whoever is behind this shit, used a VPN service with a very stringent security policy. They never give up any IP addresses, no matter what. Their system is fundamentally built to render them undetectable from the start, even to the VPN central servers.”

He considers my words. “The perfect crime.”

“Yup.” I admit, feeling defeated.

Topher moves a lock of my hair away from my shoulder, in a way he used to do often when we were together. “What do you say? You and I get out of here? We could finish that bottle of Champagne and lie low until tomorrow morning. Then we could speak to the Dean. See what they’re going to do about stopping that post from spreading. Come on, we skipped dessert. I’ll order your favorite donuts. You’ve always loved donuts and Champagne, remember?”

I do remember. When we first started dating, he used to bring me donuts and Champagne and we’d have a little private party in my dorm room.

“Come on Bay.” he takes the bottle from me, bringing it to my lips. “You know you want to, for old times’ sake. I promise I won’t try anything. Drink up.”

I really don’t like the taste of this Champagne, so I just let the now warm wine splash on my lips, but I don’t really drink. “I don’t know, Toph,” I take the bottle from him again. “I should go find the guys. They’re going to be worried about me.”

“Nova, thank fuck.” Jagger bursts into the room, as if summoned by my words. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere. Hey, what the fuck is he doing here? If you hurt one hair on her head, I swear to God—” he starts when he spots Topher.

“No, he’s actually fine.” I walk into his open arms, feeling relieved for the first time since I started my speech.

Jagger squeezes me against him, his eyes taking stock of Topher. “Right. Good, I don’t feel like kicking his ass right now.”

Topher reacts to the provocation. “Fuck you, Connelly. Don’t forget that I could still release that video. You and Bay could be the new viral couple on campus in no time.”

“Topher!” I scold my ex, disappointed that he’s already back to his old ways.

His jaw ticks as he glares at Jagger. “Sorry, sexy. I can’t fucking help it. This guy has been pissing me off since we were in prep school. When my team played against his school, I knew I’d be spending more time in the fucking sin bin than on the ice.”

Jagger is tense against me, but I’m thankful when he decides not to respond to Topher. “Let’s go home, Bay. Dad said we can get his driver to take us back to the Gamma house. He’s talking to the Dean anyway, so he’ll be awhile.”

I follow him out of the room and outside where Cole and Ryker were still looking for me.

After the abrupt end of my speech, the party has wound down and almost all the students have left. “Some of the alumni are having coffee with the Dean and his wife,” Ryker explains as we’re all safely inside Keith Connelly’s limousine. “I guess he’s trying to do some damage control.”

I tighten my grip on the Champagne bottle that’s now sitting between my legs. “Yeah, I bet he’s gonna find a way to blame this disaster on me, too.”

Jagger wraps a comforting arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry about that, baby. Dad was livid, and he was demanding that the school do something to protect their students against these kinds of attacks. The Dean might be an asshole, but he isn’t stupid. He knows you matter to one of his biggest donors, so he can’t do anything to you without losing his support.”

BAY

“Come here, baby,” Cole holds me tight as Ryker locks my bedroom door behind him. “You’re safe now.”

I sigh against his chest, my fingers playing with the lapel of his suit jacket. It’s soothing. “I know. There’s nowhere and no one else I’d rather be with right now.”

Ryker comes up behind me, moving my hair away from my shoulder to place a soft kiss on the back of my neck. “If I ever catch who did this to you, so help me, God.”

I turn around to look at him. His ice-blue eyes are a hail storm right now. Vicious gossip is what made his life hell at his previous college, so I know he understands exactly how I feel right now.

“If I had to take a guess, I’d say our frat president looked guilty as fuck.” Jagger bites out.

This night has been odd to say the least, but I can’t believe I find myself defending my ex. “Topher was actually concerned for me. We talked about it and he swore he didn’t do it.”

Cole barks out a laugh. “Right. And I’m gonna win five Stanley Cups in my first five years in the NHL.”

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