Page 16 of True Blue

“Hey, I’m taking the class seriously!” Axel argues, slapping a hand against my chest again. My heart thumps from the touch. “I just think it’d be more fun to present in costume.” His sly smile makes me roll my eyes, but my stomach flips at the look. Maybe having Cassie as a distracting buffer will help me get through spending even more time with Axel outside of just living together.

7

Layla knocks on the door to my suite and Christopher groans. “Why are we hanging out with them again?”

I breathe through my nose, trying to release the pent-up anger and irritation that has been sizzling inside me since he showed up yesterday afternoon. It started when he immediately complained about the cafeteria food at dinner and kept growing each time he tried to convince me to drop out and move back home with him. I had to keep reminding myself that Mom would have a cow if I randomly broke up with her biggest backer’s son. She basically doted on Christopher whenever he was around, practically frothing at the mouth when I told her he asked me out at the governor’s Easter party over a year ago.

I stand from the couch, Christopher’s arm falling off my shoulders. “Because they’re my friends and I haven’t seen them in years.” I feel like I’ve explained this a thousand times in the last twenty-four hours. Thank God Mira went home for the weekend. I needed to go to the bathroom and just sit on the side of the tub and breathe several times already.

Opening the door, my annoyance dissipates, Layla already beaming at me with Axel standing behind her, hands in hispockets. They look like total opposites, Layla in a baggy grey sweatshirt and leggings while Axel wears a baby blue button down with little pineapples speckled across it, open over a white tank and khaki shorts. Her hair is flaming red, having redyed it in the bathroom of her dorm yesterday after class while I sat on her bed and did homework. Meanwhile, Axel has the natural wavy brown I remember Lay having when we all lived in Maine.

“Hi babes!” Layla squeals, grabbing me in a hug. I grin, squeezing her back and wave at Axel over her shoulder. He has a small, warm smile on his face as he watches us hug.

“Hi, Lay, Axel. Come on in, guys.” I release Layla, holding the door open for them to walk in. Christopher stays on the couch, eyeing Axel up and down immediately. “This is Chris, my boyfriend,” I say, closing the door and turning around to stand next to Layla by the couches. “Chris, this is Layla, my best friend, and her brother Axel. We grew up together in Maine.”

Surprise flashes in Christopher’s eyes and I clench a fist behind my back. I’ve already told him this at least twice in the last two days, but clearly information retention still isn’t something he’s picked up around me. He waves at them, still lounging on the couch and only glancing at Layla before turning his narrowed gaze back on Axel.

Axel looks around the room, not even paying attention to Christopher on the couch. He surveys the space, and I follow his eyes, realizing how little personal touches Mira and I have added to the generally provided furniture. The walls are bare and other than a fuzzy red blanket Mira left thrown over the back of one of the unoccupied couches, there isn’t any extra décor on the side or coffee tables. Nerves bubble in my stomach, wondering what Axel thinks of the space as his eyes come around to meet mine.

“Nice place. I haven’t seen one of the normal suite set-ups since Gwen and Lay each have singles so there’s no common room area.” He rocks on the balls of his feet as he speaks. Laylasits down on one of the couches and he takes a seat next to her, taking his hands out of his pockets and setting them on his knees as he fidgets a little. My eyes track the movement, noting how big his hands seem. My stomach clenches at the thought and I shake my head, looking away.

“Aren’t you rooming with that guy Bentley?” I walk over to the kitchen and open the fridge, needing something to do with my hands so I can distract my thoughts. Christopher looks over at me, eyes still narrowed as I mention Bentley’s name.

“Yeah, but his parents had all their furniture replaced with nicer stuff. Their TV even got mounted to the fucking wall.” Layla laughs and accepts the water bottle I hand her, Axel also taking one from my hand.

“Damn, they must really be loaded if they got away with that.” I plop down next to Christopher again, offering him the last bottle, but he shakes his head, arm coming down around my back and hand gripping my upper arm to pull me a little closer to him. Axel eyes the move over the edge of his water as he guzzles from it. I force myself not to watch his Adams apple bob against his bronze skin as he swallows several times.

“He’s Heather and Michael Marshall’s son,” Axel says once he’s downed half the bottle. “So, they’re pretty well off.” I had seen the acting couple in a few films, both separately and together, over the years, but had no idea Bentley was their son. I wonder how growing up with parents at that level of fame affected him. I’ve only been in the spotlight for the last few years and the constant façade for cameras grew stale real quick.

“Not that surprising,” Layla says, twisting the cap on her water bottle. “The Coast is the college for every echelon of the world’s elite. Most people here have parents with -aire at the end of their net worth.” She shrugs. “Pretty sure Dad’s status as an alumnus who became a professor helped swing us in.”

We all sit for a minute, the conversation petering out. “Do you guys want to watch a movie?” I glance over at Christopher, but he’s gone back to watching Axel. “Or we could play a game? I think I have a deck of cards, maybe even Uno.”

Layla’s face lights up. “Oh, Axel loves Uno,” she says, drawing out the o in loves and then grinning.

Axel rolls his eyes. “I do not love Uno. Layla cheats, though not as bad as Gwen.”

Layla punches Axel’s shoulder. “I do not cheat! Gwen cheats, but I play fair.”

I laugh, shrugging out of Christopher’s hold to go find the cards. “Uno it is.” I grab the box from my desk drawer and open it to shake the cards out into my other hand as I walk back to the living room.

“Hiding draw fours is not playing fair, Lay,” Axel says, leaning over to put his water bottle down on the side table closest to him.

Layla starts moving the coffee table, making room for all of us to sit on the floor and Christopher grumbles about it as he gets off the couch, sitting down next to me. Layla raises her eyebrows at me when he isn’t looking and I roll mine back, noticing Axel watching us.

“No twin telepathy,” I say, pointing between the two of them. Axel holds up his hands, smirking at me.

“Oh please, we haven’t been on the same side for a game since we were seven,” Layla says, taking the cards from me and shuffling them easily.

Christopher, still silently staring down Axel, places his hand on my knee under the table. I flinch a little and Axel narrows his eyes.

“So, where do you go to school, Chris?” Layla starts dealing the cards and Axel immediately picks them up and organizes his hand, not looking at Chris as he speaks.

“I don’t,” Christopher sneers. “I work full time for my father, Paul Tonkins. He’s the CEO of SMC Fund Management.”

Axel grunts in response, still looking at his cards. I chew the inside of my cheek, feeling Christopher’s hand tighten on my knee. I focus on my cards, organizing them by color and ignoring the mounting tension between the men.

“Who wants to go first?” Layla asks quickly, looking between her brother and my boyfriend.

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