Page 33 of Fair Catch

I lean back in my desk chair, doing my damnedest to not look like I’m jumping for joy on the inside.

“So, naturally,” I muse, cocking my head, “you’re coming to me for talking points? Make sure you don’t bore the guy to sleep within the first ten minutes?”

Okay, so maybe my dickish comments are slow to disappear entirely, but I’m still choosing to think of it as progress. And regardless, Kason isn’t even paying attention to my digs, because he’s too busy turning more pink than a sunburnt piglet.

“Not exactly,” he says slowly, now running his fingers haphazardly through his ruddy hair. When his emerald eyes lift to mine again, there’s a silent plea in them.

For help he doesn’t think I’ll give him.

“You want me to come with you.” It doesn’t come out as a question, because it’s not. It’s written all over the embarrassment in his face.

“Only if you want to.” He shakes his head, anxiety taking the place of embarrassment. “I just don’t know how to do this. I really don’t have the best track record either, considering the last time I went to a party to meet a guy, Phoenix was with me, and the two of them ended up falling in love instead.”

Damn.

I had my suspicions that the breakdown of the relationship with his best friend involved another guy, even if he never confirmed the theory until right now.

“So you’re looking for a wingman who isn’t gonna be Mr. Steal Yo’ Guy.”

He winces at my ill-mannered joke, and I’m immediately hit with guilt.

So much for not pushing too hard.

Kason might be a lot of very annoying things, but at the end of the day, he’s a decent guy. It’s not his fault for trusting the wrong people not to hurt him, and it’s not fair for me to throw that in his face.

“In not so many words, yeah,” he says slowly. “But if it’s gonna make you uncomfortable, you don’t have to. I know people aren’t your thing, and obviously there will be a lot of them at a party.”

That’s very true on all accounts, and if I’m being completely honest, the idea of going to a frat party makes my fucking skin crawl. But damn, if the guilt for making his face fall like that isn’t enough for me to have the most uncharacteristic statement fall from my lips without warning.

“I’ll go with you.”

Kason is equally shocked, blinking a few times before he manages to find his voice. “Hayes, you don’t have to. Seriously.”

Shoving away the temptation to take the out he’s offering, I double down and shake my head. “I know, but I’ll go. On one condition.”

“Why do I have a feeling I won’t like what it is?”

“I was just gonna ask for an IOU of my choosing. Nothing too crazy.”

He gapes at me. “Anything of your choosing? That could lead toplentyof crazy places, you psycho.”

I wave him off, choosing to ignore his name-calling. “I wouldn’t ask for anything I wouldn’t do in return. It’s probably gonna be me asking you to do my laundry for a month or something.”

“Probablyis the operative word there,” Kason counters before he drops his head to his hands, a rigid set to his shoulders. “This is gonna be hanging over my head like a guillotine ready to drop until you finally use it. But I’m desperate right now, so I guess you have a deal.”

Smirking, I rise from my chair and move to my closet. Kason’s head lifts when he hears my footfalls, and I catch his frown out of the corner of my eye.

“What’re you doing?”

“Changing.”

Glancing his way, I find him watching me with curious eyes. “To go to a party? Why?”

I motion down my body at the sweats and ratty old Nirvana tee I’m wearing. “Unless you want this date of yours to think you room with a slob, I probably should look halfway presentable.”

His attention drags down my body slowly before he nods and gets off my bed. He heads toward the door while I strip my tee off my head and grab a clean shirt from my closet.

“I’ll have you know, not even Quinton dragged me to a freaking party while we were roommates. So you better damn well know how one-in-a-million this occasion is,” I tell him as I drag the light blue henley over my head.

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