Page 107 of The Score

“All good, baby doll,” he finally says, snapping out of whatever deep thoughts he’d been having. “C’mere and give me a good-luck kiss. We desperately need to win this game today.”

My gaze flits around the lot. A slight frown touches Dean’s lips, and seeing it triggers a flash of guilt. We just spent three days together. We fooled around in front of Beau, for crying out loud, and I’m afraid to kiss him in an empty parking lot?

I bridge the distance and lean on my tiptoes to brush my lips over his. “Good luck,” I whisper. Then I slip him a little tongue and smile when his breath catches.

He groans softly. “Tease.”

My smile widens as I take a step back. “Thanks for the ride. And the night out.”

“And the dirty, dirty sex,” he reminds me.

“One dirty would’ve sufficed.” Except nope, I’m wrong. What we did this weekend requiresat leasttwo dirties. Four would probably be the right amount.

“You sure you can manage that thing?” he asks as I roll my overstuffed suitcase toward the path.

“I’m fine. It has wheels.”

“What about the stairs?”

“It’s fine,” I insist. “Go, Dean, otherwise you’ll miss your bus.”

Just as I give him a gentle shove to spur his sexy ass into gear, a familiar voice echoes behind us.

“Hey, Allie.”

My hand freezes against Dean’s chest. I quickly let it drop to my side, then turn around to greet the approaching figure. It’s Jim Paulson, one of Sean’s frat brothers. My nerves flutter in my belly as I wonder how much he heard. And saw…

Shit. Did he see me kiss Dean?

“Hi,” I say, forcing a smile. “How was your Thanksgiving?”

“It was all right.” Jim’s gaze flicks toward Dean. “Hey, man.”

“Hey,” Dean says tightly.

“Where are you guys coming from?” His unmistakably suspicious gaze lands on my suitcase.

“New York,” I answer casually. “Dean’s from Manhattan and I’m from Brooklyn, so we carpooled. Go, environment!” I pretend to wave a little flag, but Jim doesn’t even crack a smile.

“Cool.” He continues to study me. “Uh, so yeah…nice seeing you.”

His parting smile is friendly enough, but as I watch him walk away, I can’t control the ball of dread that lodges in my throat. Fuck. I have a very, very bad feeling about this encounter. There’s no doubt in my mind that Jim will tell Sean about it. A part of me doesn’t care, because Sean’s not my boyfriend anymore.

Even so, the anxiety eddying in my stomach refuses to go away, and I know I’m going to be worrying about this all fricking day. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The shoe dropsat one in the morning. It drops hard. No, it dropsloudly. As in, I’m rudely awakened from a deep sleep to noisy pounding on the door.

I sit up and frantically look around, because it takes my not-yet-alert brain a few seconds to comprehend what’s going on. Once it registers that the sounds are coming from the front door, I fly out of my bedroom and stagger into the common area. Two shadowy figures stumble out of Hannah’s room at the same time. My sleepy roommate and her boyfriend halt abruptly when they spot me.

Bang.

Bang bang bang.

“What the hell?” Garrett sounds groggy as he turns his head toward the noise.

My pulse speeds up when I hear Sean’s voice.

“Allie!” he shouts from behind the door. “I know you’re in there! Let me in, goddamn it!”

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