Page 60 of College-Virgin & Dark Bully Next-Door

He nods, and Coach Frank hands me my ass a second time, ordering more gym time, more dedication, more focus, more of everything that I can possibly give. But I have a feeling it won’t be enough.

I see Tyler, Kenney and Nate waiting for me. They offer to take me out drinking, but considering we have work tomorrow, and I already feel like shit, and I can taste my own blood, I’m not in the mood to drink, party, or anything else.

“Raincheck for Friday, when I’m in one whole piece?” I offer.

They look at one another, and I expect to be called a killjoy, a letdown, some fucker with a stick up his ass for saying no, but Tyler agrees. “Honestly, sounds way better than getting drunk on a Wednesday.”

“Yeah, Dara’s got ribs ready.” Kenny rubs his beer belly. “If anything, we should go get fed. She always cooks for an army.”

I glance over and see Sky with Bonnie. Bonnie’s got her arm around her, and they walk away together. She’s damn good at that walking away shit. So I nod. “Sounds better than getting drunk.”

“Hell, yeah!” Jack bounces on his toes.

“But you gotta shower, man.” Kenny points at me. “Dara will kill me if I let you in the house smelling like that.”

We laugh, and I get through a shower before joining them and heading over for some much-needed positive time with the guys. We talk shit about work, Dara encourages us to play poker and shamelessly helps Kenny.

They’re a great couple. He watches her with absolute adoration, and she makes sure to be involved with all of us, just a part of the group, having fun and being a hell of a host. By the time I make myself leave, I feel better.

Until I get home, ignore my father yelling, and head upstairs. A huge part of me wants to text Sky for any reason. To apologize for the locker room talk. To ask about the photos, anything.

But I grip my phone tighter in my hand, set my alarm, and put myself in bed. I didn’t say anything that’s not true. And Sky is going to have to grow up sometime, have to open up. She has to give an inch if she wants to be in any kind of relationship, no matter how flimsy.

I’m not going to push or fight for our potential if she won’t.

Chapter 18

Sky

Talking sucks. I’m more convinced of that than ever. I laid everything out for Bonnie. I didn’t have a choice. It was either come clean, absolutely and completely clean, or lose her. So now she knows everything. Me forgiving him. Ash and I spending time together. Ash being gentle and trying to fix everything. Ash not being at all what his reputation said he was.

Bonnie comes back into my room wearing my p.j.s and sits with me in bed, wrapping her arm around me. “You know, I’ve always said you had a huge heart, and you prove it all the time. I still can’t believe you forgave Ash for what he did.”

I lean into her embrace, my eyes coasting through my window and into Ash’s room. “He apologized. I saw the honesty on his face, so… yeah, I forgave him.”

“You’re the bigger person, sweetie,” she replies. “It’s been two years, but I still can’t get over the horror I saw on your face that night. Ash pulled many awful pranks back then, but that… it was cruel. Especially when he knew you had a crush on him.”

“Maybe Peter put him up to it,” I suggest. “He probably didn’t know there would be others around.”

Bonnie eases me away, staring down at me with disbelief. “Wait a minute. You didn’t ask him why he did it?”

“Why would I? It’s already past, Bon. I just wanted to move on. He apologized, and that was good enough. I made peace with what happened, and there’s no use regurgitating that awful night.”

“But—”

“Bon, please. Let’s talk about something else.”

She sighs. “Fine. For the record, I felt such satisfaction when he got his ass whooped tonight. He shouldn’t have said what he did.”

And I’m kicking myself for telling her about our little fight before the match. “He wasn’t … he wasn’t wrong, though,” I admit. “It shouldn’t even matter! We’ve been seeing each other for two weeks. That’s nothing. And you’re worth it.”

“And you know where I stand.” She hugs me and rests her chin on my shoulder. “I’m sorry for being a massive, dinosaur-sized bitch. A bitch–osaurus-rex.”

I laugh once and lean my head on hers.

“Ultimatums don’t belong in friendships. I just wish you would have told me from the start. I mean, I felt righteously angry on your behalf. He was such a douche, and his brother, well. Peter’s just trying to one-up his brother in the bullying department.” She breathes out a hefty sigh. “But if you’ve forgiven him, I have no choice but to follow your lead, I guess. Especially since you like him enough to let him do the stuff you told me about…”

“I don’t know what I want,” I whisper. “You understand why I forgave him, but Chase … he’s a higher hurdle. And I don’tneedAsh to be happy. I don’t. Ineedto that internship. Ineedto get into that photography club in January. There’s plenty I need.”

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