Page 10 of Study Buddies

Our food arrived, and for a while we ate in silence. Tori toyed with her chicken strips but ate a few fries. Finally, she looked over at Lucas. “Is your house in Blayton?”

“Not far from there. It’s kind of out in the middle of nowhere.”

Shit. So much for Lucas knowing the right things to say to Tori.

Her eyes widened, and I cut in. “But there are neighbors close by. It’s just in an unincorporated area. It’s great, though. You can hike through the woods and see the rolling hills—I moved in at the start of the summer, and I love it here.”

She nibbled on a fry. “Wait, it’s up in the mountains?”

“Pretty much,” Lucas said. Though the higher peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains were north of us, this area was by no means flat.

Tori still looked hesitant, and I wondered what I could do to convince her that we’d never harm her. That we only wanted to help. And honestly? Every guy who’d ever made her feel unsafe deserved a kick to the head. Or the balls. Maybe both.

“If you don’t want to, we’ll take you to a hotel. Or your friend’s house.” I sighed. ”But it’s late. It’ll be easier just to follow us home. I promise you’ll be safe.”

“It’s not that,” Tori began. “I mean, thank you for the offer. But I grew up in southern Georgia. I’m not really good at driving in the mountains—especially at night.”

Relief filled me; that was a problem that was easily solved. “I’ll drive your car, and you can ride with Lucas.” Sure, she could’ve ridden with me, but I felt that Lucas deserved to be the one to drive with her. He was the one who’d figured out she needed help in the first place. Plus, it was his house.

“Are you guys really okay with this?” Tori asked. “It’ll just be for one night?—”

“It’ll be for as long as you need,” Lucas cut in, and I nodded.

“Well… thank you. Thank you both.” Her gaze slid to me. “And for the food.”

“It’s a full-service experience,” I said. “Dinner, a chauffeur, and housing in one, all-inclusive package.”

She smiled. “If the food is for kids, what’s the room like? Is there a racecar bed?”

“You’ll have to come with us to find out,” Lucas said, a smile tugging at his mouth.

“Okay,” she said softly. Then she took a deep breath and sat up straighter. “But if there’s no racecar bed, I’m going to leave a bad online review.”

“It’s a deal,” I said.

5

TORI

I wokeup without the slightest clue where I was, but that had been happening a lot recently. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I blinked, looking around. Oh yeah. This was Lucas’s home. And Jayden’s room, more specifically.

Last night I’d been too tired to really take in the details. It had been an upsetting night, seeing Todd again. And then spending time with Lucas and Jayden outside of the library had been nice, but also a little disconcerting. I only knew one side of each of them, and vice versa. Lucas had been a little tongue-tied when he drove me here.

But god, it had felt good to take a shower after two nights in my car. Jayden had hastily cleaned in here and changed the bed, which was kind, even though overall, his room was a bit of a surprise.

He’d never struck me as being into sports, but there were posters all over. Boxers. Basketball players. Tennis stars. Even a poster with racecars on it, so I hadn’t been too far off when I’d asked if there was a racecar bed here.

I frowned. Had that just been last night? I’d slept heavily and my mind was sluggish.

Moving quietly, I pulled on some clothes. Black leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. It would suffice until I had to leave for class. Not that I remembered the route Lucas had driven last night.

Venturing out of the room, I encountered Jayden sound asleep on the couch. A wave of guilt washed over me. I’d kicked him out of his room. And… oh. Wow. A wave of something else entirely made my pulse speed up as I looked down at him. He was wearing boxer briefs, blue ones. I knew that because that wasallhe was wearing.

For a guy who studied a lot, he had had some muscles. And abs. Six pronounced abs. His chest was mostly devoid of hair except for a smattering in the middle. I wouldn’t have guessed that because his forearms had dark hair—I’d noticed that at our study sessions.

“Morning,” a quiet voice said, and I nearly jumped a foot in the air.

My face flushed. Lucas had clearly caught me checking out his friend. But, well, I wasn’t used to waking up near a mostly unclothed man.

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