Page 112 of Zero Chance

I knew exactly what she thought we’d been doing in here together.And I didn’t help the situation when all I did was grin at her.

“Hey, come on in,” I greeted with a wave as I snagged a handful of paper towels to dry my fingers.“We were just finishing up.”

“Oh my God,” Waverly moaned in mortification, burying her face in both hands.

Instead of entering, the other girl backed away and took off, letting the door swing shut in her wake.

Chuckling, I tossed my used paper towels in the trash and sent Frankie a wink.

“And that,” I announced, “is how you get the fuckboy reputation.”

She rolled her eyes and shot back dryly, “Right.All of those rumors about you are just false, huh?”

I shrugged.“Most of them.”

“Mm-hmm,” she murmured with lifted eyebrows, clearly not buying it.“So youdidn’thave sex with Marcy Bryce in the high school janitor’s closet when you were in the eleventh grade?”

My eyes widened as we started toward the bathroom exit.“You heardthatrumor?Holy shit.”Opening the door for her to go first, I followed her into the hall, only to send a greeting head bob to some guy who paused to ogle us leaving the ladies’ room together.I squinted over at Frankie in confusion.“Wait.Did we go to Northside together?”

Shit, how could I have missed her through four years of high school?

She shook her head.“No.I attended South Central.”

“Oh.”I thought through that before shaking my head.“Wow.I had no idea my reputation had reached over there.”

When I held my newly washed hand toward her, she blinked at it as if I were offering her a poisonous snake.But a second later, she hesitantly took my palm.

Pleased, I breathed out a sound of relief and interlaced my fingers with hers as we approached the exit of the building.

“Stella Spurlock bragged about you a lot,” she added when I held the next door open for her here as well to step outside in front of me.

“Stella Spurlock,” I repeated the name, nodding with the memory as I followed her out.Pointing once we were down the steps and on the sidewalk, I said, “NowherI did sleep with.”Squinting, I tipped my head.“Didshego to South Central?”

Waverly nodded.“Her locker was below mine.And she liked to block my way while she gossiped with her friends.”

“Huh,” I murmured thoughtfully, brushing my shoulder against hers as we made our way back toward the library.“I don’t know how much she actually had to say about me.I think we only hooked up two or three times before she moved on to one of my bull-riding buddies.”

Waverly glanced at me curiously and even opened her mouth as if she wanted to ask me something.But the moment I lifted my eyebrows, curious to hear what she wanted to know, she closed her mouth and turned forward again.

“She was a massive buckle bunny,” I went on when she refrained from saying anything.“And she was more interested in quantity over quality, if I remember correctly.But Marcy… Now Marcy Bryce…” I shook my finger at Waverly.“Thatwas more fiction than fact.All we did was make out a little.And after we got caught in the closet, she never talked to me again.”With a low whistle, I shook my head.“But as much heat as I got for that one, I kind of thought I should’ve at least gotten to go all the way with her, you know.Fucking school counselor gave me three days of out-of-school suspension, and Marcy ghosted me as if I never existed.”

Waverly glanced at me and then away quickly, looking vaguely sick and apologetic.

I jostled her hand that I was still holding to get her attention, wondering what that was about.But when she looked back, the expression was gone.

I lifted my eyebrows anyway.“I’m beginning to see why you think I’m so promiscuous.”

With a furrow of her brow, she said, “Aren’t you?”

I shrugged.“Well, yeah.But I’m also careful.I at least like to know who my partner is.I have this mental checklist in my head, and I have to observe certain things first before deeming someone safe.There are lots of diseases out there.So do you see why I wasinitiallyupset about what you did?”

She nodded miserably.“I—” But the words clogged in her throat.“Yes.I’m sorry,” she managed to rasp, lowering her face with shame.

“Oh, it’s okay now,” I answered, swinging our connected hands jovially.“Learning it was you was actually a relief onthatfront.It just took me a minute to get some of the anger out of my system, you know.And I wasn’t so much mad at you as I was mad at myself for not realizing I was with the wrong person.It’s always been very important to me to participate in safe sex.And I—I dropped the ball there.Completely.”

“But we didn’t do anything that needed protection,” Waverly said slowly, squinting in confusion.

I glanced at her with lifted eyebrows.“Condoms only protect so much.I went down on you, and you went down on me.We could’ve infected each other’s throats.That’s why I like to know who I’m with.Keeping the reproductive system healthy is important shit.”

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