Page 126 of Necessary Roughness
“It’s not your fault,” Logan said, rubbing little circles into my back.
I put on a smile for him. “I love you.”
His face lit up. “I love hearing you say that.”
Knox returned to the porch, phone held at his side. He was frowning in concentration.
“Well?” I asked.
“That was my lawyer,” he said slowly.
“We know that, bro!” Logan snapped. “What did she say?”
“You’re settling, aren’t you?” Roman asked.
“She gathered all the video evidence from the students at the party,” Knox explained. I searched his face for some sign of how the phone call had gone, but he was unreadable. “Everythingfrom social media, too. My lawyer is going to file a request for summary judgment.”
“Yeah, but will the judge agree?” I asked.
“Turns out it doesn’t matter,” Knox said, a smile flickering on his tight lips. “After seeing all the evidence, Troy’s lawyer has changed their request. They’re now asking that we pay Troy’s medical bills.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “Nothing else?”
A full smile now appeared. “That’s it.”
I squealed and threw myself into Knox’s arms. Fortunately he caught me, spinning me around and laughing as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just learned on the phone.
Logan wrapped his arms around us, and then Roman joined, too. We huddled together in a group hug for a few moments, then Knox let me down and turned to Roman.
“That’s not all. She talked to your lawyer.”
Roman frowned, then pulled his phone out. It was vibrating. “I… have to take this.”
As he walked down into the yard, Knox turned to us and said, “My lawyer went to battle for Roman, too. If I pay for Troy’s medical bills, they’ve agreed to drop the battery charges against Roman.”
I heard myself gasp. “Really?”
Down in the yard, Roman shouted something indecipherable, and pumped his fist.
“Guess he got the news,” Logan said.
Roman punched the air with excitement, then winced and cradled his bandaged hand like the motion had hurt him. The three of us on the porch laughed, which made Roman flip us off, which caused us to laugheven harder.
Things were going to turn out all right.
56
Sloane
I was afraid that winter break would destroy the momentum of my relationships with Knox, Logan, and Roman. Aside from the week when I moved back in with Morgan, we hadn’t been apart for more than a day since September. And winter break wasthree weeks long.I wouldn’t see any of them until the first week in January.
They seemed to be wondering the same thing; the mood was somber as we said our goodbyes in front of the house, then all drove our separate ways.
But we kept in constant contact while visiting our families. Not an hour went by without one of the guys texting me, either on the group chat or individually. I even had phone sex with Logan one night when my parents went out to dinner by themselves.
It honestly felt like no time had passed at all when I parked my car in front of their house in January. Knox was waiting by the front door, a cold beer held in his hand.
We smiled at each other, went inside, and spent the next three hours making love. Hard and fast at first, then slow and passionate for the second round. The third round was a little bit later, after we’d polished off a six-pack of beer, and the sex was so drunken and sloppy that neither of us were able to come.
