Page 122 of Pucking Tangled
Vanessa glanced toward Mia and rolled her eyes subtly, as if to say, “Boys. What are you going to do?”
She cleared her throat. “Mia, you’ll receive the internship offer in your email by the end of the day. We’ll work with your class schedule and anything else we need to.” Shelooked at each of the guys then, making sure to catch all of their eyes as she went down the line. “The rest of you will get individual media coaching sessions this week. Until then, no interviews, no off-the-cuff posts. Understand?”
They all nodded.
“I’ve got one more question,” Luca said. “Any idea who thesourcefrom the team was?”
“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to uncover who the media allegedly spoke to. They’re not naming names, of course, and no one has come forth. Weareworking on it though,” Vanessa assured them.
As the meeting wrapped up, everyone else filled out of the room, but the guys lingered with Mia for a few more moments.
“You okay, Blondie?” Waylon asked, rubbing her shoulders.
“Yeah. I think I am. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone, but I’m okay.”
“Good,” he said with a kiss.
FORTY-TWO
Mia
A touchof excitement and relief buzzed in the air as they piled out of Luca’s SUV.
Mia looked down at the ground and rubbed the toe of her shoe against the concrete. “I…uh…I’ve got another class this afternoon.”
They all froze.
Mia pointed at them, dragging her finger from Luca, to Waylon, and then Chase and Owen. “Don’t you look at me like that. I have responsibilities.”
“We’ll come with you,” Luca said, moving toward her, but stopping a few feet away.
Mia put her hands on her hips. “Now you four listen. I know the last 48 hours have been crazy. And you’ve all shown up for me. But, right now, I need to go back to campus. On my own. The last thing I need is four angry grizzly bears following me around. And before you all start, this isn’t me pulling away or being stubborn. It’s me beingme.Aching for a little normalcy. It’s one class. I’ll be back home before you even notice I’m gone.”
Owen stepped forward and tipped her chin up. “Oh, we’ll notice. The minute you pull out of the driveway,” he winked and gave her a kiss. “But we understand.”
“Speak for yourself.” Waylon playfully shoved Owen out of the way. “He’s right about noticing the minute you leave. But I damn sure don’t understand why we can’t go with you.”
Mia wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. “How’s a girl supposed to focus on lectures if all I’m thinking about are the guys I want to fuck sitting behind me?”
Waylon quickly scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. “Yeah that’s it, you’re staying right here.”
She let out a laugh and smacked Waylon’s ass. “Put me down, Caveman.”
“Aww, come on, Way. Let her go,” Casey chuckled.
He set her back on her feet and growled. “You’ll call if you need us?”
“Of course,” she smiled back at him.
“You’ve got this, MiaMoo.” Luca moved to stand by her side, linking their pinkies together. “We love you.”
Mia found herself getting choked up at the profound amount of love and support she had surrounding her. “I love you all, too.”
The whispers started as soonas she stepped foot on campus.
Girls stared. The guys chuckled and pointed. Someoneloudly called her a puck bunny, while someone else shouted that she was a puck slut.
Mia ignored them and kept walking toward the Dean’s Office. Not because their taunts and insults didn’t sting. No, their words and judgement still hurt, but she was tougher than they were. Because she knewtheirtruth.
