Page 119 of Believing Bailey (Granton University 2)

I nodded. “Good.”

He nodded too. “Yeah. And then…then my dad called.”

My eyes sprang open wide. “Your dad?”

“Yes. He, um, I guess Daylon’s father, Mr. Raider, wasn’t the controlling interest in the company. His older brother was. And when he saw the video splashed all over social media and learned what his nephew had done, he forced Mr. Raider to step down. Dad got his old job back, and Daylon’s uncle is encouraging them to proceed with pressing charges against Daylon. Britt actually came out of her room when she heard that. She ate lunch with my parents and spoke to them. She wanted them to tell me…” He blew out a breath before saying, “She wanted them to tell me thank you.”

I sucked in a happy breath and grabbed his hand. “So you’re back in the family?”

He glanced at me and squeezed my fingers. “I think so. At least, if I want to be. I might.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”

I drew his hand to my mouth and kissed his knuckles. “You don’t have to decide now. You’ll figure it all out when you’re ready.”

He nodded and smiled sadly at me. “And that last call is one I made. To your dad.” He shook his head. “Ben was the only guy to give me chance on faith alone, and he was the one who got screwed in this whole deal. Now he’s going to have to find a new hired hand.”

A slow grin spread across my face. “So you’re coming back to school, then?” I asked, growing encouraged.

He gave another shrug. “That depends. I know I don’t want to return to the fraternity, so…think you can you handle another roommate?”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “I think I can handle that, no problem.”

“Good.” He learned toward me to kiss me, only to pause and frown. “You have a bruise.”

His fingers barely traced over my cheek before I growled my frustration, grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him toward me, smacking our mouths together.

The kiss was just getting good, our breaths mingling and fingers gripping when a knock came on my door.

“Hello?” The door slowly swung open. “I heard voices. Are you awake?” Tess popped her head into the room. When she saw Beck and me on the bed, she grinned. “Oh, good. How do you feel?”

The door flew all the way open and she bounded into the room, skipping forward to join us on the bed. Sitting on the opposite side of me as where Beck sat, she took my hand and looked me over. “Your head still hurts, doesn’t it?” She snapped her fingers at Beck. “Go get her more pain relievers.”

He laughed, but stood to follow her orders. As soon as he disappeared into the bathroom, Tess turned back to me. “So, the truth is out, and everyone welcomed Beck back to his regular life. That’s good, huh?”

I nodded and struggled to sit up. “That’s amazing. What else did I miss while I was sleeping?”

“Not much. I’m not shy around your boyfriend anymore, though, that’s for sure.”

I smiled. That meant he was a keeper. Something I already knew. But I’m glad she knew it too.

“But I still can’t believe that jerk ruined the computer and cut off the video right before I got to the moral and lesson in all this,” Tess was ranting, already moved on to a new topic. “Because that’s what Melody needed to hear most of all, you know. Rape is serious and awful and can really mess up people’s lives. To lie about something like that is an insult and slap in the face to all the true victims out there, devaluing the trauma they go through and—”

“Uh, Tess.” I patted her hand to shush her. “We heard all this the first time you recorded it. You don’t have to repeat it.”

Tess scowled at me. “But it really bothers me that she did that. I mean, at first, I was just mad at her for the way she treated you and Beck, but then...then it really started to sink in how wrong she was to so many more people out there. People like her…they just—”

“I know, sweetie.” And I really did. “I know.”

Tess stared at me for a minute, mutiny in her eyes, letting me know she wanted to keep raging over the topic. But a moment later, she blew out a breath and murmured, “Yeah, you do. It just...it really sucks.”

“It does,” I agreed. “It kind of makes you want to go Sweet/Vicious on all those bastards out there who hurt women and take justice into our own hands.”

Tess’s eyes lit with excitement. “Exactly. I’ll be Ophelia. You can be Jules.”

I sniffed. “What the hell ever! In no universe ever would I be the sweet, sorority girl, Jules. I’m totally Ophelia. You’d be Jules.”

“But Jules is blond,” Tess reasoned. “And you’re blond now.”

“And Ophelia dyes her hair funky colors, so that’s definitely me. Ooh, I’m so going to go green on my next dye job. In honor of Ophelia!”

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