Page 34 of Cerberus

Things were going too well for me and Ross. Granted, we spent a lot of time in bed, but when we weren’t, it felt as if we’d picked up right from where we’d left off. We acted like a couple, and we talked like one. He knew all about my parents and grandparents, and he would ask me about my conversations with my grandma or grandpa. I spoke to them about three times a week, checking in and stuff like that, and Ross had caught a conversation yesterday, and it sucked how I just kept sinking further and further into the Ross Carmichael abyss.

I also knew all about his parents and his brother, Banks. I knew that Ross has been carrying his brother for a long time now, and I knew it was a sticky situation. A U.S. Senator’s image was everything, and if it ever got out that Senator Carmichael had disowned his youngest son for being gay…well, that wouldn’t be good.

However, there was still the issue of Banks Carmichael being an abusive victim. He had embraced his tragedy like a true Broadway star, and he’s been abusing Ross’ love for him ever since. The crazy part was that Ross knew Banks was taking advantage of him, but he didn’t care. Ross had every intention of seeing his brother through this mess until he couldn’t anymore.

Still, all of that crap was just life. We all had things going on that people didn’t know about or wanted to know about. We all had secrets.

No, my concern was that we still haven’t talked about why Ross had ghosted me. He’d been vague enough to make me throw caution to the wind and try this again, but he still hasn’t given me any details about why he’d done it. As far as I was concerned, we didn’t need to pick up from where we left off. We needed to start over, and we couldn’t do that without clearing the air.

Still, even knowing all that, I couldn’t help the way I felt when he touched me, when he kissed me. I felt him whenever he was near, and I could admit that I was weak for him. After all, why else would I have invited him back into my bed?

Taking a deep breath, I snapped myself back to the present, and finally got out of my car. I had two morning classes today, and while Thursdays weren’t as bad as my Mondays and Fridays, Thursdays were still a full day of classes.

Looking at my watch, I saw that I had a good fifteen minutes to spare. There was a coffee cart near the food pavilion, and it was calling my name. Power walking my way around the Stratus building, I came to a skidding stop when August Remington came into view.

“Oh, shit,” he said, “I almost ran you down.”

Ross’ voice was like a thunderous cloud in my head with all his warnings of staying away from August. Still, what could I do? I didn’t want to be rude to the guy. I mean, for all the stuff Ross hasn’t elaborated on, August Remington has never been rude or mean to me.

“It’s okay,” I replied. “I shouldn’t be rushing.”

Instead of letting me pass, he straightened right in front of me, then smiled down at me. “It’s been a long time, Sutton.”

I readjusted my bag over my shoulder. “Yeah, I…uh, haven’t seen much of you since our last class together.”

“Yeah,” he smirked. “I’ve heard that a lot has changed.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. “Yeah?”

“I heard you’re dating Ross Carmichael,” he said, and I could only hope that my poker face was solid. While dating Ross wasn’t exactly a secret, the way he worded it bothered me.

“Uh, yeah,” I answered, doing my best not to stutter. “We kind of hooked up at the beginning of the year, then…recently…uh, reconnected.” The entire thing sounded stupid, even to my ears, but I didn’t know how else to word it. It was none of his business, and I wasn’t comfortable with giving out such personal details about my relationship with Ross to a virtual stranger. I knew who August was, and I’ve even spoken to him a time or two, but I didn’t know him, and we weren’t friends.

August’s smile stayed in place as he said, “You’re one of a kind, Sutton Hadley. Ross is very lucky.”

“Uh, thank you,” I replied like an idiot. “I’m not sure about Ross being very lucky, but we’re getting along well enough.”

“Oh, c’mon,” he chuckled. “Not many girls would be okay with their boyfriends having such a close relationship with another girl.”What?“Ross is very lucky to have such an understanding girlfriend.”

My heart was threatening to beat clean out of my chest. I knew about Toby being his roommate, but other than that, Ross didn’t have best friends or close relationships that I knew of. He had his brother, and from the stories that I’ve heard, I had always assumed that Banks was Ross’ best friend, even though they were brothers.

I had to lick my lips wet before I could talk. “Ross is very popular,” I remarked vaguely.

“Yeah, he is,” August agreed. “Still, Jennifer’s so important to him, some girls wouldn’t be okay with that.”

“Jennifer?” I couldn’t help it. Even though it probably showed my hand, the question behind her name just came flying out.

He cocked his head. “Yeah. Jennifer Polk. He hasn’t told you about her?” Before I could comment, he kept going, shaking his head as if he were talking about an errant child. “With as much as she texts him and spends time with him, I was sure he would have introduced you two by now.”

Right now, all I had was my pride holding me up. Ross’ phone was always going off, but I’d never questioned it because I had assumed it was Banks. He was always texting or calling Ross. Plus, I hadn’t been lying when I said Ross was popular. He was. He had people he spoke to, besides me. There was also the fact that I had totally believed him when he’d told me that he hadn’t been with anyone else since me. While I didn’t know the details of him ghosting me, I had no reason to suspect it’d been because of another girl. I had believed his lame ass excuse for ghosting me because he was Ross Carmichael. He had no reason to lie to a nobody like me.

So, then who was Jennifer Polk?

“Well, Ross is a grown man,” I told him. “It’s not my job to babysit him. He has friends, and I have friends. That’s the way it should be, don’t you think?”

“Like I said, Ross is a lucky guy.”

I did my best to smile back, though my brain was scolding my heart harshly for being so damn stupid. “Well, I need to get to class.” I glance at my watch. “I might still be able to grab a coffee before class starts.”

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