“No. Eat dinner. Come after, and then leave after.”

  She was pushing us back, giving us less time, but I got what she was doing. A routine, a schedule. No texting or calling, but we’d have this.

  “See you tomorrow night.”

  I left, not hearing her say goodbye, but she wasn’t like that.

  Going down the stairs, I went out the door and headed for my truck.

  “So, you’re fucking her.”

  I stopped. It was the swimmer. “It’s none of your business.”

  He had his keys in his hand, and he finished shutting his car door. A bag of food was in his hands. His gaze went up to where her place was and he nodded, slowly, looking resigned. “Guess not.”

  I waited, but he didn’t say anything more.

  I got in my truck, and drove home.

  18

  MARA

  I woke the next morning, my body fully exhausted from everything, but it was a good exhaustion from Cruz. I could still feel him, deep inside of me. Not thinking about anything else, I grabbed my phone, unblocked one of my mom’s numbers and called it.

  She answered with a clipped, “About time–”

  I shot up in bed. “You are a shit mother. You were a shit wife. You want to blackmail me for fifty grand? Good fucking luck. You want to know what I’ll do in return? I’ll go to the police. I won’t let you threaten me, do you hear me? Do not try me or we really are done. Forever.”

  She was quiet on her end.

  I didn’t wait to hear the sobbing because that was her next move. She’d go straight to being the victim, so I hung up and blocked her number before going to get ready for the day.

  I had a quiz I needed to ace.

  Me: Need to run something by you. Breakfast on me tomorrow morning? 9 am? Campus Coffee Bar?

  Leander Carrington: Who is this?

  Me: Uh, show up and find out.

  Me: Just kidding. This is Mara Daniels. Show up. Free food.

  Leander Carrington: What’s this about?

  Me: Are you serious?

  Leander Carrington: No. See you there.

  Tuesday morning, Leander was lingering outside the campus coffee bar when I approached. He saw me and came over, his hands in his pockets. “What’s this about? Also, was this a secret thing?”

  I’d been reaching for the door past him but stopped. “Why?”

  He had a sheepish look on his face. “I didn’t know if this was a date or something, but Mikey mentioned you asked for my number and yeah, Miller heard and, yeah.”

  “Did they come with you?”

  He winced, motioning inside. “Miller’s here.”

  I cursed, swinging open the door and marched in. Susan was in a back booth, and she perked up when she spotted me. Her hand went up until she saw my face, and she lowered it as I marched over near her, but not to her. I felt Leander trailing behind me. Gavin and two other guys were in a separate booth. I motioned at Gavin. “Out.”

  He raised an eyebrow. Scooting back, he rested his arm across the back of the booth and motioned to me with his drink in hand. “Good morning to you too.”

  “Get out.”

  “Uh, Mara?” I heard Susan behind me. Her voice was so small.

  Leander had turned to look at her instead. “Hey, I know you.”

  “I ran your orientation club.”

  “Yeah! Sarah, right?”

  “Susan.”

  “Susan. That’s right. I’m so happy you remembered me.”

  “I–”

  I could work with this. “Leander.”

  He frowned at me.

  I motioned to Susan. “We were going to have breakfast with Susan this morning, but how about you go on ahead without me?” I gave Gavin a dark look. “I’ll handle this guy instead.”

  “Uh, you said–”

  I held up a fifty-dollar bill, and he whisked it out of my hands. “Thank you very much. Susan, what would you like? On me?”

  “Oh. I’ll go with you.”

  She moved behind me, pausing just briefly to say under her breath, “Thank you.”

  I nodded, waiting until they were up at the counter. “Can we at least go somewhere else?”

  Gavin was studying me with narrowed eyes before sliding them to where Leander and Susan were, but he nodded, one long up and down motion. “Sure, Daniels. Anything for you.” He motioned for the guys. “See you guys.”

  Both waved as Gavin got up and I felt him following me out of the coffee place. Susan gave me a little grin before moving closer to Leander, which Gavin also caught. He waited until we were outside before saying, “What was that?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Daniel–”

  “Leave it alone. My God.”

  He stopped walking. “You know what? Enough of this shit. You were weird at laser tag. You don’t respond to my texts and now you’re just snapping all the time. You’re not that fun and you used to be fun. I don’t think I want to be friends with you anymore.”

  Oh… I shrugged and kept going. “Okay.”

  I got three steps before, “Are you kidding me?”

  I kept walking. I had an hour before class, and still needed coffee, so I veered toward the food courts.

  “Daniels!”

  He was following me. I kept walking.

  “Come on!”

  We were attracting attention, and oddly, I didn’t care this time.

  “I was–can’t we talk about this?”

  That made me smile, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t pause because I really needed some caffeine, but I said over my shoulder, “You’re not fucking me, Miller.”

  “Why is that always your go-to? I thought there was a basic foundation of consideration for friendship.”

  Well, damn. He had me there.

  I was going through the door but paused and stepped aside as a group of students were leaving. I shifted to the side, my arms folded over my chest. “Miller, you don’t act like a guy just wanting friendship.”

  He was more wary, closing the distance between us. He stopped a few feet back. “Yeah. I can see it that way.” He gestured behind to where we’d come from. “What was that back there?”

  “None of your business.”

  He was studying me again before he looked into the food court. “What are you getting in there?”

  “Coffee.”

  “Because you didn’t get it back there?”

  “You’re not wrong.”

  Another long up and down motion of his head. “Because I was there?”

  “Again. You’re not wrong.”

  “Because you weren’t there to go on a date with Leander Carrington?”

  I didn’t respond to that one.

  “Hey, Mara.” Skylar was coming up the sidewalk with a few people. “What’s up? Don’t usually see you at the food court.”

  “Coffee.”

  “Oh yeah.” Her gaze skirted from me to Gavin. She said to him, “Hi. Gavin, right?”

  “Hey. Yeah.”

  She stopped walking and shot him a confused look before switching back to me. “Did you hear that screaming the other night?”

  I went cold. “No.”

  “Really? We couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Felt like it was from your place. Were you watching a movie or something?”

  “You know, I think I was. After studying, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I put on a horror movie, but I fell asleep. That’s probably what woke me up.”

  “Oh.” She visibly relaxed. “We got a little scared there. Wasn’t sure what to do and we were in bed. I don’t think anyone else heard it so for a minute we were even thinking we had a ghost.”

  “No one else heard it?”

  “Wade went to Lindsay’s house. Darren didn’t say anything. And Miles was stoned.”

  “Right.” Small blessings.

  “Okay. Well, see you at home?”

  Her friends had gone inside and were waiting. Skylar joined them, and I stared at Gavin.

  He stared back, raising his eyebrows.

  I rolled my eyes but went in to get some coffee. Gavin followed me, and as I got my coffee, he paid for it. I didn’t fight him on it, and then, together, we went to wait outside the building of our morning class.

  Cruz came over that night.

  He came over Wednesday night.

  Thursday night.

  Friday and Saturday, he was gone for an away game.

  He came over Sunday night.

  And we repeated the next week, until Thursday.

  19

  CRUZ

  “We gotta party Saturday night.”

  I shot Atwater a look. “Dude. It’s too early to start talking about that shit.” I was giving him and Wes a ride to the rink for our six am practice. Wes was yawning. I was pissy, and AJ was bouncing in the truck. Which was making me even pissier.

  “He’s going to rough you up in practice if you don’t stop fucking moving.”

  “We should. After our game on Saturday. It’s been so long since we’ve had a party. If Adam is game, then we’re doing it.”

  Wes and I shared a look. I was pretty sure it’d not been that long ago when we had a party, but AJ seemed worked up about it.

  “I’m going to pitch it to the guys.”

  I said, “Wait till after practice, and don’t let Coach hear you.”

  Wes grunted his agreement.

  “I’m going to invite Daniels too.”

  Wes started laughing. “Now he’s for sure going to rough you up.”

  AJ didn’t seem bothered, glancing my way. “That cool with you? It was fun with her at laser tag.”

  I just growled because I had nothing else to say. Why he wanted to invite my very much not-friends with benefits chick, I had no clue. But he did. And I was remembering how it felt sliding into her last night. How sweet she felt, clutched around me.

  “Why are you inviting Daniels? She’s not yours to invite, man. She got a friend you’re into or something?”

  AJ frowned, his head cocking to the side. “I don’t know.”

  Both Wes and I groaned because that answer was definitely not the one we expected. No one was out driving, but I still hit the turn signal, heading toward the parking lot for our entrance.

  “Now you have to tell us the real reason.”

  I was enjoying that Wes was speaking for me.

  AJ shrugged. “She’s not partied with us in a while. I think it’s time.”

  “We’re in the middle of our season. We can’t have a big party.” I pointed out, pulling into a parking slot, and turning the engine off.

  As we unloaded and began heading in, AJ shrugged again. “Ryerson made a comment. That’s why.”

  I frowned, remembering the connection between Ryerson to his girlfriend, to who her brother was, and to Mara. I paused. “Wait.”

  Both did.

  “What did he say?”

  He shrugged again. “Just that Taz was asking how she was doing.”

  What the fuck? The phone call I overheard between Mara and Race’s girlfriend had not ended on a good note. “You need to say more than that. I know a little about Mara’s deal with Ryerson’s girlfriend. She won’t come if you invite her. I have to be the one to do it.”

  “She’ll come if her friends come.”

  Maybe. Probably not.

  Wes’s eyes narrowed. “Atwater, be straight. What are you doing?”

  AJ studied us for a beat before his shoulders deflated. “Okay. I’m into one of Taz’s friends, and she’s too scared to come to our house unless there’s other people. I was thinking a small—” He emphasized the word because we all knew Labrowski would not be down for a big event, not until after our season was done. “—thing where she’d feel more comfortable. Ryerson’s cool, but sometimes his girlfriend doesn’t always come. She’s always talking about Daniels, so I was thinking we could invite Daniels and her usual crowd. Taz would show up, and then my girl would definitely come.”

  I had no clue which point to handle first.

  “One, your logic is asinine. It’s a party, most girls aren’t scared to come to the hockey house.”

  “This girl is.”

  I ignored him. “Secondly, just ask Race’s girlfriend to come. She’ll come. She has in the past.”

  “You think?”

  “Third, Mara’s usual crowd is Gaynor and Miller. If Miller comes, he might bring some of his brothers and that shit’s no longer a small thing anymore.”

  Atwater stared at me, considering. He switched to Barclay, who held his hands up. “I’m not a part of this. This whole thing has come out of your ass, but I agree with everything Cruz said. Also, you need Labrowski and Keys to okay this or our asses are in a sling.”

  “That girl’s been hanging around the house more. The one whose brother died, that was Adam’s best friend. I think Labrowski wants her to meet more girls. Make friends.”

  And Atwater just figured out how to get Labrowski to agree with the party.

  If Labrowski said yes, then Keys was more likely to sign on. I shared a look with Wes. We both knew that we were going to be having a party Saturday night.

  I sighed. “I’ll mention it to Mara.”

  “Yes!”

  “But you and I are doing some one-on-one in practice to pay for it.”

  He groaned, then coughed. “I mean, bring it on.”

  Since realizing Mara was in my same anthropology class, I’d stayed away. It was part of the thing with us, but today I dropped down in the seat on her other side, letting my hand graze her arm. Mara’s head had been folded over her book, but she snapped up, her eyes wide as she glanced at her arm. We had a few minutes before Miller would grab the seat on her other side.

  “What are you doing?”

  I tried to gauge her attitude. She hadn’t hissed that question at me, though I was breaking our rules. But she’d been extra hot last night. Fuck. We both were. I was starting not to like the no-texting rule between us. Which was an admission of surprise to myself because I liked what we had during the first semester. First semester and the first week, but things started to slide. We were trying to right the course again, but I don’t know.

  A part of me was enjoying that I had an excuse to sit here.

  That I could shift to the side, could run a finger down her leg, loving how it’d make her eyes glaze over, the same look I was rewarded when I was in her honey spot.

  That I had an excuse to break our agreement, or bend it.

  Bend her…

  “Cruz.”

  Right. “We’re doing a party Saturday night. The guys want you to come.”

  She didn’t show any reaction. That wasn’t altogether surprising because since her breakdown that night, it’s like she caught herself and was making up for her slip of control. She’d been locked down, and the only time she let herself go was in bed with me. Like she gave herself permission, not that I was complaining. My dick was already hard, all the different positions we’d not tried yet playing out in my head.

  But last night, man. How I stood, how she turned around, how she backed up—okay. My dick was rock hard. Christ.

  “Why?”

  I glanced back, seeing Wes staring at us. He raised an eyebrow, indicating the empty chair beside him. I gave him a slight nod, and right then, Bianca tried to drop into my usual seat. He stopped her, nodding my way.

  She looked our way, but I focused back on Mara. “Because, I don’t know. AJ wants you there and you know how he is when he gets something in his head. Just show up, or he’ll pester you all week until you say you’ll come.”

  “Are you serious? But, we have—”

  Miller was coming, along with two of his frat brothers.

  “It was either me asking or him harassing you all week.” I stood up, grabbing my bag, and because I was itching to touch her, my leg brushed against her as I went by. I ignored her small gasp. “Just come, okay?”

  Miller’s eyebrows pulled together, a small frown on his face as I passed him. “Styles.”

  “Miller.” I kept going, dropping into my seat.

  He paused until he went to sit by Mara.

  “She coming?”

  I shook my head, before I shrugged. “Not a fucking clue.”

  And now I had to sit through class with a raging hard-on.

  20

  MARA

  My phone buzzed at the same time someone knocked on my door.

  I was just finishing dressing for the party, and came out of the bathroom when my door opened. Zoe came inside. I was speechless for a moment. She was in a full black leather suit with no back, just strips that ran over her shoulders, like the front of a halter top. Her whole face was shimmering with light glitter. It mixed perfectly with her skin tone. She had eyelashes on, and instead of the usual jewelry that adorned her during the day, she was naked. No rings. No earrings. No necklaces or bracelets. Nope. One piece of jewelry, a nose ring, and it was the smallest little diamond.

  “Holy shit. You look amazing.”

  She beamed, lacing her fingers together. I had to look, her shoes didn’t disappoint. They were black high heels. “It’s Skylar’s birthday today.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t know that. Are the roommates doing anything for her?”

  “We could maybe do a roommate dinner tomorrow, but she didn’t want anyone to know. She doesn’t like to celebrate in a showy way.”

  “Oh okay.” I was still going to get her a gift. I was weird. If people demanded gifts, I didn’t like giving them, but if they were like Skylar, I loved getting them presents. It was out of character for me, but I didn’t care. I liked Skylar and Zoe. They weren’t in my business, and instead had boundaries that almost rivaled myself. Plus, they were nice. “What’s up? What brings you to my door?”

  “You’re going out?”

  I nodded, checking over my outfit. A party at the hockey house was a little nerve wracking, and I rarely got nervous for parties. But Cruz would be there and with how we’d been lately, I wasn’t sure what to expect. We might not talk the whole night until at the end or… I didn’t know. I didn’t know what I wanted either. I’d enjoyed that he sat next to me in class, even if it was just for a bit, and then panicked because that was the whole point of how we needed to stop violating our own rules.