Forget about never being good enough.
And most of all, forget that some bastard stole the one person who thought I was.
“You think you can make me forget my own name?”
The deep rumble of his laughter sent a tingle straight down my spine, my thighs subconsciously pressing together to try and ease the instant want.
“You wanna forget your name?” he growled, tilting my head further back and exposing my neck.
“Yes.”
“How do you feel about screaming mine?”
AVERY
Almost a Year Later
“All right, I’ll see you all next week!”
The room quickly filled with chatter and the shuffling of papers as students scurried to pack their things away and get the hell out of the lecture hall.
It was Friday, after all.
There were frat parties to attend and drinking to be done. This was the life of a college student—study during the day, drink yourself in an alcohol-induced coma at night. That was always how I imagined my college experience would be, but it wasn’t exactly where I ended up.
I pushed the door of the lecture theater open, shading my eyes from the striking sun as I stepped out into the flow of people. My skin soaked the warmth, a stark contrast to the cold, cave-like learning environments. I was certain they kept them just a touch above arctic, so it was impossible to fall asleep. Though, I had seen plenty of people take that as a challenge.
“I really need to borrow your notes,” a perky voice announced as a hip bumped up against mine, almost throwing me off balance.
I caught myself, snorting out a laugh, refusing to acknowledge my best friend as she fell into step beside me. “Maybe you should come to class,” I teased, rolling my eyes. “Then you’d have the notes, and you might actually learn something, too.”
She let out a long, dramatic groan. “Technically, I’m still a little drunk,” she admitted without a drop of remorse or embarrassment. “I wouldn’t have understood or had the energy to write down a single damn thing that was said, and still would have had to borrow your notes anyway. I just decided to skip that middle part.”
“The part where you actually attend a class?”
“Exactly.”
We fell into step with the flow of students moving toward one of the college’s many parking lots. It was almost like a heavy running river, people veered off at some places, others merged in, but you definitely didn’t want to get caught in it if you weren’t a good swimmer.
These kids were in a hurry to get the hell out of here.
They wanted to go home, shower, fill their stomachs, and then pregame.
I, on the other hand, had to work at Empire and wouldn’t be going to bed until the place closed, so I was itching to get to the clubhouse in time to have a damn nap.
Holly talked my ear off the entire way, waving her hands around dramatically, almost hitting several people in the face as she tried to explain the fiasco that went on at the rush party last night. Something about freshmen. Something about boobs. And there may have been a can of beans too. Whether those things were connected, I couldn’t tell you, but a tiny part of me was disappointed I hadn’t paid more attention.
We stopped at the parking lot’s curb, and I leaned against a pole as I waited for my ride. I wasn’t sure whether Holly had actually driven here in the state she was in or if she was seriously not going to leave until I handed her that morning’s notes.
“Did you not drive?” she asked, her brow knotting between her eyes.
“No, Crush is putting new tires on my car, so Ty dropped me off,” I explained, instantly regretting it as her eyes lit up, and she stood a little taller. “You leave Ty alone. He already has enough crap to deal with at the clubhouse. He doesn’t need to be distracted every five minutes by you.”
The two had messed around a few times. Though, I worried about him more than I worried about her.
She gasped, pressing her hand to her chest in shock. “Are you calling me high maintenance?”
“The highest.”
“I resent that.”
“Resenting it doesn’t make it any less true,” I sang, as the roar of a motorcycle tickled at my ears. I hated leaving her there, but honestly, it was coming to a point where I had to keep reminding myself I wasn’t Holly’s mother. There was only so much leading to the water I could do, but if she wasn’t going to drink, I was simply wasting my time. “Can you get a ride?”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
Holly instantly pushed her shoulders back and her breasts out, making it look like they had suddenly inflated. I choked out a laugh, and she swung her hand back and smacked me in my stomach. When I saw the group of guys walking toward us, I knew it was a warning.
Play nice in front of her frat boyfriends.
Cooper Davids and company.
The campus playboy and head douchebag of the frat that Holly’s sorority spent most of their time studying, partying, and fucking with. My nose crinkled, but I managed to catch myself before I rolled my eyes, and it really made my disdain evident.
“Cooper, hey!” Holly greeted them with a skip in her step, her voice all high-pitched and perky.
You could tell they liked it better that way. By the way their eyes were drawn to her, sweeping up and down her body. That squeaky tone these girls put on to try and make themselves seem more fun or feminine or whatever only made them seem less intelligent, like some kind of bimbo who was incapable of forming complete sentences.
And yet, unintelligence soothed guys like these.
Like a pacifier did babies.
All I could think about was how insecure they must be that they needed people, especially girls, constantly stroking their ego, making them feel like they were in charge and bowing to their epic prowess.
This was where Holly and I differed because unfortunately for them, that girl may have been her, but that girl was not me.
“Hey, babe. You need a ride, too?” Cooper questioned. His eyes were on me with just enough of a smirk on his lips that the dimple in his cheek was popping just a little. Thankfully, Ty cruised around the corner and pulled his bike in behind me.
I stepped backward, moving toward the curb with a shrug. “Sorry, babe, my ride’s here.”
“Oh, right,” Cooper drawled, jostling his buddies with his elbow and chuckling under his breath. “You’re the biker girl.”
Pausing, I looked to Holly for a second. Her face was pinched, her eyes directed toward the ground letting me know she wouldn’t be stepping in to object anytime soon or have my back. She had a reputation to keep, but apparently, so did I.
“I’m the biker girl,” I repeated, rolling my eyes. “You must be the frat boy.”
“Holly said you’re shy. That’s the reason you never come to parties,” he continued, raising his voice even louder so not only could I hear over the rumble of Tyler’s ride, but so could anyone in the fucking parking lot. And they were all turning to take notice. “I find that hard to believe for a girl whoring herself out to criminals.”
A surprised laugh fell from my mouth before I could stop it.
You’d think those words would hurt, but they moved straight over me like water off a duck’s back. I didn’t have to be ashamed about my choices, and an asshole like Cooper wasn’t about to make me feel like I should be. I wasn’t hurting anyone, I wasn’t trying to be someone else, and I sure as hell wasn’t pretending like I had a halo hovering over my head—unlike someone else.