Boyfriend Bargain (Hawthorne University #1)(56)

She waves me off and looks down at the monstrous vase of flowers. “You going to get those?”

My heart sinks a little as I study the lush petals. My eyes scan around the lobby. “I’m going to chuck them in the trash.”

Lobby Girl nearly faints. “God, no, please. That would be a crime. I’ll take them if you don’t want them. They’re the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen.”

Julia arches a brow. “They’ll brighten up our dungeon of a room.”

Fine. I give Lobby Girl a smile since she looks so relieved. I glance at Julia. “Maybe they’ll mask the dank smell that comes up from the radiator.”

She pauses as we make our way to the stairwell that leads to our room. “I heard some of the things she was saying to you about Zack…” Her voice trails off.

I pause mid-step. “Oh, shit, please Lord baby Jesus, tell me you’ve never slept with him because I’m just starting to like you and I don’t know how that would work—”

“Especially since y’all were going at it in your closet. Geeze.” She laughs at my mortification. “Yeah, I heard—even with earbuds in—and no, Z and I never hooked up.”

I squint. “But it was one of them?”

Her face hardens, a flat, tight look there, and I realize I wouldn’t want to be on the opposing side against her in a fight. “There was a hockey player, yeah.”

“Which one?”

She twists her lips and shrugs her slender shoulders. “I’ve vowed to never speak his name.”

“That bad?”

She scowls. “Once they cheat, I’m done.”

She’s my sister from another mister. “Been there, my friend.”

She arches a brow. “So. Are you using Zack to get over your ex?”

“Ah, no. My ex has zilch to do with it.”

She raises a brow. “So what’s going on?”

I open my mouth to answer, but I find that I can’t respond. I shrug and she frowns as we walk inside. I set the flowers next to the daisies.

“The sex is incredible, isn’t it?” She gives me a careful look.

“Is it that obvious?”

She nods. “He has quite a reputation.” My stomach clenches at that, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “Just…tread lightly. Don’t fall in love with him.”

No falling in love. That’s the number one rule…

Right.

My gaze roves over the two sets of flowers, one plain and sweet, the other rich and heavy. “He sends flowers to every girl…when he’s done,” I mutter under my breath, trying to reconcile that image of him with the guy who was in my dorm room.

“Exactly.”

I let out a heavy sigh.

How did I get myself in this situation? You know why, Sugar. You wanted him and you let him in and now here you are, just another notch on his bedpost.





27





Sugar





What are you doing?

The text from Zack pings on my phone the next day as I’m rushing to class from the student center. I’m late—as usual—for astronomy, which I took on a whim but has turned out to be a pain in the ass. Who knew studying the stars would be so damn hard?

I ignore the text.

I haven’t heard from you. I take it you don’t like gardenias? You just seemed like a lush kind of girl…

I push my phone down further inside my purse. Part of me knows I need to respond to him, need to address how pissed I am, but right now, I’m not ready.

Inside the little general store at the student center, my hands tighten around my backpack as I pay for my morning sugar, a red slushie drink, and head out to the quad. I brush past a few girls on the way out of the glass double doors, and I’m stunned to see them looking at me and then giving me an assessing, snooty look. I come to a stop right outside the entrance. I swear I heard one of them say Zack. I sigh, once again reminded of his social status. They’ve probably seen his Instagram account where he’s posted some pictures of us. Everyone thinks we’re an item, and here I am dressed for the role of hot girlfriend in leggings, Chucks, and a baggy Welcome to Pawnee, Indiana sweatshirt. My hair is in a messy bun, and all the makeup I had time for was a swipe of Midnight Madness red lipstick. The name is fitting since I barely slept last night, tossing and turning with dreams of Z and my dad.

They’re probably wondering who the hell I am and how I got him. I grimace. I get it; he’s a thoroughbred and I’m a mixed breed, short-haired pony.

Whatever.

I push thoughts of him down deep as I trudge through the early morning crowd toward the law building. My anger builds with each step. He was all into me and now nothing?

A male voice calls my name from behind me and I keep on trucking. Bennett. I’d know that deep voice anywhere.

“Wait! Sugar!”

Nope. I throw a glance over my shoulder, and he’s moving at a full jog on the sidewalk now, brushing past co-eds with his backpack as he runs.

Everyone is staring at him and then looking at me, and I know him well enough to know he’ll just keep calling my name until I stop. Determination is the one common denominator he and Z share. Outside of that, they are completely different.

I stalk over to a bench near an oak tree and wait.