Tutoring the Player (Campus Wallflowers #1)(68)

“What’s wrong?”

She starts to speak, and the tears well until one dares to fall down her face. I wipe it away.

“I messed up,” she finally croaks. Her body shakes as she cries.

I run a hand along the back of her hair and cradle her to my chest. “I doubt that.”

“I did.” She tilts her head up to look at me with black smudges under her eyes. Her gaze falls to my shirt and tie. “You look so nice, and I just cried all over you. You even shaved.” She brings a hand to my cheek and lets her nails lightly scrape across my jaw.

“Tell me what happened, baby?”

“I should have talked to Violet before moving everything here. She wouldn’t come.”

“Why?”

“Because of Gavin. I should have asked her before I did anything.”

“You were trying to save the ball.”

She nods. “Still. He hurt her. I knew that, and I blew it off and assumed it wouldn’t matter. I let her down, and now she won’t even see all her hard work.”

“If you’d done nothing, she wouldn’t have either.”

“Except in that case, my best friend wouldn’t hate me.”

“I doubt she hates you.”

“She said some awful things. She yelled them, actually.”

“She yelled at you?” The thought of anyone yelling at Daisy makes adrenaline boil under my skin. “You didn’t deserve that.”

She takes a deep breath and steps back, scanning the room. Sadness tinged with disappointment lingers in her expression.

I hold out a hand toward her. “Dance with me?”

She tilts her head to the side, considering it. She steps into me and rests her head on my shoulder as we move to the beat.

“Thank you. For today. For this. Just… thank you,” she says.

“Anything. Always.”

I don’t know how long we hold on to one another before the song changes and the heavy bass of the music outside starts up.

“Gavin’s party,” she says. “You better go make sure the birthday boy has a good time.”

“Come with me.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be very much fun tonight. Plus, I’m wearing this.” She lifts up the skirt of her dress with two hands.

“You look gorgeous.”

“I’m way overdressed.”

I adjust my tie. “No, you’re perfect. They’re underdressed.”

“I should stay.” She chews on her bottom lip. “Or go talk to Violet.”

“Okay. Well, in that case, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Stick with the girls, okay?”

She nods. “Sorry to be a major bummer.”

“Never. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You don’t have to rush. I know what your friends mean to you.”

“You’re my friend, remember?” I wink and drag the pad of my thumb along her bottom lip until she frees it from her teeth. She’s so much more than that. I forced my way into her life for all the wrong reasons, but somehow she’s become the most important thing.

I leave her with Dahlia and Jane and go downstairs to find Gavin. He’s easy to spot in the back yard. A circle of people are gathered around him cheering him on as he takes a shot of something that makes his lips curl and his eyes squeeze shut.

Liam’s among the guys watching on.

“Hey,” I say as I step up beside him.

He grins at my outfit. “You look nice.”

“Thanks.” I jut my chin toward Gavin. “How many shots is he in?”

He holds up his phone and swipes through his photos showing me the evidence of each of the four shots Gavin’s taken already.

“How’s the party upstairs?”

I shake my head. The noise around us gets louder as someone else thrusts a shot in Gavin’s hand. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

After his fifth shot, we take the birthday boy away from the liquor. At this rate he’s going to be passed out before midnight. We play washers and beer pong. His teammates throw him in the pool. It’s a good time, but I’m struggling to enjoy it, knowing Daisy is upset.

I’m in the kitchen nursing a beer when Gavin comes back downstairs in dry clothes. I pull out the bottle of Jägermeister I bought him from the freezer, a big red bow on top. “Happy twenty-first, man.”

“Pour it up,” he says as he runs a hand through his wet hair and takes a seat on one of the stools at the big ass island in the middle of the room.

I do and slide one his way. I hold up my glass. “Happy birthday.”

He clinks the bottom of his shot to mine and tosses it back before saying, “I really screwed up, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“Violet.” He pours another shot and swallows it.

I shrug. “She doesn’t like you. That’s for sure. Though she doesn’t like me all that much either.”

“She’s worried about you hurting her friend. That’s different. You’re paying for my sins. I’m sorry about that.”

I’d rather gnaw off my own arm than hurt Daisy, and I tell him that because I can’t tell Violet. Not that she’d believe me.

“Go check on your girl, Thatch. If Violet’s upset with her, then she’s probably a mess too.”