The Way to Game the Walk of Shame(11)

“What are you doing here?”

Instead of being deterred by my casual tone, she rolled over until she was squished against me, not even caring that the damp grass was probably making green smudges on the back of her jeans. For a girl who cared about her appearance, she didn’t think twice about sitting on wet grass. Hell, she’d go to school in a chicken suit if someone dared her to.

Lauren pulled my arm away from my side and laid her head on top of my stomach. She laced her slim, cool hand around mine. “I wanted to apologize for leaving the party early. Paul wanted to take me out.”

“Paul?”

“You know Paul. That guy from the prep university I told you about?”

Ah, right. I shrugged. “It’s cool. I found other people to hang out with.”

“So I heard.” She didn’t say anything else, but I could tell something was bothering her. Lauren pressed my hand against her mouth. “You know, you could at least pretend that you’re jealous about Paul.”

That’s weird. She never asked me about my girls, and I didn’t ask her about her guys. It was an unspoken rule between us. “Sorry, so how is the prep boy doing? Did he get his fraternity’s sigma tattooed on his ass yet?”

Her lips curved into a smirk against my palm. “That’s better. And Paul’s fine. I’ll probably see him next week.”

“Good to know that the tuition his parents paid for is being used wisely.”

Lauren laughed, and the weight of her head disappeared as she leaned back on her elbows. She kept holding my hand, though. “So the funniest thing happened in class this morning.”

“Oh yeah?” I played with her fingers, caressing her soft skin and smooth nails. “I’m surprised that you were actually paying attention in class.”

Her grip on my hand tightened a bit. “Usually I don’t, but I wouldn’t miss the chance to see Taylor Simmons taken down a peg or two.”

My hand froze. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, the princess didn’t have her homework to turn in for once.” Lauren giggled to herself. “You should have seen the anxiety on her face when Mr. Peters chewed her out. I could swear she was going to burst into tears or something.”

With a frown, I let go of her hand and sat up. My arms crossed over my chest. “Uh, I don’t see why the thought of another girl crying would be so funny to you.”

She slowly sat up, too. “Because she’s annoying. Everybody was glad to see her get yelled at for once.” The expression on her face was curious as she watched me. Her blue eyes narrowed a bit. “And why do you care? She’s just some random girl you screwed. You didn’t even know her before the party.”

The corner of my mouth jerked into a half smile as I remembered the first time I actually spoke to Taylor. “Actually, that’s not true.”

It was last summer, after Lauren and I had broken up. I was working part time as a lifeguard at the pool when I saw someone flopping around in the deep end. It took seconds for me to swim over and save her. After I carried her out of the water, Taylor spit up pool water in my face and scrambled away after mumbling thanks. I was shocked. No girl had ever treated me that way before. I saved dozens of people in the pool—mainly girls—but she was the only one I remembered from that summer. “Taylor’s not just a random girl. And to be honest, it’s kind of bitchy of you to consider her misery fun.”

Lauren’s mouth dropped open. Even though everyone knew she was a bitch, this was the first time I had ever called her one. I felt kind of bad about it, but it was true.

She brushed her hair over her shoulder and shrugged. “Whatever, forget I even said anything.” Wrapping her hand behind my neck, she pulled me toward her until her lips, her breath, was tickling my ear. “How about we get together tonight? My house? For old times’ sake.” There was smug smile on Lauren’s face. Her blue eyes seemed to be taunting me, urging me to just give in.

I was tempted. Really tempted. Any other day and I wouldn’t have even waited for tonight. I would have buried my face in her hair, pulled her into the locker room and locked the door for the rest of the period. God, I hated to admit it, but my emotions were usually controlled by my dick. But not today. I wasn’t in the mood. “Sorry, as exciting as that sounds, sweetheart, I think I’ll pass.”

She shoved me away and rose to her feet. “Fine. But don’t bother calling me the next time you want to hook up.” With a huff, she stalked toward the parking lot, nearly knocking over Aaron on the way.

“Jeez, what’s her problem?”

“You act like I ever know what she’s thinking.” I let out a sigh and fished my keys out of the pocket of my gym shorts. “Come on, Jill isn’t paying attention to us anyway. Let’s get out of here.”

Aaron was still watching Lauren as she peeled away in her car. “Okay, where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere but here.”





4

{Taylor}


One day at a time. Until it all blew over and things got back to normal again. I repeated the same thought over and over in my head until I almost started to believe it.

When the last bell rang for the day, I jumped out of my seat with joy. Now all I had to do was go home and crawl into my bed, and this nightmare day would be over.