Page 20 of One Bet

“What’s your family going to say?” What would my family say? My mom would probably fall right in love with this place, but it was wrong. I needed to go back to Chaplain Dunn and beg his forgiveness for my behavior on the street in front of his house. Maybe if I waited until morning, that little vein in his temple would stop throbbing.

“My dad probably doesn’t even remember he bought this boat.” He chuckled and let go of my hands to turn and open the refrigerator. “Look, there’s even food.”

I didn’t care about deli-sliced ham or bottles of imported beer. My rose-colored glasses slipped down my nose and realization of where I was standing came into sharp focus. I’d heard the rumors, on campus, they called this yacht The Love Boat because it was where all the Alphas brought their women. It was probably the boat Susie had ridden on with the Alpha who’d humiliated her. Oh, shit. It was Keaton, I should’ve known. Nothing that felt this good could be right, it just wasn’t how my life worked.

I couldn’t even look at him, the need for revenge burned through me. Not for myself, but for Susie. I pulled out my phone and dialed. As soon as he answered, I walked back out onto the deck leaving Keaton to his galley of food and tawdry props, wherever he had those hidden. “Alex, can I stay at your place tonight? And for a while?”

“Yeah. Why? What happened?”

Oh, the shame of my story, I wasn’t quite ready for the show and tell. “Can we talk about it later? It’s a shitty story and kind of embarrassing. I want to figure out how to sugar coat it before it gets to you.”

He chuckled. “You bet. I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

Alex lived in an off-campus apartment so far away from the Alpha house I’d never have to see it or Keaton again and first thing tomorrow, I would drop my film class. Then, find ways to get to and from all my other classes without any chance of running into him.

Now that I had a plan for tomorrow, I only needed to figure out how to get to Alex’s apartment. Taking an Uber or Lyft from the marina to the other side of town would eat up the last of this month’s allowance, but no way was I getting back into a car with Keaton Shaw, a user of women and liar to the nth power. I used the app and then the stairs to get the hell off this boat and onto the dock. He could just keep the damned clothes he’d already carried inside. Alex would let me borrow something to wear.

He caught me at the edge of the dock. “Did I forget something in the car?”

In my own clothes, not this Barbie doll-reject costume, I would’ve been able to tell him to kiss my shiny ass, but I’d stopped being myself right around the time I had this stupid idea about Ryder and enlisted Keaton to help me. For a second, I missed the innocence of my own stupidity.

“No.”

He chuckled. “Then what are you doing? Come back to the boat. I made you a sandwich.”

“I didn’t ask for a sandwich.” I bit the words out, each syllable laced by fury and venom…maybe with a smidge of hurt.

“I know. But…it’s been a long night. I thought you might…”

“Well, you shouldn’t think. It doesn’t go well for you.” Okay, now I was getting there. “You brought me back to your little love boat thinking I’d be so grateful we’d just get down and fuck, right? Then you could throw me away like you did, Susie.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t throw anyone away.” He reached for me, but I jerked my arm to my side.

He could play dumb if he wanted to, but I knew what happened, the videos, the threats, and what I didn’t know, I wasn’t afraid to make up for effect. “She’s the girl in the video. The one you whirled around the ocean in your fucking boat before you took her back to the frat house, screwed her, then humiliated her by having your friend throw her a 20 dollar bill.” And right then I would’ve not been too proud to take his money to get the hell away from him.

He huffed out a breath and turned, running his fingers through his hair before he spun to face me. “Couple things before you go. First, I didn’t, and sure as shit didn’t have someone, throw money at anyone. And second, I don’t know shit about any video.”

And I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. “Third, I can’t drive this boat around the ocean, look at it.”

He jabbed his finger toward the boat. “It’s too fucking big for one person to captain. A crew brought it here.”

Okay, it was big, but why have a boat just sitting in a marina that couldn’t be driven. It didn’t make sense and that made him a liar. Again. “I don’t know how you did it or the logistics of moving a boat that big, but I know my friend got hurt…by you and your friends.”

“I didn’t hurt anyone.” He shook his head. “Have I ever treated you like I don’t worship the ground you walk on?”

“That’s your act, it’s why all the girls love Keaton Shaw.” A campus truth.

“Yes, and you can ask anyone I’ve ever dated. I would never do something like that.” But something flickered in his eyes.

And it dispelled whatever little bit of logic had been trying to make its way through to the front of my brain. So, logic be damned, I went with emotion and revulsion and anger that was quickly turning to sadness. “Except to Susie.”

“Who the fuck is Susie?”

“A little redhead you brought back to the Alpha house, banged brainless on camera, then sent out to be laughed at by all your Alpha asshole friends.” I couldn’t grasp the depths of her humiliation while I was almost drowning in my own. How could I have been so blind? So stupidly trusting? “I never want to see you again.”

He threw his hands up and walked four steps then came back as my ride pulled up. “Avery, wait. Please don’t go.” He held out his hand even after I crossed my arms. “Please. I can’t stand that you think this about me. It’s killing me that you think I would be the guy who behaved that way.”

“I don’t know you well enough to know whether you would or not.” I knew how he tasted. How his body felt under my hands. How he made my blood burn and my panties almost dissolve. But I didn’t even know his middle name, or where he lived before college, if he had brothers and sisters, or if the way he treated me was an act and he truly was a womanizing asshat.