Page 44 of One Bet

“Is there somewhere we can talk?”

I had no home, just enough money to manage a meal a day when I wasn’t working, and the nightly rate at the Come and Go motel.

I looked up from my paper on life choices and consequences in Pretty Woman. “Not really.”

She pulled out the chair across from me and folded her hands in front of her. “The Board of Regents is being pressured by the Association for Personal Integrity,” one of those student-run clubs that judged and would’ve publicly flogged those they deemed unsavory if it had been lawful “to dismiss you for your part…in the umm…”

She looked at her hands then at me. “Video.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what to say. Without this school and my scholarship, I would end up back in Farmville, Illinois, working my shift as a sandwich artist at the local sub shop.

“My part in the video,” I repeated her words but with the bite of disdain for the very notion that I’d been a willing accomplice in their stupidity. “I went to the police and filed a report, but with the boat burned and the Alpha house cleaned out already, the chances that they can prove who made the video or that it was uploaded without my permission are slim.” That was what they’d told me anyway. Although I suspected that these avid football fans weren’t really all that interested in helping me and all Alex and his computer guru buddies had been able to prove was that the IP address for the upload was on campus.

“Either way, if I can’t prove I didn’t have a part in the video creation process, they won’t be able to suggest I did.” Well, they could suggest whatever they wanted. “Not and make it stick, anyway.”

She nodded and sighed. “The Alpha athletes have issued a formal apology for the behavior of their brothers.” Yeah. I’d received a written copy of said apology, it lacked any form of sincerity, but it was better than nothing. “I don’t have any choice but to reopen their house.”

Of course, she didn’t. “I know.”

She laid her hand over mine. “I just want to say, you’ve been very brave through all of this, is there anything I can do for you?”

I smiled. “I could use dorm housing.”

Her brow wrinkled and she slid her tongue along the line of her lower lip. “The dorms are full, presently, but I live in faculty housing and I have a spare room. If that would help.” She shrugged. “I just don’t want to see you give up now, you’re so close.”

My own family had done nothing for me, probably didn’t even know where I’d ended up after high school. But here was this woman, this stranger, fighting for me, offering me a place to stay, and my eyes filled with tears. Maybe I just needed to get the emotions I’d been holding in out. Or maybe I was just tired, but I cried. Then I went to the motel, packed my three new shirts and two pairs of jeans into a bag, and moved them into her faculty college.

26

Keaton

I watched Avery as she listened to this half-brained tale. She stared at Alex and Susie, not buying this ridiculous, but apparently truthful, story. I didn’t care what she believed, I didn’t care about anything but figuring out if we move beyond our past to create a future. I also needed them to leave so Avery and I could talk about it. But before I could suggest that they all leave, there was another knock at the door. Avery looked at each of us before she stood.

“Everyone I know is in this room.” and her chuckle was more wry than joyous as she shook her head and walked to the door.

Ryder didn’t wait to be asked in and shoved past her. “Oh good. The gang’s all here.” Jameson looked at me, his eyes wide and wary, while Avery crossed her arms and shot Ryder a glare that should have melted his skin from his bones. He walked toward the table and I stopped his forward progress with my body. “Hey, tough guy. Just wanna talk to your girl.”

He reeked of alcohol and leaned a little too far left as he cocked his head so that he looked like he was trying to lean against a wall where there was none.

Avery stepped around me. “What do you want, Ryder?”

He looked her up and down, frowned, and glanced at me.

“I don’t know.” His mouth twitched. “I just don’t know.”

Even as he seemed to deflate, I didn’t trust him and moved to stand beside her. I hadn’t been able to protect her from his behavior ten years ago, but now, I would do whatever it took to keep anyone from hurting her. He sat heavily on the couch and puffed his cheeks to blow out a breath.

“Did you know, the only time I was happy was in college?” Avery watched him but didn’t speak. “And then I met you.”

He shoved his finger toward her. “Do you remember that? I was mowing grass at the Chaplain’s house.”

Avery nodded. “Yeah. I’d just got to campus.”

“I carried a box for you.” He sniffed and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I was going to ask you out, but you lived above their garage.”

“I had such a crush on you, I asked Keaton to help me, I wanted to turn into someone you would want.”

He chuckled. “You were the one girl I couldn’t figure out, and then all of a sudden, you’re spending all this time with him, smiling at him, kissing him, spending the night on his dad’s boat with him.” He shot a glance at me. “I was so jealous.”