Page 5 of One Bet

“I should go.” But I probably needed to apologize for whatever I’d done to flood her house and…God only knew what else. “Avery, about last night…”

She cocked an eyebrow and I reconsidered my apology in favor of something that involved our lips touching and our tongues dueling and if she’d given me one other signal to go ahead, I would have marched over and laid a kiss on her that would’ve rocked both our worlds, but she didn’t even smile. Apology, it was.

“I’m sorry for…” I wasn’t even sure how much I needed to be sorry for. “Flooding your place?”

“That was me. I forgot to turn off the tub before I answered the door.” She wobbled her head back and forth. “And a little bit you because you weren’t the ‘Good News’ guys.”

I didn’t understand that, but it came with a smile, so I didn’t mind not knowing what she meant.

“Well, sorry anyway. And for showing up here. Uninvited.” And while I was being honest… “But I didn’t think an invitation would come, and I wanted to see you, but now that I know you have a boyfriend, I’ll leave you alone. I don’t want to ruin anything for you. Or for him.”

Or for me. I wanted to get the hell off this campus and go home.

Her face went pale and her smile lost its dazzle. “I, uh, I appreciate that.”

I wanted to ask her if everything was okay, more specifically if she was okay, but I didn’t. I chickened out because I didn’t want to hear that I was making her uncomfortable, not because I’d so much as touched her, but because I didn’t belong here. “Okay. Well. I’m gonna go.”

Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have cared that she had a man in her life. I wouldn’t have walked away either. I would have pulled her against me so our bodies lined up in all the best ways, kissed her the way I wanted to, and let her know without ever saying a word that I was here to stay, that I wanted more. I wanted the way we were the one night we spent together and maybe some of the better times of those two weeks.

One Decade Ago

Having Avery look at me with such trust was a responsibility that made my shoulders sag. How could I let her down? But damned if I wanted her to end up with Ryder. He would hurt her, it was his signature move. And it would be my fault.

But she’d dragged me to the beauty salon for her big makeover. First, they’d given her some makeup to cover up her tattoos because no Sigma would ever desecrate her body with ink, and Ryder only dated Sigmas. But I was man enough to admit that seeing all those luscious lines and body art on Avery made my dick hard. But since she’d licked that salt off my neck at Hilly’s, everything about her made my cock stand in hope of a more intimate inspection of her tats.

She looked up at me, smiled, and I almost lost my shit. I wanted to kiss her. Instead, I shoved my hands in my pockets as she held her hair out. “Blonde right? All the Sigmas are blonde?”

I shook my head. “Lacey is a brunette. Kinney is a redhead. You don’t have to be a blonde, maybe you can just tone this down a little bit.”

She chuckled. “I don’t want to use a chunk of my savings on toning it down. I want to be bold and shocking. I want to be platinum.” She would look great bald or gray-haired or however she decided. The beauty in her was more than attractive facial features, somehow though, she didn’t see it.

The beautician’s eyes went wide. “Are you sure, honey? It’s going to take a while.”

Avery nodded. “I’m positive.”

It took three hours, then four, then five. The foil came off of her hair bringing the ends with it. “Shit.” I couldn’t help it. There were orange strands of hair sticking up, other pieces a lighter coral color trapped in the foil. I didn’t know Avery’s temper, from the looks of her, it would be lethal, but she just breathed out of wide-open lips.

“Oh my God. I look like a pumpkin head.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “What the fuck?”

If I had to describe her tone and her eyes and the downturn of her mouth, I would have gone with hopeless.

I put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.” Not that I knew how. Hair took a while to come back and she had clumps missing and what was still there was orange and gummy looking.

She sat up.

“Easy for you to say. You’re gorgeous and you get every girl you want.” Her hands shook in front of her. “He’s never going to look at me now. Unless it’s to laugh at me.”

I wanted to tell her that he was absolutely the kind of guy who would laugh at her, but I was afraid she’d call off our deal and shameful behavior or not, I still needed her help to bring up my grades so I could stay eligible to play. I looked at the stylist then back at Avery.

Probably sensing a full-on tantrum, the beautician left the shampoo room and came back not more than a second later with another woman. This one was a few years older but she had short blonde hair streaked with strands of auburn and black curled around her face. Her makeup was thick but highlighted her cheekbones, round eyes, and full lips.

“Hello. I’m Reba. Let me take a look.” She circled Avery with her index finger against her chin. “I can work with this.”

Reba nodded once then ran her fingers through what was left of Avery’s hair. Nothing more came off in her fingers and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. The last thing Avery needed was to see more of her hair come out, but before I could offer any reassurances, Reba spoke again.

“You have a beautiful face and you’ve been hiding it. I said that to Micha when you walked in, didn’t I?” If she had, Micha was too stunned to do more than a nod. “I think a nice pixie cut, something like Michelle Williams favors. And don’t you worry about the color. I can fix that, too. You will be rocking platinum in half an hour.”

I didn’t buy it, but more, Avery didn’t buy it. Unless tears streaming down her cheeks and a runny nose meant she was believing in the power of this woman to work some sort of miracle, I knelt in front of her. “What do you want to do?”