Page 24 of Notorious Man on Campus

“Hey wait a minute. Let’s take a picture.” Before it registers, she has her camera out and she snaps a selfie of us standing in front of my bedroom door, her hanging onto my face and draped against me. Nyla rushes forward then.

“Didn’t they tell you at the door? No cameras.” Nyla snatches it from Willow’s hand.

“Hey you can’t take that.” Willow grabs for it and Nyla tosses the phone to me. I catch it above my head and I refrain from saying good toss, but I think it and she nods like she’s reading my mind. Shit. I turn to Willow.

“I’m out of here,” Nyla says and turns to go back down the stairs to the kitchen. I don’t stop her, but I take Willow’s arm and lead her down the hall to the front stairs with the intention of escorting her directly to the front door. She stops and pushes into me again.

“You don’t really want me to leave do you, Brick? Why don’t we go to your room and have some fun?”

“Not tonight. You’re drunk.” I take her arm and she grabs my balls and gives a squeeze.

“Fuck, Willow.” I push her away, sucking in a breath because it hurts like a motherfucker.

“Did it hurt? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just want to have some fun.” She comes back and I catch her wrist before she can grab me who the hell knows where this time.

“You’re going home, Willow.”

“Let go of me, Brick.” Her voice is suddenly loud and I freeze. “You’re hurting me.” I drop her wrist and she grabs her phone back. “I can’t believe you did that.” Her voice is unnaturally loud.

“What the fuck. I didn’t—”

“Let me leave, Brick,” she says, backing away.

“Go. Please,” I say, pushing a hand through my hair, regaining my cool. “And don’t bother coming back.”

“Is that how you treat all your girls? Toss them aside if they don’t give you what you want?”

“What kind of game are you playing?” I say equally loudly, afraid I know exactly what kind of game it is, thankful when I hear a door open and one of the guys headed my way. She looks past me and I don’t need to look to know one of the guys has my back. She darts a glance back at me and runs down the stairs, not looking half as drunk as I thought she was. Fuck.

I turn to see Roman at my shoulder and next to him is Nyla.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Roman frowns.

“I saw the whole thing,” Nyla says. My head buzzes as I stand calm on the outside and churning on the inside, digesting the possibilities of what it all means.

“That was all about the vengefulness of a woman scorned, Roman my man.”

“Shit.”

“Go back to doing whatever the hell you were doing. Crisis averted.”

“She had a phone,” Nyla says after Roman trots back to his room and some chick, no doubt.

“What did you see?”

“Everything. How she grabbed—”

“I get it.” I take a deep breath. “She’s up to no good.”

“She was drunk. She won’t remember it tomorrow.” I don’t bother arguing with the glass-half-full attitude, but I know better. It should make me feel better that I have a witness, but it doesn’t.

Because my witness is my worst enemy, the one person I trust least on the planet.

“I should check to make sure she left,” I say and jog down the front stairs. I have a conversation with the doormen, Ozzie and Winston and let them, and everyone else within earshot, know that Willow is banned from all future parties because she violated the rule of no phones. That sets up a murmur.

Going to the front window, I check the front yard and street to see if she’s on her way home, but sure enough, I find her lingering in the driveway, phone in hand. I need to send someone outside to watch her and make sure she leaves. Looking around, I see Nyla in the doorway about to step outside.

“Where are you going?” I stalk to her.