AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jesse had said the same thing when he’d told me about Radleigh, but he obviously cared what happened to Jesse or he’d never have rushed to London to make sure he was okay.
“Well I’m sure Jesse appreciates you being here all the same.”
The front door opened, filling the potentially uncomfortable silence that was about to descend on us since we’d run out of conversation, and Hunter and Willow walked in, both shivering from the cold. They were laughing about something, but when Willow noticed Radleigh, she stopped abruptly and let out a scream. Hunter and I burst out laughing, while Willow hid behind her hands.
“Did I miss something?” Radleigh asked, his lips curling into a slightly confused grin.
“No, no,” Hunter said, “Just that Willow here thinks you’re … what was the word she used? Oh, that’s right, ‘wow.’”
“Hunter!” I said, still laughing as Willow’s cheeks began to flame, “Stop embarrassing her!”
Radleigh began to laugh too. “Good to meet you, Willow.”
Willow slowly let her hands drop to her sides, but her cheeks continued to glow. “Nice to meet you too,” she mumbled.
“Where have you guys been?” Radleigh asked, and right away, my admiration for him doubled. Instead of letting Willow squirm, he changed the subject to take the focus away from her blushing.
“Willow took me to lunch at Covent Garden” Hunter replied. “It was pretty cool. I hope we can go there again before I leave.”
Willow smiled. “Me too.”
She looked at Hunter in a way I’d never seen her look at a guy before, and although she was flustered by Radleigh’s presence, I got the feeling she would rather have Hunter than McCoy.
“Willow, would it be okay if you helped me with this stupid Christmas card thing for college?” I asked. “It won’t take long.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
She gave Hunter another beaming smile, cast an embarrassed wave in Radleigh’s direction, then followed me up the stairs to my bedroom.
“Oh my God!” she squealed, throwing herself onto my bed. “That was … brilliant and weird at the same time! You could have warned me Radleigh McCoy was going to be here!”
“I didn’t know. I also didn’t know you were coming back with Hunter.”
I raised my eyebrows, silently asking her exactly what she was getting up to with my cousin.
“So,” she said, ignoring me, “what did you need help with?”
“Nothing!” I laughed. “I handed the project in today, I just wanted to get you up here so you can tell me what you’ve been doing all afternoon!”
I also needed a distraction from whatever Georgia was saying to Jesse in the kitchen. I felt as though she planned to confess, but I’d misjudged her several times over the weekend so I couldn’t be sure. After the way Mischa had acted, and almost punching me in the face, if Georgia didn’t tell the truth, I’d have to do it myself.
Willow let out a sigh of happiness, unmoving from her position on the bed, her blonde hair splayed around her head. She was the living version of bliss, and I quickly pulled out my phone and took a photo of her so the feelings of the moment were recorded forever.
Chapter Seventeen – What Happens In The Locker Room, Stays In The Locker Room
Jesse
“I’m so sorry, Jesse.”
When Isabelle cried in front of me, it broke my heart. When Geogria cried in front of me, it was almost as hard to take, except I didn’t feel the same tugging in my stomach that made me want to comfort her. Especially when she’d just confessed to having a part in me being drugged.
She told me everything. How Mischa had scored some Rohypnol from God knows where, and Georgia planned to slip it into Leon’s drink to ‘teach him a lesson.’ How she couldn’t go through with it, and how she’d lied to Izzy and made her promise not to tell.
I knew Georgia was sorry. It wasn’t just the tears. I’d hung out with her for the last few weeks, and I knew she wasn’t the kind of girl who took huge risks and broke the rules. Sure, she cheated on her boyfriend with a sleazeball, but aside from occasional poor judgement, she was basically decent.
Happy as I was that she told me the truth, the bottom line was, Mischa didn’t deserve to get away with what she’d done. If I let it slide for Georgia’s sake, how long before she tried it again? Maybe I was being too sensible, but the idea that someone else could get hurt – or worse – if I stayed quiet was one I couldn’t live with.
But it was hard to follow through with Georgia weeping in front of me.
