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But it wasn’t Aspen.
I squinted out at Pick, disappointment making my chest hurt. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He rolled his eyes. “Apparently I’m your babysitter. Zero and the virgin are worried shitless about you. They don’t think it’s safe for you to stay alone right now, and since they’re both working tonight, I got elected to watch your unstable ass.”
“Safe to stay alone?” I repeated incredulously. “Just what the hell do Ten and Hamilton think I’m going to do? Hurt myself?”
“Hey, I told ’em you were a big boy, but...” He shrugged. “Tenning insisted. I think the kid’s got a big ol’ man-crush on you.”
With a heavy sigh, I stepped back and opened the door wider for him. “Well, you might as well come in if you’re not going to leave.”
“Uh...” Instead of stepping forward, Pick took one backward. “Actually, could you come with me instead? I had plans before my Save-Gotham Batman light went off to come running to your side.”
Snorting out a laugh, I shook my head. “No way, pal. I’m not following you around on some raunchy date. I don’t play third wheel.”
He chuckled. “Contrary to popular belief, I do not get laid every night of the week. And lucky you, you happened to catch me on an off night. Mason needed help fixing up an old turd car he bought. I was headed over there tonight to check it out.”
“Lowe?” I lifted my brows with interest. “I didn’t know you two had gotten so cozy.”
“Yeah, we’re a regular pair of BFFs now.” Rolling his eyes to match the dry sarcasm in his voice, Pick explained, “When he learned I also worked at an auto body shop, he asked for my take on his new ride, and I offered to look at it. That’s where I was headed when your boys called. So...are you coming along or what?”
I paused. I didn’t want to be gone in case Aspen came back, but hell, I knew she wasn’t coming back. When that realization hit me, I clenched my teeth and looked away. Suddenly, I didn’t want to hang around here all night, feeling sorry for myself.
“Sure,” I muttered. “Let me clean up first.”
***
“So what’s up with you and Professor Girlfriend? I’m guessing you guys split since we’ve all had to rearrange our schedules for you and now I’m stuck on suicide watch.”
I glared over at Pick from the passenger seat of his car, some souped-up classic he had no-doubt fine-tuned to perfection. “You’re not on—look, I’m not going to do anything to myself. I’m fine. But yes, we’re...” The word caught in my throat and I had to rasp, “…over. It’s been a week, but I’m past it.”
Okay, I wasn’t past it at all. But I no longer felt the urge to get drunk and crash her class anymore. That was, if she still had a class to crash.
Shit. The guilt slammed into on me all over again. She was gone, and it was my fault. I wiped a hand over my face, surprised to find my fingers shaking.
“Then why are Larry and Curly still worried about you?”
“Because they’re pussies?” I guessed with a disgusted sigh. “How the hell should I know?”
“Well, what happened?”
Drumming my fingers against my knee, I turned to gaze out the side window.
“Might as well tell me,” Pick cajoled. “I’m going to bug the piss out of you until you do.”
I sighed and glanced at him. “Some anonymous person sent a picture of us together to my coach, and she got axed.”
“Well, fuck,” Pick breathed out quietly. “Why didn’t you get into trouble, too? Or did you?”
My jaw hardened. “The picture only revealed her face. Mine was cropped off.”
“Wait. Then how did they even know it was a student she was banging? If they couldn’t see you, she could’ve been fucking anyone.”
Grinding my teeth, I pushed up my sleeve to show him my tattoo. “Back in October, about a dozen of us got these the night before our big national championship game. It was the only clear thing you could see of me in the shot.”
Pick glanced at the tat, read it carefully, and snorted out a laugh. “National champs? Didn’t you guys lose that game?”
“And didn’t I say we got them the night before?” I muttered, pushing my sleeve back down to cover the humiliating mistake, a mistake that had ended up costing Aspen her job.
