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“What?” I scrunch my face up. “That doesn’t even make sense. How was that ever going to play out the way you wanted it to?”
“I don’t know!” Dani bursts out, the tears running down her cheeks. “I was desperate. Anyway, that man, Darren, I think? He asked why you were coming, and I told him you and Colt were planning to take the money he owed you.”
“You what?!” The blood leeches from my face as her words sink in. “You gave Darren a heads up that Colt and I were on our way to steal from him? Fuck Dani! What’s wrong with you?”
A memory of Barbie’s face on stage and her warning that they knew I was coming flashes in my mind. It makes sense now.
“I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. The stealing part wasn’t important to me, so I didn’t think anything when I said it. I didn’t know they’d go after Colt or I wouldn’t have said it. I thought they’d stop him at the door, then when you came back out and broke the news that you got your job back, he’d be mad that you chose stripping over him.” Dani is hiccuping with loud sobs. Tears are streaming down her face and her nose is running. The boiling fury in my veins turns to a simmer. This girl truly has bigger problems than I ever gave her credit for. She’s delusional - making up fairytales for how she expects life to go and being surprised when it doesn’t work out.
“They could’ve killed him.” I say, watching her face. “Do you realise the danger you put him in?”
“I do now! I was so shocked when I found out what happened to him.”
“You pre-warned a strip club that some guy was on his way to steal money from them. How else would it go down?” I clench my hands into fists at my sides, resisting the urge to shake some sense into her. “He wasn’t even the one who was stealing from them. You threw him under the bus for nothing.”
“I’m so, so sorry.” Dani says through noisy sobs. “How can I ever make it up to him? And to you, too?”
I uncurl my fingers and flex them, then lean against the railing again, looking out over the backyard. She’s infuriating. The girl is a danger to anyone who meets her. But at the end of the day, Colt was in that strip club because of me, not Dani. She continues crying loudly next to me while I try to think. Eventually, an idea comes to me.
“I know how you can make it up to Colt,” I say, turning back towards her. “Here’s what you’re going to do.”
Chapter37
Colt
Ilean back in my chair and stretch. I’ve been studying at my desk for hours and I feel like I might finally be ready to take my test tomorrow.
Five weeks ago, Dean Pritchard summoned me out of the blue. He told me how Sassy had marched Dani into his office and told him he needed to hear something. Dani confessed to the dean that she had been targeting both me and Sassy with her bullying, spreading rumours, and to my surprise, she confessed she played a part in the incident at the strip club.
I guess Pritchard feared the fallout that would happen if word got out that students were being bullied on his campus and he didn’t believe them when they tried to tell him, and it ended with one student in the hospital. So, he offered for me to take make-up tests and hand in extra credit assignments to get my grades up before the end of semester. If I pass, I can graduate when I always planned, instead of coming back next year to finish some subjects.
I was elated after my meeting with him and not only because he was giving me a second chance. I foolishly thought there was a glimmer of hope for Sassy and me. Her rescuing me like that means she still cares, right? Wrong. She continued to ghost my attempts at contact until I eventually accepted we were over. The best thing for me was throwing myself into my studies.
Months’ worth of missed work hasn’t been easy to cram into the past five weeks. Add to that, my brain can’t seem to stay focussed. How ironic. Everyone accused Sassy of being my distraction, but she’s even more of a distraction when she’s not in my life. Every two minutes of study turns into five minutes of missing her.
But I persevered and kept my head down. I’ve even been declining going out. Because I’ve been healing and studying, my mates have understood. I have one last make-up test tomorrow. At the end of the week, I’ll find out if I’ve done enough to pass my courses.
Running a hand over my glum face, I admit to myself that I’m not even sure I care if I pass or fail. All I really care about is Sassy and having her back in my life. She’s made it clear as day where I stand with her, so I know it won’t happen, but I still can’t stop thinking of her. I saw her yesterday, from a distance. When she looked up, our eyes met across the quad. Then she turned and walked in the opposite direction. Not only is she finished with me, but she’s actively avoiding me as well. Message received loud and clear.
My phone that is sitting somewhere on my desk rings, pulling me out of my thoughts. It’s probably the guys trying to convince me to come to the party they’re at. They understand why I haven’t been going out, but that doesn’t stop them asking. I think they’re trying to get me out of the funky mood that’s settled over me permanently.
I grab my phone from under some papers and see that it’s not one of my mates. The number is from Sydney. I take the call.
Ten minutes later, I fall back onto my bed and let out a stream of air. A business firm in Sydney just offered me an internship. So that’s it then. I’ll be leaving here in a few weeks’ time, straight after graduation. Whether I pass or fail.
Weeks ago, during a slump after being in the hospital, I decided on a whim that I needed a change of scenery. So I applied for a bunch of internships all over the country. The offer I just received was from my first choice and is close to my hometown. I had always planned to move home to Sydney after finishing uni.
Now, I have mixed feelings about it. I’m excited to be finishing with my studies and starting on my career. But I was hoping to fix things with Sassy first. If I go now, will we ever see each other again? Will she even care? I have a feeling she won’t.
Chapter38
Sassy
“What do you want to watch now?” Chase asks, reaching for the remote. I shrug, not caring. I’ve barely taken notice of anything we’ve watched so far, anyway.
He uses one hand to surf the channels while his other hand pulls me down so that my back is resting against his chest.
We’ve been spending a lot of time together lately. Our old no-strings-attached agreement morphed into a friendship version of the same thing. I miss Colt and need the distraction, and Chase seems happy to provide that distraction for me. We haven’t been fooling around. For someone who was always so highly sexual, it surprised me when that part of me flicked off like a switch after I ended it with Colt. So I’ve been spending time with Chase and he’s been trying the moves on every so often, but we haven’t gone there. Maybe I should just screw him and see if it helps push Colt out of my mind. I settle back against his warm chest and laugh when he stops his channel surfing on the movie Magic Mike.
