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“What’s going on?” he asks, glancing down at me before his eyes shift back to Matt, pinning him with a murderous glare. Neither one of us answers, and Matt stares darkly at the way Trey’s thumb is tracing circles on my shoulder.
I look around. “Where’s Link?”
“He and Brantley are just talking with our politics prof,” Trey says, still watching Matt closely. But as if on cue, I feel Link before I see him. He steps up beside me, and tension radiates off him in waves.
“You have a lot of nerve, Johnson,” Link growls, taking a step toward him.
I grab his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “Not here, Link,” I plead.
Matt smiles widely. “Better listen to your little whore if you don’t want me to ruin her life.”
This time, Trey lurches forward, and I grab his hand, intertwining our fingers tightly.
“Back off, Matt,” Trey practically spits. “Come near Charlie again and?—”
“And what?” Matt sneers, taking a menacing step forward. The guys are in good shape, but I have to admit that Matt’s hockey build is intimidating. “You can’t touch me at this school, and you know it.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask him angrily, blinking back tears.
“I just want everyone to know what a little slut you are, just like your mother,” he smirks. “You’re certainly making the task easy.” Then he bends down, leveling his eyes with mine. “I suggest you drop these two douchebags if you want to preserve your precious reputation.” Then Matt straightens.
Frustration floods my chest as I watch him stalk away. His words play on repeat in my head. The way he spoke about my mom makes me angry, but a strange sadness settles in my chest as well because after all the years we spent together, he never really knew me at all. My reputation is irrelevant, but losing that internship over this? It would crush me.
“He’s right, you know.” Link says. “We can’t do shit.” He sounds frustrated.
“What if we file a harassment complaint with the police?” Trey asks.
“I don’t think we can prove it’s him who sent the photos.” I fidget with my hair. “We’d have to record him threatening me or get him to admit it through texts. That’ll be hard to do but not impossible, I guess.” I stare at Link and Trey meaningfully. “But you guyscan’tpick a fight with him. We have to find another way.”
“And what if he actually hurts you?” Link huffs. “I think maybe getting the jump on him is justified, babe.”
“Violence is never the answer. You’re such an alpha male sometimes,” I say with a resigned sigh.
Trey snorts a laugh, his fingers relaxing in my grip. “Sometimes?”
Lincoln gives a small smile, the tension in his body easing. “It’s part of my charm.”
We walk toward the library entrance, and I glance at Link. “I’m not sure charming is a word I’d use to describe you.”
“What do you mean? I can be charming.” Lincoln frowns. “How would you describe me?”
I tap my chin thoughtfully as we sit down at a table near the front of the building. “Moody, confusing, definitely possessive…”
“A picky eater, and doesn’t play well with others…,” Trey cuts in.
Link glares at his friend. “Okay, asshole, I’m not a toddler.”
“I would add grouchy,” I say with a giggle.
Link’s dark stare turns to me as Trey barks a laugh, earning a scowl from some nearby students. Link sets up his laptop and pointedly ignores us, though I see the smile playing on his full lips.
I pull out my notebook, trying to act normal, but underneath our banter, the tension from our encounter with Matt hangs heavy, and a sense of helplessness washes over me when I realizethat Matt was right: he’s untouchable, and I’m not. Working as an editor in New York has been my dream for a long time. Can I sacrifice everything I’ve worked toward to be with Trey and Link, or more importantly, should I? Anxiety swirls in the pit of my stomach when the answers elude me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
TREY
“So Charlie said she’s coming to your place tonight?” Link asks for the millionth time. We’re back in Brighton for Christmas, and we made plans to see Charlie later. “You have no chill. Maybe we should have waited a couple of days. Don’t we seem kind of desperate or something?”
