AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A grin tears across her face. “Hallelujah. There is a God,” she cheers before getting back to her conversation with Austin. “He’s a lawyer, just what you always pictured for her.” There’s a slight pause before she starts again. “Oh, stop. You’re so dramatic. Learn to roll with the punches. Besides, isn’t this what you wanted? If she falls in love with a cute lawyer, then she’ll forget about He Who Shall Not Be Named, and she will have no ground to stand on when you accidentally fall into my bed.”
I shake my head, my cheeks flaming with embarrassment. “I, ummm . . . I’m sorry you had to hear all of that,” I tell Harrison. “But really, you don’t need to feel obliged to ask me out. Just getting my lunch is more than enough.”
Harrison nods. “I don’t feel obliged,” he says. “I was serious. I would love to take you out, but I can see we’re not on the same page. So instead, can I give you my number, and when you inevitably change your mind, you can ask me out?”
“Oooh,” Becs says to Austin. “He’s cocky. I like that.”
“Would you hang up the phone already?” I ask her.
She just grins, but I turn my attention back to Harrison and reluctantly agree. “Okay, fine. You can give me your number, but for the record, I won’t be calling it.”
“Uh-huh,” he says in that same cocky tone, only now his eyes sparkle with amusement, and it makes something flutter deep in the pit of my stomach. Not in the way that Izaac always has, but there’s definitely potential there.
Clearly seeing my phone is currently occupied, Harrison grabs one of the unused napkins and steals a pen off the counter before writing his number down and handing it to me. “Don’t accidentally lose it,” he says. “Otherwise, I’ll be forced to knock on every single door around campus until I’ve found you.”
I can’t help but laugh as I take the napkin from him, and as if on cue, my new chicken caesar wrap shows up. He takes it from the poor woman who had to remake it before offering it to me. “Enjoy your lunch,” he tells me with a wink, and with that, he strides out of the salad bar, his gaze sailing back to mine as he rounds the corner and makes his way out the door.
“Hoooooly shit,” Becs says. “He was perfect. What the hell is wrong with you? You know he’s going home to jerk off over you in the shower.”
Becs flinches before cringing. “Shit, sorry,” she laughs, clearly speaking to Austin. “Forgot you were there.”
I roll my eyes and steal my phone back as we finally make our way out of the salad bar, and I’m not going to lie, I can’t help but watch Harrison as he strides back toward campus. “Was your birthday the only reason you were calling?” I ask Austin, more than ready to give Becs a piece of my mind.
“Yep,” he declares. “Unless you’re ready to talk about whatever was stuck up your ass for the past few weeks, or are you over that?”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Don’t you dare—”
I press the little red button before letting out a heavy sigh and sliding my phone into my back pocket. “Holy shit. He’s impossible,” I say, wondering just how quickly my shirt can dry in this blazing sun.
“He’s impossible?” Becs laughs. “Have you looked in the mirror lately? You just had the perfect guy ask you out, and you turned him down. What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you were in yourwho the fuck is Izaacera?”
I cringe as we find a tree that offers just enough shade and drop our asses to the leaf-covered grass. “I mean, I might not quite be in mywho the fuck is Izaacera anymore.”
“What?” she grunts, her head snapping up as her honey-brown gaze zones in on mine. “What the hell are you talking about? The whole point of our night at Vixen was to fast-track your detox. What the fuck, Aspen?”
“Ahh shit,” I mutter, feeling like a shitty friend for having kept this from her, but I know her too well, and if she thinks the only reason I didn’t accept Harrison’s date is because I can’t get over Izaac, then she won’t let up. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past her to trick me into actually meeting up with him. “Promise you won’t freak out?”
“Huh? What haven’t you been telling me?”
“And you also have to promise never to even whisper a word of this to Austin because he will literally kill me.”
“I swear to God, Aspen, if you don’t hurry up and tell me whatever the hell is going on, I’m going to ram my fist up your vagina, yank out your ovaries, and drag you around campus by them.”
The cringes come in hard and fast, and even though she never promised not to tell Austin, I don’t need to worry about that. She’ll keep this secret as long as she lives. “You know that night we went to Vixen?” I start. “And I slept with that guy in the dark room?”
“Yeahhhhhh,” she says slowly.
“Sooooo . . .” I swallow hard, feeling my mouth go dry. “Turns out Izaac owns that club, and it wasn’t a stranger in the dark room.”
I watch her facial reactions as she starts piecing it together. First disbelief, then shock, and then— “HOLY FUCKING SHIT! YOU SLEPT WITH IZAAC?” Her eyes are wide as she continues to process, getting wider by the second. “YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING V-PLATES TO HIM? Oh my God. I need to lay down.”
Becs collapses into the grass, her hand braced against her chest, and I remain quiet as I allow her a chance to process everything. It doesn’t last long before she throws herself to her feet and starts pacing in front of me. “When did you find out?” she asks. “No.Howdid you find out?”
I cringe again, and honestly, if this were the Cringe Olympics, I would take the gold. “Umm . . . So, about that,” I say.
“Spit it out.”
