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But Ashton doesn’t response with a snort or a chuckle or anything close to humor. His expression is a mask of sincerity as he leans in to lay a tiny kiss on my bottom lip. “As long as you know.” And then he’s kissing me deeply again.
And I instantly fall back into oblivion.
“Maybe I’m not too sore,” I manage to get out around his hungry yet gentle lips. With a groan, he shifts his mouth downward along my throat, my chest, my stomach, stirring my need for the tenth, hundredth, thousandth time since we landed in his bed.
And that’s when the knocking begins again.
“Ace, open up! I know you’re in there.” There’s a pause. “I can’t find Livie. She’s not answering her phone.”
Shit.
Co
I haven’t thought of him once. Not once since stepping into this room last night.
“If you don’t open this door in two minutes, I’m going to use the damn key.”
Ashton and I look at each other, the fire between us doused like a bucket of cold water on a pit of flames.
“Fuck,” Ashton mutters under his breath, glancing around. My clothes are strewn everywhere.
We roll off the bed and begin collecting them. Co
“Here.” Ashton hands me my jacket. I thank sweet heaven that I decided on my long black coat last night. It will hide everything but my heels and my black stockings on my way back to my dorm. “Go hide in the bathroom. I’ll try to get rid of him,” he whispers, kissing me gently.
I scurry in just as we hear Co
“I’m coming!” Ashton hollers.
Closing and locking the bathroom door quickly, I hold my breath as I quietly begin dressing. I can hear them outside perfectly.
“Jesus, Ashton, cover your junk. I already feel like puking,” I hear Co
I hear a dresser door slam, and I assume Ashton is pulling on at least a pair of briefs. Even in the present stressful situation, that conjures a visual—one where I’m prying them off him the second Co
“You . . . alone up here?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Well, you missed a good party from what I remember. Which isn’t much.” There’s a pause. “I think I fucked up with Livie.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath as anxiety slips through my core. I don’t want to be listening to this.
“Oh yeah? That sucks.” Ashton is phenomenal at pretending to sound uninterested.
“Yeah, I think I might have come on a bit strong. She left the party early and she’s not answering my calls or my texts.”
“Just give her time to cool down.”
“Yeah, I guess. But I’m going over there to see her today. I need to know things are okay.”
They’re not, Co
And he’s given me the perfect excuse.
I can blame Co
Taking a deep breath, I turn to look at the reflection in the mirror—at the woman in black thigh-highs and I-just-lost-my-virginity-and-then-some hair, hiding in a bathroom while her boyfriend is on the other side, worrying about her with his best friend, the dark and broken man whom she has fallen madly in love with. And all this person can think about is how she’ll avoid admitting to all wrongdoing.
I don’t recognize her at all.
I hear that heavy sigh of Co
My body hunches in on itself as if just punched. Ohmigod. He just said it. He said it out loud. Somewhere deep in my subconscious, I was afraid of this. Now it’s real. I think I’m going to be sick. Seriously, I am two seconds away from diving to the porcelain bowl.
This. Will. Crush. Him.
And Co
Ashton’s irritated tone surprises me. “You don’t love her, Co
My reflection nods her head back at me. She’s agreeing with Ashton. That’s right. Co
“What are you talking about? It’s Livie. I mean, how can you not love her. She’s fucking perfect.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. Too fucking perfect, Co
There’s a long pause, and then I hear the bed creak and Ashton’s heavy sigh. “Yeah. I’m sure she’s fine. You should go and check out the campus, then. Maybe she’s at the library.”
“Yeah. You’re right. Thanks, bro.”
The lightest sigh of relief escapes me as I lean back against the wall.
“I’ll try her one more time on her phone.”
My phone.
Fuck.
I watch the reflection in the mirror of this girl—this foreign woman—go from a slightly pale complexion to stark white as Co
It rings and rings and rings. And then it stops.
Dead silence.
Deader than dead. So dead that I could be the last person left in this world.
And then I hear Co
“She swung by to say hi and forgot it, I guess.” Ashton’s a fantastic liar, but even he can’t pull that one off.
The sound of footsteps approaching has me shuffling away from the door.
“Livie?”
I purse my lips tight and clamp my hands over them and close my eyes and stop breathing. And then I count to ten.
“Livie. You need to come out here right now.”
I shake my head, and the movement dislodges a stifled moan.
“I can hear you, Livie.” After another long pause, he starts pounding on the door, rattling the entire wall. “Open the damn door!”
“Leave her alone, Co
It stops the pounding but not the yelling. The yelling only gets more vicious. “Why is she hiding in there? What the fuck did you do to her? Did you . . .” There’s a strange jostling sound in the room. “How drunk was she when she came up here, Ash? How drunk?”
“Really drunk.”
I glare at the door. What? No, I wasn’t! Why would he say that?
There’s another long pause. “Did you force her into anything?”
With a resigned sigh, I hear Ashton say, “Yes. I did.”
I feel like someone has just struck a match and stuck it into my ear, hearing words that turn my beautiful, remarkable, unforgettable night with Ashton into a drunken rape story. I instantly know what Ashton is doing. He’s making an excuse for me. He’s making himself out to be the bad guy. To take all the blame for what I initiated. What I wanted.
I throw the door open and storm out. “I was not drunk and he did not force me into anything!” The words come out in an angry gasp. “He has never forced me. Never once.”