The Freshman (College Years 1)

Hayden nods. Rests her hand against my chest, her gaze on mine. “She’s a big girl. She can handle Caleb. Hopefully.”

“He’s not so bad.” I steal a kiss, quick and fleeting, and I immediately want more. “Though I’m more worried for Caleb.”

Hayden laughs. Rolls her eyes. Rises up on tiptoe and brushes her mouth against mine. “Let’s drink something and then we’ll go up to your room,” she murmurs.

I rest my hand on her perfectly shaped ass. “Promise?”

Her smile is naughty. “Oh yeah.”

The moment we enter the kitchen, I spot Gracie with her fingers wrapped around the neck of a vodka bottle, chugging. Caleb is throwing back a beer, making a smacking noise with his lips when he’s finished.

“Look at you,” Caleb says to Gracie when she sets the bottle on the counter with a loud thump. She wipes any excess vodka from her lips with the back of her hand. “I hope you know how to hold your liquor.”

“I can handle it. Been doing this for a while now,” Gracie says with confidence. She holds the bottle out to Hayden. “Want some?”

“No thanks,” Hayden says, shaking her head. “But I’ll take a beer.”

Caleb hands her one, and then gives me one as well. I crack it up open and take a sip. I plan on nursing it. I want to be relatively sober when I get Hayden Channing all alone and naked in my room.

Because that’s the plan. It’s happening. There will be no holding back tonight. I want it. Pretty sure she wants it too. She keeps looking at me, a secretive little smile curving her perfect lips. I’d grab her and haul her up into my room right now if I could, but I guess we have to make nice for a while.

We drink. We chat. Jackson never responds to Caleb, though he keeps texting him. Gracie’s phone starts blowing up, and she ignores it at first. So do we. Until Caleb can’t take it any longer.

“I’m sure it’s your cheating ass boyfriend,” Caleb says to her. “Check your phone.”

“No.” Gracie shakes her head.

Caleb glances at her butt, then whips her phone out from the back pocket, handing it to her. “Come on.”

“Fine,” she says with a sigh as she opens it up and checks her messages. “Oh God. He’s begging.” She frowns as she reads each message. “He claims he’s sad and he needs me.”

Hayden shakes her head. “Talk to him tomorrow. He’s awful, Gracie. He doesn’t deserve you.”

The phone rings, and Gracie answers it immediately, her expression drawn in concern. “Yes. No, I’m sorry. I didn’t hear my texts come through. What happened? The exec barely talked to you guys? Oh no…”

She walks away with the phone clutched to her ear, murmuring consoling words to the jerk who had another chick’s fingers wrapped around his dick not even an hour ago.

“She’s not one to tolerate a cheater normally,” Hayden says to the both of us.

“He’s an asshole,” Caleb says vehemently, slamming back the rest of his beer before he grabs another one. “Who can’t sing for shit.”

Facts. All of it.

We drink quietly, all of us straining to hear Gracie talking to Robin in the other room. But her voice is too low, and she’s not saying much.

I sling my arm around Hayden’s shoulders, pulling her in so I can drop a sloppy kiss on her forehead. She tilts her head back, smiling up at me. “Ready to go up to my room?” I ask her.

She nods, sneaking her arms around my waist and holding me tight. “Definitely.”

Gracie barges back into the kitchen, grabbing the vodka bottle and taking another long swig from it before she finally speaks.

“The record exec wasn’t interested in them,” she announces. “Robin’s devastated.”

Caleb looks ready to make a smartass remark, but I give a quick shake of my head, and he clamps his lips shut. Thank God.

“Where is he?” Hayden asks, leaning her head against my chest.

“Driving around the Tower District, crying as he talks to me. He wants to come pick me up.” She bites her lower lip, and I can feel the faint shame emanating off her. “He says he needs me.”