Chapter Six
Mazey
The clock was ticking.One minute turned to twenty, and twenty turned to an hour, and I still hadn’t heard a single word the professor had said.
My back rested rigidly along the hard plastic of the chair, tucked all the way in the corner of the lecture hall so no one would notice me. My blue ball cap was pulled down to cover most of my hair with my blonde locks spilling out over my shoulders. My t-shirt was nothing remarkable as I paired it with my comfiest pair of jeans, and that was because I didn’t want him to notice me.
Him, as in Ryan.
Cole’s face flashed within, and my heart lurched for a split second before I shook away the thought. I rubbed my finger over my lips, as if I could still feel his along mine, and cursed under my breath.
Focus. Focus on why you’re here.
Ryan sat in the middle of the lecture hall with a few of his friends, none of which I recognized, thank God. They weren’t from Wellington Prep, from what I could remember, so that meant they wouldn’t recognize me.
Not that anyone would really notice me anyway. I wasn’t super popular back in high school or what they called a hopper. Hoppers were girls who hopped into the football players’ beds after a game.
“Are you going to write any of this down, Mazey?” I jumped in my seat, my thoughts of Wellington Prep and that stupid freaking boy that wasn’t so much a boy anymore suddenly vanishing. Sutton was staring at me with one raised eyebrow. “Do you have a crush on that guy or something?”
I sat up a little taller, moving my attention back to our professor who looked as if he was seconds from sleeping on the podium. “What guy?”
“Ryan.”
My pulse raced. “How do you know Ryan?”
Sutton leaned in closer to me, her brown braid tickling my arm. “Everyone knows Ryan. He’s, like, the star of the football team. He even won some kind of award last year.”
Great.
“Oh.”
Sutton pulled back and placed her eyes toward the front of the lecture hall. “So, do you?”
“Do I what?” My nerves were spilling over just with the fact that we were talking about Ryan. She doesn’t know, Maze. Calm down.
“Do you have a crush on him? Is that who you disappeared with on Friday?”
“No!” My voice was louder than I meant, and my face burned. The professor cleared his throat, and I instantly dropped my gaze. “Is he looking over here?”
“The professor? Not anymore.”
No. I didn’t give two shits about the professor. “Ryan. Did Ryan look over here?”
Sutton half-laughed. “No, I don’t think so. Jeez. You’re acting like a freshman in high school who has a crush on the senior football player.” Her shoulder collided with mine, and I bopped a little in my seat. “Don’t be so nervous. Boys like confident girls, not girls who are afraid to talk to them.” She paused, waiting a few seconds. “Although, I heard from a few other girls that Ryan likes to get kinky in bed and likes to…”
My eyes bounced all over my blank piece of paper. “Likes to what?”
The professor’s voice boomed as he ended class, yelling out what our assignment was for the week and some threat about how hard his grading system was, when Sutton finished her statement. “I heard he likes to role play a little.”
An unease settled deep in my core along with curiosity. “Role play?”
Sutton and I both began packing our things, and I kept my back turned toward the rest of the students piling out the door. “Yeah. Well, I don’t know exactly, but I heard he likes them to struggle. He tied up one of my friends a while back. She said it was kind of weird, but he fucked her hard and made her come several times, so…” She shrugged. “Whatever.”
Vomit burned the back of my throat. Did he tie me up that night?
“Hey, I’ll meet up with you later, okay? I gotta ask the professor something.”
“Okay, girl. See you in our room in a few.”