5. Weston

The day passes with people leveling looks my way, giving me a glimpse of Whitney”s experience. People whisper and turn away, but the craziest thing happens in the cafeteria. Quinn and a few of his teammates approach me while I”m in line waiting to pay for my food.

”Still going to break my hand?” Quinn whispers in a maniacal tone that tells me no matter what I say, this is going to end in a fight.

”No.” I raise my voice loudly so as many people as possible can hear me. ”I only wanted to break the hand you used to drug my girlfriend last night. What the fuck were you thinking? You”re lucky that Whitney doesn”t want to press charges. I still have the cup?—”

I don”t, but I can convince this idiot to believe anything.

”I still have the cup she drank out of with only your prints and hers on it with the drugs at the bottom,” I tell him in a low enough voice so only he and his teammates can hear me. I hope they talk some sense into him. A few of them walk away while another taps Quinn on the shoulder to do the same.

Quinn doesn”t take the hint. ”You fucked up my night. You probably fucked up my season.”

”It”s April and we”re seniors. There is no season after graduation unless you were magically drafted to the Special Teams bench of a team no one knows about.”

The bruise to his ego is evident with the redness covering his face. He balls his fist. I immediately put my tray of food down beside the cashier. I don”t want my food wasted. I”ll take it cold but not knocked all over the floor because this Neanderthal has a problem with me.

The moment Quinn swings, I duck out of the way and use his burly size to nudge him into the counter where the cashier sits. The force of him hitting the beige island makes the cash register shake. The cashier doesn”t move, steadily blinking in nonchalance. I grab Quinn by the back of his collar and hook him in a full-Nelson. My arms lock under his arms and around his neck to the back of his head. The shades of red and blue blooming across his face enrage him.

”Let me go,” he spits and slobbers, tapping my arm to release him.

”I will, but this fight is over. I have class and then I have to meet my girl for dinner later. I can”t show up with a black eye. Whitney doesn”t like me fighting, especially over her. It”s taken too much for us to get here, and I”m not going to let you fuck it up.”

I”m leaning into the role of her boyfriend to make sure people believe it, but I hope she”s doing the same. Quinn nods in agreement, so when I let him go, he shoves me back. I give that to him, letting myself fall against the cashier”s counter with my hands raised in defeat.

Once Quinn walks away, I notice one of his teammates hanging out, and I nod to him. I hope he doesn”t want to fight me over this shit. Instead, he chuckles and approaches me with his head down.

”I know Whitney is your girl and all, but I heard she”s going on a date with Dicky Balls tonight. You may want to see what that”s about before you risk your life defending her honor.” The footballer walks away, leaving me reeling with anger.

She only has one job to do, and still, Whitney finds a way to fuck it up. I text her immediately through the school”s social media app. It”s stupid, but it”s the only app she hasn”t blocked me on. I like to think of that as a triumph.

Dick and Balls. Really?

Stupid autocorrect. I wait for her to respond, but nothing comes through.

Instead of waiting, I grab my tray of food and hustle over to her dorm room. I”m sure she”ll be stopping by at some point. In the meantime, I make myself comfortable in the lobby, sitting low in an armchair and eating my food.

When she walks up to me, I”m barely paying attention as she stands with her hip cocked to the side and arms folding across her chest.

”What the fuck, Weston?”

”Is that how you greet your man, baby? Come give us a smooch.” I tease her and reach for her waist. She”s ticklish, screeching in mild delight before letting her facade of annoyance recover.

She pulls out her phone to show me the screen with my message. ”If this is how you talk to the women in your life, I can see why you”re single.”

I huff and stand, gesturing for her to lead the way. ”I”m not single, Whitney. You”re my girlfriend, remember? Now, start acting like it and bring me to your room.”

The way her eyes narrow, scrunching together in disapproval, gets me excited for what we can do in her dorm room. Room 309.

As soon as the door closes, she”s yelling at me. ”What the fuck why? Dick and balls? What does that mean?”

”You”re going on a date with Ricky Ballinger tonight.”

Her face sulks. ”How the hell did you know that?”

”Because his name is Dicky Balls. Richard, Dick, Ballinger, Balls. Dick and balls. What the fuck, Whitney? We”ve only been a couple a few hours, and you”re already cheating on me.”

”I”m not cheating on you. I did what you asked and spoke to my dad. The only way he”d agree to grant you an interview was if I agreed to go out with Richard.”

”Dad?” That”s news to me. It can”t be, but I need her to confirm what she just said. ”Who”s your daddy?”

She shakes her head with a slight grin. ”If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

”Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye.”

”That”s gross, but it”s Harland.”

”Wait, no, absolutely not. Harland Adams is your father?”

”Yes.”

”The billionaire benefactor who gives you a shit ton of special treatment is not your sugar daddy, but your biological one?”

”Yes, and in order to secure an interview for you, I had to agree to go out with Rich. His family, according to my dad, is very important to his business.” She shrugs it off as if what she”s saying is no big deal.

”Wait. People think that y”all are fucking. That y”all having nasty ass sex all over this campus, and you”re not telling people. Why?” Confusion ripples through me because if a man like Harland was my father, everyone would know. Hell, people know I”m a Whitlock and my family only has a portion of the wealth that Harland has.

”Because it”s a lose-lose situation for me.” She sighs. ”People think he treats me differently because we”re fucking. The reason he treats me differently is because he left my mom before she told him she was pregnant with me. When he found out, I was about twelve or thirteen. I told him this was the school I wanted to go to and he”s been throwing money at them ever since. I get accepted and he gets a library named after him.”

”Shit. That”s fucking news to me.”

”And it needs to stay with you, Weston. People thinking I”m a slut or that I sleep around is easier to deal with because I can always say no?—”

That guts me because, in the heat of last night, she told me to stop, but I didn”t. Fuck. We”re alike and different in so many ways.

”We”re horrible people, you know?” I tell her, my eyes betraying the guilt, gripping me by the throat. ”Look, I”m not interested in spilling your secrets, especially when we only have a few weeks left for the semester. Just stick to our plan and after graduation, we”ll only cross paths at your father”s company.”

”Yeah. Please don”t say anything to anyone about Harland. Being a slut dies after I graduate. Being Harland”s daughter is literally going to follow me for the rest of my life. I want to make my own way. Having his help is great, but I still need to do things on my own. Which means I have to go out on this date with Richard, and you”re going to be okay with that.”

”Like hell I”m okay with that. No one else is dating my girl, Whit. You belong to me whether you realize that or not.”