26. Parker

CHAPTER 26

Parker

T he venue for the sorority’s spring formal was decked out in decorations to match the Moonlight Masquerade theme they’d picked. Everything was midnight blue and silver, and everyone was grinding and dancing in the middle of the room, under a ceiling of twinkle lights that almost looked like stars.

There were sorority girls and their dates everywhere, most in long, floor-length dresses and carrying masks, but in all honesty, I barely noticed them.

I only had eyes for one girl.

The one on my arm, whose eyes were wide as she took in the decor. The one who looked like a fairy princess tonight in her pink dress that sparkled with each step.

Audrey’s sister was somewhere in the room—along with Cam, Ella’s boyfriend, whom I still hadn’t met—but I was content to just stay in our little bubble.

Because when it was just us, it was real. When other people were around, it was all an act. That felt backward, but it was true.

Some of her sorority sisters waved over at her, shouting her name. I recognized two of them as Suzie and Peggy, who I’d seen often over the last few months.

She gave me a tight smile. “I’m gonna go say hi.”

Audrey was one of the most outgoing, extroverted people I knew, but I also knew how draining it could be for her. How she felt like she had to be happy all the time. That her role was to be the peppy, cheerful one.

There was a reason I liked my space. That I took longer to make friends, to warm up with people. I was perfectly happy staying behind and reading a book instead of going out to clubs or parties. But for her, I’d gladly put on a suit and tie.

I pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll go grab us something to drink, and then if you need me to rescue you, just give me the signal.”

Audrey raised her eyebrows. “What’s the signal?”

Chuckling, I leaned over, dropping my lips against her ear. “You’ll know, baby .”

Her cheeks turned the sweetest shade of pink as I walked away, heading to the refreshment table. I noticed she watched me go, her eyes glued to my ass.

I was definitely teasing her about that later.

“Having fun?” Ella asked me, coming to stand next to me.

“Depends on your definition of fun,” I laughed, watching Audrey talk in an animated fashion, her face practically glowing with happiness. “But yeah. I am.”

She gave me a small smile. “You’re good for her.”

“I hope so.” Filling a glass with punch, I took a sip. The likelihood that someone had spiked it, considering all the fraternity guys here, was high, so it was worth a taste test first.

My girl’s twin nudged my side. “No, you are. Audrey’s always smiling, but for a while there, I could see how sad she was behind it. And then you came back into her life, and she started laughing again. You mean a lot to her, Parker. You always have.”

“Thanks, Ella. She’s lucky to have you as a sister.”

Ella shook her head. “I’m the lucky one. She’s always been the one that dragged me along to everything. Even joining the sorority was Audrey’s idea. But I’m grateful because it led me here. If I hadn’t been president, who knows if Cam and I would have met or ended up together? And Cam… he’s it for me. I know he is.” She bit her lip. “Audrey’s got a big heart, but she’s also a hopeless romantic. She dreams big. Just… don’t break her heart, okay? I don’t know if she can pick up the pieces a second time.”

Don’t break her heart? “That’s the last thing I want,” I reassured her.

Not that Ella had any idea what we were really doing. How we’d promised each other that we wouldn’t fall in love with each other. That none of this was real. For her.

It was fake for her. Even if it wasn’t fake for me. Not anymore. It hadn’t been in a long time. Maybe not ever.

Because I’d wanted Audrey Rose ever since she walked back in my life.

“I care about her,” I told Ella. “I always have.”

When had I started loving her? I didn’t even know. All I knew was I’d felt this way for a long time. I’d loved her growing up, but it was different now. I was in love with her.

“I know.” She squeezed my shoulder, looking around the room. “I gotta get back to Cam, but have a good night. Take care of her.”

“Always,” I promised.

“Night, Parker.” Ella waved to me as I wandered back over to my girl.

I found her surrounded by even more girls than before, everyone laughing and smiling. I looped an arm around her waist, pulling her against me. “Having fun?” I whispered in her ear, holding out the drink I’d brought for her.

“Hi, baby,” Audrey said, taking the glass from me and sipping at the punch. The girls all giggled at our open display.

Pressing a kiss to her neck, I let her finish the drink before taking the empty glass and setting it on a nearby table.

“Want to dance?” I asked Audrey, holding out my hand to her.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Sorry, ladies.” I flashed them a perfect grin. “I’m going to steal away my girl now.”

“Have fun!” Suzie shouted after us.

“But not too much fun!” Peggy added on.

Audrey wrapped an arm around my waist, practically collapsing into a fit of giggles as we headed to the dance floor.

Once her hand was in mine, my other resting on her waist as she leaned against my shoulder, I took in her expression. Eyes bright, a sparkle in them as she stared up at me.

“You good, Audrey?”

She nodded. “Even better now. But thank you for saving me from the interrogation.”

“Of course.” I chuckled.

“They were asking me about you , you know.”

“Oh?” Smirking, I pulled her in tighter against me. “What about, sunshine?”

She ran her tongue over her bottom lip. “I’m not sure you want to know, Dream Boy.” Her voice was breathy, and damn, I liked it when she called me that.

“Oh, now I definitely need to know, Rosie Girl.”

She fiddled with my suit jacket as she hummed against me, both of us swaying in time with the music. “If you really must know, they brought up the night you stormed into the bar and carried me out of there. Pretty sure they were just jealous.” Audrey patted my chest like she was feeling me up. “I mean, have you seen yourself?” She whistled. “Whatever girl you end up with is going to be really lucky, Parker.”

“Right.” My face fell. Because the girl I wanted to be with was standing right in front of me . Fuck. How could she not know that I wanted her? That she was the only person I saw when I imagined my future?

Because you haven’t told her, my brain reminded me. Because you’re scared of losing her.

Both of those things were true.

We kept dancing, moving in a slow circle

“Anyway, I didn’t tell them about anything else between us.” Her cheeks were pink. Fuck me, why did I have to find it so damn adorable? “I didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, you know.”

“And what is the wrong idea, Audrey?” I brushed my nose against hers. “Just so I know. So we’re on the same page.”

She bit her lip but said nothing, her violet eyes holding mine.

I dipped my head, lowering my words to barely more than a whisper. “You didn’t want your friends to know I know what you look like when you come, hm? How you’re such a good girl for me, fucking my fingers and imagining I’m filling you up? That all I can think about is the fact that I’ve tasted you—twice—but I still haven’t seen you naked? Or is that not something your boyfriend would think about?”

Audrey’s breath stuttered when she responded, “I thought we were taking things slow.”

“We were.” I pushed my stiff cock, already aching in my dress pants, against her. “But maybe I don’t want to do that anymore, Audrey.” Because I already knew I wanted her. That I wanted this. I wanted her to want that, too.

“I thought we were pretending,” she said with a gasp. “That this was f-fake.”

“Does this feel fake to you?” I groaned against her mouth. “I’m so tired of that word, Audrey. I think we should retire it from our vocabularies.”

“You’re my best friend,” she insisted. “I can’t lose you.”

“Audrey.” I squeezed her hand, looking around the two of us, and then pulled her off to the side. “You’ll never lose me. Okay?”

“Okay.” She nodded.

I wanted to tell her more. About how I felt about her. That this wasn’t fake for me. That I loved her. But it was too soon, wasn’t it?

Ella told me not to break her heart.

So instead, I just kept her in my arms, letting the music say the words I couldn’t.

Hoping like hell that she’d choose to stay with me once all of this was over.

That I was enough for her.

Because she was the only one for me. And she always had been.

APRIL

“Can you try the lift one more time?” Mary asked, biting the end of a pen as she watched Audrey and I. We’d been practicing this piece of choreography for months, and today, we just weren’t nailing it. Maybe something was off.

Maybe it was just the aftermath of this weekend that had us off-balance.

We were deep into technical rehearsals, and I couldn’t believe how close we were getting to the actual musical performance.

It was insane to think that pretty soon, performance week would be here. Honestly, part of me couldn’t wait for it to be over so I could breathe again. The last few weeks, I’d had three or four hours of lacrosse a day, plus four hours of musical rehearsals.

I’d barely had time to spend with Audrey. Normally, we had dinner together, though sometimes that was just spent in silence, shoveling food in before we headed to the theater building.

And what would happen when this was all over? Would she still want to do this?

I nodded, and Audrey looked at me, frowning. “Can we have a moment first?”

Our student director nodded. “Sure. Let’s take a water break.”

My girl grabbed my wrist, pulling me offstage and into the wings.

“Are you okay?”

“I—” I thought about the unanswered text on my phone. I’ll be there for the game next weekend. Can we get together and talk? Did I want to see her? To talk about what had gone wrong in our relationship? No.

I just wanted to move on. Castleton had been my fresh start, and I was happier now. It wasn’t just Audrey, though feeling like I had finally found my person certainly helped. The guys back at my old school had been like my brothers, and when that trust had broken, when they’d taken Raf’s side over mine, it had hurt.

“Honestly, no.” I scratched the back of my head. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind. It’s messing with me.”

She wrapped her arms around me, unprompted. “I’m here for you, you know. Whatever you need.”

I kissed the top of my forehead. “Thank you. Best girlfriend I could have asked for.”

Her eyes glittered with emotion. Maybe she noticed I didn’t say fake .

Tilting her chin up, I stared into those violet irises for a beat before pressing a soft kiss against her lips. “It’s my ex.”

“Your ex?” Audrey repeated.

“Yeah. She texted me. Apparently, she’s coming to the game this weekend.”

“What?” Her eyes widened, and she furrowed her brows. “But… why?”

I sighed. “That’s the question of the hour, really. I guess she wants to talk.”

“Do you think she’s trying to get you back?” Audrey wrapped her arms around herself. She was wearing a pretty pink wrap sweater over her dress today, all of her hair piled on top of her head in a tight bun except for her bangs and a few strands in the front.

God, she was beautiful.

A snort slipped from me before I could stop it. “She’d be stupid to try. I don’t want to be with her.”

Audrey fidgeted with her sleeve. “You don’t?”

“No.” I curled one of her loose strands of hair around my finger. “I don’t.”

I didn’t want my ex—I wanted her. I hoped she knew that.

She let out a breath. “Okay. Should we go try that lift again?”

Kissing her again, a little deeper this time, I intertwined our fingers. “Yeah. Let’s go, sunshine.”

Her smile was enough to brighten my entire day, all thoughts of my ex and my former teammates coming here forgotten for now.

My heart was racing as I stood in midfield, waiting for play to resume. It was the third period of the game, and we were up by two, but it wasn’t a big enough lead for me to feel comfortable. We’d won the last face-off, but lost the ball, and the opposing team had gotten the last goal.

We both had our best face-off players out there—Taylor for CU, while Dallas, one of my old buddies, was on the opposing side. The two met in the middle, leaning down toward the ball as the ref made the call, holding position until the whistle blew. Finally, we were back in play, both battling for the ball. Taylor pulled it away, sending it towards me, and I was immediately in motion.

Scooping up the ball, I rocked it back and forth with the head, keeping it in place as I raced to the net. The shot clock was ticking, telling me I had less than sixty seconds left to attempt a shot on goal.

I could see Samuel out of the corner of my eye, ready to take the pass as the other team’s players caught up with me. Lining myself up to send the ball to him, Raf came out of nowhere, swinging his stick forcefully at me, taking the wind out of me.

The ball fell to the ground, and I winced, thankful for all the protective gear on my head and chest. Though I was sure at the angle he’d gotten me, I’d have a nasty bruise on my arm later.

A whistle blew, thank fuck.

“Rhode Island number thirty-three, two-minute penalty for slashing!” The ref made the hand signal, and Rafael glared at me as he headed to the penalty box.

Samuel came up to me, patting me on the back. “What the fuck was that for? That felt personal.”

I took a long pull from my water bottle as I sat on the bench. “It was.” How could I explain my girlfriend had cheated on me with him? I didn’t know why he was trying to get revenge on me, though. It should have been the other way around.

Except, I didn’t care. Maybe I should, but I didn’t.

He raised an eyebrow as Derek came over, standing in front of us. “You good, Maxwell?”

I nodded. “Will be, after we kick their asses.”

“That’s my boy.” He pumped his fist in the air. “Let’s get ‘em.”