33

Adam

Hard Conversations

The party was over for the night, and it officially ended when Piper ran out of the bar, wrapped her hands around the garbage can outside, and threw up hard enough to make the bouncer gag. I'd been through frat parties with Kassie, Zariah, and June. I knew the drill.

"It's okay." I gathered her thick blonde hair and held it up while she retched again. "I know."

" Why?! " Piper demanded when she could gulp air again. Her shoulders slumped before she threw up a third time.

If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. I didn't even want to believe it. How stupid was that? It wasn't like Xavier had enlisted in a tongue-wrestling competition with a hot brunette at the bar. There was no rational explanation.

We just saw June. She hadn't dyed her hair since then.

Piper stumbled away from me and sank to the porch's steps. I made her promise she wouldn't try to crawl home and bought a water bottle from the bar.

And snap a picture of Xavier. He didn't even notice.

Motherfucker.

After the conference was said and done, after everything finished, and we were back at Marrs University, I had to tell June.

Except I'd never been in that position before. I'd been in the photos, where girls pieced it together themselves. Not knocking on doors to ruin weekends. What the hell am I going to tell June?

"What are we going to say?" Piper whispered, taking a small sip of water.

"Let's keep this quiet until after the conference," I said, sitting next to her on the porch. Piper gave me a long look that I couldn't figure out. I frowned. "What?"

"We need to say something."

"Right now?"

"I can do it."

"No, that's not a good idea." I ran my hand over my face, trying to sober up. "Ice princess, we weren't drinking fruit juice in there. We can't…can't we wait until the conference is over? Tell her when we get back to Marrs?"

Piper stared back at the ground. "The conference is over , Adam."

Yeah. It was.

Shit.

I called a taxi and paid in cash, the only money I was certain Cleo couldn't track. No doubt they were keeping a close eye on my bank statements, to make sure I didn't dip out of the conference and get into some dumb shit. Well, I had no intention of proving their suspicions correct. The only thing I could think of in the back of that cab was the conversation ahead.

"What are we going to say?" I sighed, leaning back against the seat.

Piper pressed her lips together and gazed out the window. "I don't know."

Campus was quiet. No one walked the sidewalks as Piper and I fell into an uncomfortable silence. We were way too shit-faced to come up with anything good.

"Hey?" Piper grabbed my arm when we approached their door, her face ashen. "You're right. Let's give her the night."

I shook my head. "No, this is…we have to do this."

"I think I'm too drunk—"

"You're fucked-up, dude."

Piper squeezed her eyes shut. "I've never …oh my god. What are we doing?"

"Guys?" Zariah opened the door, with her hair up in a towel. She yawned. "What's up? The meeting just ended. Want to watch a movie?"

I rolled back my shoulders, trying to feel more sober than I actually was. "We need to talk to June."

"What? Why?"

Piper leaned in. "We're doing this."

"It needs to be done," I confirmed, pushing open the door.

The two of us took our place in their dorm, a hell of a lot nicer than ours, and found June painting her toenails with her hair in a towel too.

"Matte finish or gloss?" June beamed at us, holding up two bottles.

"June," Piper said and swallowed. She tried to say something else but she only exhaled.

What the fuck am I going to say?

June smiled so sweetly, it made my stomach hurt. "What is it?"

Fuck. This was harder than I thought.

No words came to me. All I could do was fish out my phone and swipe to the picture. Piper and I stood like two kids who'd gotten in trouble in the principal's office while June frowned, tugging the phone back to her. She scanned it quickly. Only her eyebrow raised.

Did I even take a picture?

Oh shit. Maybe I didn't take the picture .

The color drained out of her face. Her hand flew to her mouth and hit it. Hard. Not that she seemed to notice. Her entire body shaking scared me the most. She literally couldn't stop shaking. Zariah tried to ask what was happening, but June was already in tears and collapsed on the comforter, sobbing hard.

Holy shit .

"What the fuck?!" Zariah pushed me aside and grabbed my phone. She swore even louder. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, that bastard—"

June crumpled. She cried so hard, she couldn't breathe.

There was nothing I could say. There was nothing to say.

I thought I would've come up with something to smooth everything over, but nothing came to me, and Zariah shooed both of us out of the room. June didn't even want details.

Piper and I found ourselves in the little lounge outside of their room, sitting on two shitty chairs with the fabric halfway ripped off, silent. It didn't feel right to go back to our dorm.

My hands felt too cold, and no matter how hard I rubbed them on my pants, the circulation didn't work. A headache pounded right behind my eyes, and I knew without a doubt, if I went to sleep, all of that would go away. But I couldn't do that. Why? I didn't know.

Or maybe I didn't want to admit it to myself.

This other side was the shittiest place in the world to be in.

"I want to beat the hell out of Xavier," I managed to say, my voice a rasp.

Piper was listless. "They'd know it was you."

"I know."

We were quiet again, and she nodded, slowly. "Me too."

"This is my fault," I admitted. "Xavier gave me that list, but I didn't know he'd be hanging out there." I opened my phone and stared down at the list of the bars he typed out and his cousin's address for his Clemenza. I clenched the phone. "If I hadn't said anything at all—"

"This isn't your fault," Piper mumbled.

"What the hell am I going to tell King?" I put my head in my hands. "Their relationship might be for the cameras but they're best friends. King might actually kill Xavier."

It wasn't like that made me feel any better. King had his run-ins with the law before he got to Marrs. If he as much as laid a finger on Xavier, there'd be hell to pay. Especially from how much the football program covered for him and expected him to stay on his best behavior.

I shook my head. "I want to do something."

It was silent for long minutes, but when I looked up, Piper gazed at the wall, her eyebrows knitted in contemplation. Slowly, she cocked her head to the side. Her eyes met mine again.

She didn't look upset anymore. Her gray eyes turned to hard steel.

I frowned. "What?"

"I think…I have an idea," she whispered.

"You're drunk."

"I am," she readily admitted, "but that doesn't mean the idea isn't a good one."