Page 48 of Cruel Promise
All of that stopped once I introduced T as my girlfriend.Problem, meet your solution.Everything else is history. The guys know the situation, though. They shouldn’t act surprised she’s my date, and no way should they believe I’d consider taking Kasey.
Required attendance or not, asking Kasey would make it a date. A very public, very real, date. I’m no idiot. And a date with Kasey Henderson is never going to happen.
FOURTEEN
KASEY
It’s early, the sun is too bright and cheery for my liking, and everythinghurts.
And when I say everything, I meaneverything.
My back is on fire. My voice cracks when I talk because my throat is still raw from screaming last night. I can hardly feel my leg muscles as I walk to class. They’re like jelly. I keep waiting to fall on my face.
And that wonderful place between my thighs. Yeah, she’s not feeling so wonderful right now. And don’t even get me started on my ass. Oh. My. God. My cheeks heat just thinking about what I let Dominique do to me, and the traitorous hussy living between my thighs clenches like she’s ready to do it all again.
I was exhausted after last night’s events and slept through my alarm. By the time I woke up, I had less than twenty minutes to get to class.
I took the fastest shower of my life, got dressed, and ran across campus to get to my first class on time. My professor was not impressed, but I made it, and after my first class ended, he called me aside and gave me a get caught up plan. I have an insane amount of homework and reading to catch up on, but it looks like all of my teachers are willing to offer make-up assignments and extra credit opportunities.
I should be relieved. My professor took care of all the arrangements. I don’t have to go through the motions of explaining my circumstances to my other teachers and, most importantly, to Mr. Fisks. Who I already knew didn’t like me and probably likes me even less after Deacon carted me out of his class the other day.
This way, I already have all the assignments and just need to email them to the appropriate professor as I complete them. As long as I get everything in by the end of the semester, I’ll be fine.
Twisting my still wet hair into a messy bun, I head for Fisks’ classroom. Deacon’s already here and, like before, I drop into the vacant seat beside him.
“You look…” He takes in my wet hair, bare face, and oversized sweater. I’m wearing shorts too, but the hoodie is so big on me you can’t tell. Not my best look. Nor are the mismatched shoes, but I was in such a rush this morning that I didn’t realize I’d grabbed two different colored converse sneakers. One red and one black. At least they’re the same brand. “Better.”
I crack a full-faced smile. “Thanks.” And pretend he didn’t finish that statement in his head with a different word.
Better. Ha. I look like one of the late night Walmart shoppers people like to take pictures of when nobody is looking so they can make memes about them before blasting them all over the internet, but sure, we’ll go with better.
“What’d you do last night?” he asks.
Trust me. You do not want to know.Out loud, I tell him, “Just hung out in my room catching up on homework.”
He nods. “Did you get it all sorted out?”
“Yep.” Leaning down, I grab the notebook I use for this class and dig around the bottom of my bag for a pen.
“Do anything else besides homework?”
Finding one, I sit back up and toss it on my desktop, ignoring the dull ache in my lower back from leaning over. “Nope.”
Deacon makes a weird sound in the back of his throat.
“You okay there?” I ask.
Lines bracket his mouth and I catch the flash of annoyance on his face before he turns away from me, directing his gaze to the front of the class. “I’m fine.” His words are clipped, ice all but dripping from his chilly tone.
“What just happened?”
A tick forms in his jaw. He doesn’t look at me as he says, “Nothing. Thought we agreed to be friends, but you cleared that up for me.”
I did what? “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I didn’t. One second things are fine and the next Jack Frost over here is making an appearance and giving me the cold shoulder.
“You lied to me.”
My mouth drops open. “When?”
