Tangled (5 page)

But no, she persisted and stuck around
like a stubborn weed that returned no matter how hard he yanked at the roots.
He tried turning their class against her. For every success, another two would
rise to her defense.
  

As if taken by some exotic species, his
friends fell prey to her poison. Beguiled by her looks and her lack of a
romantic interest in anyone but Cameron, the guys tripped over themselves to
impress her. Charmed by her lack of overall social grace, conceit, and
etiquette, the girls embraced their new pet project.

By graduation, she’d successfully wormed
her way into his clique and Cameron’s life. Hardly a conversation went by where
he wasn’t singing her praises, something that became disturbingly obvious
during their trip to India.

His friend was falling fast, if he hadn’t
already. Adonis would have to act quickly to curtail the avoidable.

It was the least he could do for a
friend.

He
removed the cigarette tucked behind his
ear. “You want me to play nice,” he said with bland insouciance.

“Would it kill you?”

Cupping a hand against the breeze, Adonis
lit its end. “And if it did?”

“Then maybe transferring here was a bad
idea.”

Fury baked the back of his neck. “So
you’re choosing her over nineteen years of friendship?”

“This isn’t about choosing sides. It’s
about you learning to treat someone I care about with respect,” Cameron said,
blue eyes diamond-hard. “Wasn’t that part of the reason why you moved back?”

“Wasn’t like I had a choice.”

He rolled his eyes. “You always have a
choice, so stop crying.”

Smoke tunneled from his
nostrils. “As you wish, mother goose.”

Cameron opened and then
subsequently closed his mouth. “You know what, forget it.” He began walking
off.

“What?” he snapped out.

“I was going to take you to
meet some friends, but if you insist on being an asshole, maybe I’ll save my
breath.”

“Maybe you should,
considering the company you like to keep.”

“Have it your way.” Cameron didn’t
look back.

Tremors stitched down his
arm, stinging his palms with needle-thin pricks. The itch was still there,
stroking his insides. How easy it would be to say fuck it all and fall back on
old habits.

Agitated, Adonis chucked the
half-smoked cigarette into the yard. This was not how he envisioned his first
day back.

So much for
turning over a new leaf.
He owed the guy more than he could possibly repay in one
lifetime. The trip to Dubai had done more than his eight weeks of rehab and eighty
grand. It’d given him a chance to mend bridges burned long ago. Adonis couldn’t
remember a time he’d spent time with his best friend while not under the
influence.

And he’d been good—no
hard drugs, no impulsive behavior, and no flying off the handle.
 

But two days back in the
states and he was already backsliding. He didn’t know if it was the new
environment or stress. Whatever it was, he wanted to keep it separate from
himself for as long as possible. He didn’t want to be that person any more.

Lighting the blunt he’d
rolled for such an occasion, he texted Cameron for directions to their
gathering. He’d go, even if he did have to tolerate
her
presence.
  

His ‘success coach’ from
rehab would be proud. Adonis took a pull and examined the blunt, allowing the
cherry-soaked smoke to inflate his lungs.

Well, almost.
 

He had to start somewhere.

_________________

The noise level in the pizzeria buzzed to
a fever pitch. For once, Tess didn’t need to fake affability as she received
amorous greetings from those she hadn’t seen since last school year. But try as
she might, she couldn’t strike the encounter with Adonis from her mind. It clung
to her like a foul odor, eroding and pervasive.

“Tessa
bear,
how was your summer?” Lance grinned.
He
was adorable and one of the few preppy black guys she knew. With latte-colored
skin and a face made for breaking hearts, she didn’t know why Jade was so
on-again, off-again with him.

“Painfully short,” she said
absolutely.

“Damn. That bad?”

“It’s not what happened over the
summer that’s got her twisted up in knots,” Jade spoke for her.
“One of her old enemies from high school
transferred here. You could use their hostility as an alternative fuel source.”

“So that’s our elusive
flatmate
,” Riley said, the smooth lilt of his Irish cream
accent like a warm caress.

Tess gaped at him. “You’re living there
too? Did I not get a memo?”

“Yeah, apparently I didn’t get one
either,” Lance said, feigning indignation. “What if I wanted to be the third
roommate?”

Jade skewered him with a disbelieving
look. “Because you would’ve totally given up your room in the frat house.”

His smile sharpened. “I worked hard for
that room as a pledge last semester.”

“You worked hard to score with random ass
sorority skanks.”

Riley nudged her attention away from
their friends’ redundant bickering. “If you need me to put him in his place,
all you have to do is ask.”

“I’ll be fine. He’s just a spoiled
prick.” A spoiled
prick
who never missed a chance to
ridicule everything about her. Pride kept her admitting the extent of his
malevolence. She was Tess, take-no-shit, tough-as-nails Scarlatti. What would
they think if they caught her acting any less than such?

Faking a smile, Tess pinched Riley’s
stubble-roughened cheek. “You worry too much.”

He pulled her chair closer and draped his
arm along its metal spine. “Someone has to.” Out of everyone, Riley was the
only person who really related to her. He emigrated from Ireland at sixteen.
Eventually, he snagged a diploma and, with the aid of more jobs than Tess could
tally, was supporting himself through college. If Tess hadn’t already given her
heart to Cameron, she could see herself with Riley. He was charming and
attractive with a crown of wild, rusty brown hair and eyes the color of the Antiguan
seas.

“What would I do without you?”

He tousled her hair. “I’ll keep him in
check if Cameron can’t find his bollocks.”

“I knew there was a reason I kept you
around.” She planted a juicy, smacking kiss on his cheek.

“About time you showed up Cam!”
 

Tess broke away just in time to catch
blue eyes narrowed in her direction. She didn’t have time to compute the
fleeting pass of jealousy. Tension clumped behind her sternum at the person
standing by his side. She vaguely heard him introduce Adonis to everyone.

He was infiltrating every aspect of her
life.
First roommates with Cameron and now befriending her
crew?

When would she wake from this nightmare?

Chapter 3

The first week blurred past
in a cyclone of rigidly outlined syllabuses and awkward icebreakers.

She wanted to say all her
classes went smooth as butter and all of her professors adored her.

This was not the case.

On Monday, she woke up late
for her first class. Of course, it couldn’t be some throwaway elective like world
history. No, it had be organic
chem
, one of the
courses that would lay the foundation to her future career. The professor had
glared at her as she slunk to the nosebleed section of the lecture hall. And
now she was on his radar for all the wrong reasons.

The rest of the week seemed
to follow a similar route.
 

By Friday, Tess was lagging.
She didn’t know if she had to reset her internal alarm or if she was still sore
about Cameron withholding vital information. It both infuriated and hurt her
that he waited until the last minute to tell her about Adonis, especially
considering their vitriolic history. She wanted to be the bigger person and
confront the situation with maturity, but a part of her wanted to act out like
a petulant child. It helped that Adonis occupied the third floor, well out of
sight and hearing range. It also helped that he’d wrangled his own followers,
thereby having no need to make inroads with her friends. The few times she’d
hung out at their place, he’d been noticeably absent.

Hopefully he’d continue the
trend and make himself scarce for the party tonight.

Anticipation renewed the pep
in her step. Throwing her messenger bag into the desk chair, Tess showered and
changed into clothes more befitting for the night’s festivities.

The walk across campus didn’t
take more than ten minutes. She found Riley and Lance on the couch, engaged in
a first person shooter video game.

Boys and
their toys.

Tess collapsed on the sofa.
“Where’s Cam?”

“Shower. Why? You planning on
joining him?” Riley asked slyly.

Flushing at the naughty
imagery the remark implanted, Tess stuck out her tongue. “When are we getting
this party started?”

“Time now.” Lance protested
as Riley switched off the console. “Jameson and coke okay with you lot?”

“Sounds good.” Lance waited
until the Irishman left to casually ask, “Is Jade coming?”

“She said she might swing by
later.” Tess eyed him. “
What’s
up with you two?”

His face tightened before smoothing
out. “We decided since we’re both maturing adults and don’t want to limit our
options, it’d be better if we browsed a bit before getting too serious.”

“I’m guessing it was Jade’s
decision, not yours?”

“You guess right. We were on a break
when she found me making out with one of the sorority sisters. Ever since then
she’s gotten it in her head that I need to fuck them out of my system.”

“What do you want?”

He pursed his lips together. “She
drives me nuts with the back and forth. One day, we’re friends, the next we’re
making out and talking about working things out. But then we go back to
fighting. It’s getting old really fast.”

“Maybe for now you guys are better
off in friend status.”
 

“Speaking of friend status, how’re
you and the arch nemesis getting along?”

Tess scowled. “I don’t want to talk
about it.”

Lance didn’t press the subject.

Rankled by the very mention of him,
her fingers drummed along the armrest. “Like he didn’t have any other friends
to babysit him. You’d think that two years of putting up with his shit would be
enough but…stop laughing Lancer. This isn’t funny.”

“Are you secretly in love with this
guy?” he asked, forever the closet romantic.

Tess made a strangled noise.
“Absolutely not! We can’t stand in the same room without getting into it.”
 

“Yes, it does sound like you're
caught between a rock and a very hard place,” he said with a straight face.

Tess tapped his shoulder with a
playful punch. “I thought you were on my side?”

“I am. I’m just saying the line
between love and hate is very thin. And what you may think is one thing may be
another.” Lance laced his fingers behind his head. “Don’t tell me you haven’t
read those bodice-rippers about love/hate relationships. Believe me, they
always end in happily ever after with lots of wild, hot sex.”

“I think a better question is why
you know about bodice rippers.”

“I have four sisters. Bite me.”

Riley
returned with their drinks. “
A’right
,
ya
tossers
, ready for this piss
up?”

“Dude,
American please,” Lance groaned.

“He means are you ready to get fucked up,” Cameron translated,
entering the den as he pulled a shirt over his head.

Tess’s mouth dried from the delicious flash of abdominals. Face
flushed from the shower, his wet hair shone a deeper
shade of gold. The polo molded to his
still damp torso and his jeans rode enticingly low on his hipbones.

“Close
your mouth, lass,” Riley whispered.

Her
mouth closed with an audible click.

He
wanted to kill her. She was sure of it.

Between shots of tequila and
a game of beer pong,
they managed to secure the
valuables, which included but weren’t limited to things that would get stolen,
urinated on, broken, or drenched in beer.

To be fair, the guys had done
a rather impressive job concealing the house’s decrepit condition. Area rugs
concealed wan floorboards. Standing lamps illuminated its dark cobwebbed
crevices and posters covered peeling wallpaper. The school held no
misconceptions about what went on within the walls of these houses, and thus,
didn’t bother with renovations save for minor maintenance.

The
party didn’t have a set time to commence, but sometime after dinner, as the
music pumped and the drinks flowed, people trickled in; friends first, then
acquaintances later, and finally people Tess had never seen before in her life.
But submerged seven shots, three beers, and two mixed drinks deep in, everybody
was
her friend. After making the rounds and
complimenting no less than twenty people on their hair, shoes, and outfits, she
moseyed back to her group.

“Everybody
is so friendly tonight.” She flopped next to Cameron on the couch.

“That's
what happens when you serve the good stuff.” Jade wagged the demolished bottle
of Patron. “Good job boys on not being cheap bastards this time,” she affirmed
with a ladylike belch.

“We
had to start the year of right. But don’t expect this at every party,” Riley
said, relieving her of the bottle before it knocked her upside the head. “It
gets expensive.”

“Wannabe
ballers.” Tess poked Cameron's side.

“You
could always pitch in on our booze runs,” he said and retaliated by tickling
her thigh.

She
giggled, scooting away. “Hey, I'm living in poverty.”

Lance
tossed a pretzel in their direction. “Get a room.”

“Speaking
of rooms,” Jade bounced to her feet, “I think I just found my conquest for the
night. Later suckers.”

All
but one cheered her on as she sashayed across the den to net her unsuspecting
quarry. Tess’s spirits flagged at Lance's crestfallen expression. “I think I'm
going to call it a night,” he said, setting his cup on the coffee table.

“You
can always crash here,” Cameron offered sympathetically.

“Nah,
I'm good.”

Tess
watched as he faded into the crowd, her heart breaking for him. She glared at her
roommate, but the other girl was immersed in conversation with a dreadlocked
football player.

A
hand on her knee stayed her. “Leave it.”

The warmth from his palm scattered
her intentions. “Huh?”

“They have to work it out on their
own.”

She tried to focus on her argument,
but was distracted by the strong, masculine hand resting on her bare flesh and
the heat steadily inching up her thigh. Never more had she wanted to go back
into time and kiss her former self for deciding to wear shorts tonight.

Deep in a conversation with Riley,
he wasn't even aware of what he was doing to her.

His hand slid higher.

The muscles of her thigh twitched.

Anticipation coiled deep in her gut.
The world dimmed until only he existed. Her senses became acutely aware of
him—of his cologne, of the weight and contour of each finger.

Then he patted her leg. “We’ll be
right back.” Cam got up and trailed Riley into the kitchen.

What the hell was that all about?

___________________

Cameron adjusted the collar of his
shirt, uncomfortably warm. In front of him, Riley’s mouth moved as if he were
speaking. But Cameron was deaf to his words.
 

Had he really just tried to cop a
feel?
And from his best friend of all people?

The act had been purely instinctive.
Her silken skin had been all peaches and cream and girl. It’d been as natural
as breathing before he realized he’d overstepped the parameters of their
friendship.
 

What the hell was his problem
lately?

Cameron poured himself a shot and
slung it back straight.

He
couldn’t lie. He’d missed her sorely over the summer. There was something
refreshing about her company—about her outlook on life in general.

In the beginning, Tess’s placement in his life had been nothing
more than a non-taxable write-off—his version of humanitarian aid. He
knew the instant she stepped foot within the marbled halls of the academy that
she didn’t belong. He saw the insecure girl walled behind defiance and fight.
And so, like any good philanthropist, he tucked her under his wing and taught
her how to negotiate the dicey waters.

Over time, everything had changed. She became more than a waifish
ragamuffin that needed a guiding hand. Seemingly overnight she blossomed into a
stunner. Seductive, savvy, quick-witted, and savior of the weak, her firebrand
personality became a thing of wonder, suspicion, and envy to all in their
class.
But that wasn’t all that drew
him.

It was her drive. Her loyalty. Her compassion. When Tess felt
something, she felt it with her entire being. No issue was too big or too
small. He could be honest with her and not expect sugarcoated lies or
patronizing judgment.

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t thought about pursuing a
relationship with her. But he was skeptical of the aftermath. What if they
didn’t work out? He’d not only be losing his girl, he’d be losing his best
friend.

And
the risk just wasn’t worth the cost.

Cameron started as a heavy hand
thumped his shoulder. “What?”

“You ok?”

“Yeah. I'm fine.”