Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“That’s… I appreciate that. I was nervous you’d feel the opposite way.”
“Nah, fuck that. My dad has enough money—he doesn’t need to be doing this. He doesn’t need to be doing any of the crap he’s doing. And I tried to get him to stop but clearly couldn’t get through to him.”
“It’s shitty, for sure.” Jay pursed his lips, his puppy dog eyes catching the light. “But thank you. For fighting.”
“It’s okay. It was the least I could do.”
I squeezed his hand in mine. His fingers were so much smaller than mine. Like holding some kind of rare and delicate bird. My protective instincts flared. “Would you…” Jay started before cutting his question short, shaking his head.
“What?” I asked, my turn now to probe a little.
“Nothing, nothing.”
“What is it?” I gave him a smirk. “I told you my dumb joke, now you can ask me your smart question.”
He rolled his eyes, but his smile grew wider. “I was going to ask if you would consider, uh, signing my petition. You can do it anonymously.” There was something in the way he hesitated that made me second-guess if that were really his original question. There was a part of me that felt as if he was about to ask me if I could show up to the protest. I may not be completely savvy with PR, but even I could see how big of a message that could be.
One I didn’t know I was ready to send.
“Come,” I said, grabbing his hand. “Let’s go buy some Red Bulls, pick a chill spot in the library, and we can figure out how you can make the biggest impact. And yes, of course I’ll sign your petition.”
“Really?” Jay asked, sounding surprised. He rose when I did, hand still in mine. Felt like home. Felt so damn nice.
“Yeah, of course. I want to help however I can.”
Jay swallowed loudly, looking almost as if he were at a loss for words. “Why the library?” he asked.
“Because if we go back to our dorm, I know I’m going to have you naked and on top of me in five seconds flat.”
“Touché,” Jay said. “Touché.” He gave a yawn that he covered with the back of his hand.
“Actually… it’s been a long night. Let’s go back and cuddle? We can plot and plan in the morning. I’m already meeting Maddy and Colt to talk about it.”
“That sounds great to me, too.”
We got back to the dorm, and we did, in fact, only take five seconds to get naked again. But this time, we weren’t as ravenous and primal as earlier. Exhaustion already caught up to us. Jay and me got into my bed under the covers, Jay tucked himself against me (and my boner), and I held him until we both went to sleep.
The last thought in my head that night being, This must be what finding paradise feels like.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jay
Maddy, Colton, and I sat on the comfortable blue bean bags set inside the busy coffee shop. The sweet scent of cappuccinos woke me up through osmosis. The sound of coffee beans being ground mingled with the chill music that played in the background. I stretched my arms over my head and let out a contented sigh.
Things were good.
No, scratch that, things were actually great.
Three weeks had passed since Ryan and I had our big dramatic scene, and each day after had been filled with more reaffirmations that being with Ryan was the right choice. I woke up in his arms feeling a kind of lightness I hadn’t felt in so, so damn long. I’d walk around the FU campus with a permanent smile on my face, my sneakers feeling as if the soles had been replaced with clouds.
Best of all? I wasn’t hiding my relationship with Ryan anymore. We’d hold hands walking to our dorm, and we’d kiss hello when we met at the food hall. Maybe people were talking shit (Timothy, I was looking at you), but it didn’t bother me as much as I feared it would.
Not only that, but the planned protest was being received with a lot of enthusiasm. Dating the son of Redpine Global’s CEO didn’t hinder me or stop people from showing their interest in the cause and RSVPing for the protest.
It was coming up fast, and there was still a ton of shit to figure out before.
“What if we hire catering?” Maddy suggested as she chewed the cap to her pen, a notebook open on her lap with mostly doodles filling the page. “Everyone loves free food.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Colton said. He took a loud sip from his nearly finished vanilla latte.
I shook my head. “Unless we get sponsors, I don’t see that happening. I don’t have the funds to get people free sandwiches and drinks.”
“My cousin works for a catering company, actually,” Colton offered. He had a knee resting on Maddy’s. It wasn’t just Ryan and me who had recently decided to take the leap into “official” territory. They’d apparently been talking nonstop since they met, and Colton had asked Maddy out in one of the most romantic ways ever: through a scavenger hunt that took her through all of their fave spots, leading Maddy to a field of roses, where he was waiting with a bouquet in hand. I teased them both, wondering what a proposal by Colt would look like.