Page 88 of Ruled Out

“You have a message,” she says, passing me my phone and taking my hand, leading us to the front of the hall and out into the main corridor, not stopping to say bye to Leo and Hugh, who deliberately sat at the front.

No doubt avoiding me.

Still being led by Tara, I unlock my cell with one hand and check who it’s from.

Kate

I don’t need to be a lawyer to work out something happened on Saturday night. Did you guys fight? If you need me to deal with a Callaghan, I’m ready and waiting. Here for you. We all are.

We turn a corner and stop next to a bench.

Tara points at it, her left brow raised in determination. “Sit there, please.”

Too exhausted to argue, I do as she demands and watch as she disappears into the dining hall before returning a second later with a glass of water.

Handing it over, she takes the seat next to me and draws in a deep breath. “I want you to know you can trust me, babe. There’s obviously been something going on since you’re barely home. I didn’t push you because you seemed happy, so I figured there was nothing to worry about. But that day with your dad got me thinking, and now you look anything but fine. So, I gotta ask, is it Pancake Boy?”

I sniffle out a laugh and shake my head. “No—well, sort of.” I look up at her, her regular sunny smile pressed together into a worried line. “I need to know I can trust you.”

She nods slowly. “Absolutely, you can. Shit, babe, did Leo do something? Is that why he’s ignored us all morning?”

I shake my head again, choosing to keep what happened at the bar with Leo just between us. Like I said to Jessie, a cocky college player is the least of our worries right now. “It’s not Leo.”

“Then what is it?”

“Jessie Callaghan,” I whisper.

She pulls back, her brows knitting together. “As in the starting forward for the Scorpions?”

Pressing my lips together, I look off to the side as people rush past us, heading to their next class. “Yes.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve been seeing him.”

A broad smile crosses her face. “Ha, that’s a good one.”

“No, really,” I say, looking her straight in the eye. “We’ve been sneaking around for the past month or so.”

“Holy crap!” she announces, then winces and ducks her head. “You aren’t fucking with me, are you?”

“That’s where I was when my dad came round that day. I’d stayed over at his place.”

Her hand comes to cover her mouth. “Jesus. And you’re upset about this? Wait, did he break up with you or something?” She shakes her head. “Asshole. Slept with you and then ghosted you, right? Clearly a stupid asshole to do that to a GM’s daughter.”

“It’s not like that. We’re still seeing each other, but … ugh, it’s really complicated. My dad doesn’t know about us. No one really does. That’s why I need to trust you. You can’t say anything.”

Pulling her thumb and forefinger across her lips, she throws away the key. “You’re looking at a sealed vault. But my initial reaction stands—holy crap, girl. Tell me he’s as good in bed as the books make out.”

I smirk, thinking about the collection of hockey romance books that line her bedroom wall. “I don’t kiss and tell, but I will say this: when it comes to my boyfriend, nothing about those books is fictional.”

Her eyes flare wide. “As in he …”

I hold up a hand. “That’s all you’re getting.”

I bend down and grab my phone from my bag, shooting a quick text to Kate, telling her I’m doing okay and not to worry.

Then I turn back to Tara. “It’s already past four, and I have back-to-back shifts tomorrow. I need to head to the library.Maybe we can download the slides and try and work out what we missed?”

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