No Bad Days Page 5

  His head jerked up and a smirk appeared. “I like the way you see things,” he said as he pulled something out of his pocket, rubbing his thumb across it before he tucked it away again.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  He looked at me like I was half crazy. “What?”

  “What’s in your pocket?”

  “Oh.” He reached in, pulled it out, and placed it in my hand—an old five-dollar poker chip from a Vegas hotel that didn’t exist anymore. “It’s sort of my lucky charm. My grandfather gave it to me before he passed away. Told me he used to always carry it with him, and I just started doing the same thing.”

  “That’s sweet,” I said, loving the sentimental side of Nick.

  “My grandpa met my grandma in Vegas, at a poker table at this hotel. That’s why he saved this chip. Said it brought him the best luck he could have ever hoped for.”

  “Your grandma?” The sweet story warmed my heart and made me smile.

  “Exactly.”

  “So now you carry it?”

  “I always thought it was cool.”

  “It is cool,” I said, handing him back the chip before reaching for my cell phone.

  “I always thought I could make it into a necklace or something, but that’s probably a dumb idea.”

  I shrugged, trying to imagine Nick wearing a necklace with a giant poker chip on it, and laughed.

  “To be honest, I can’t really picture it, but I get what you’re saying.” Glancing at my phone, I noted the time and remembered how far away from my classrooms we were. “Shoot. I have to go or I’m gonna be late.”

  Nick stood up and extended his hand to me. I took it, allowing him to pull me up as I tugged at the bottom of my shorts.

  “I’ll walk you,” he said.

  “You don’t have to.” I tried to resist, but secretly hoped he still would.

  “I know I don’t have to, Jess. I want to.”

  Best. Answer. Ever.

  When we finally arrived at my building, ten minutes before class started, I was thankful that Nick had walked with me. I would never have found it on my own on time.

  “Thanks for lunch.” I clutched my bag against my side, not knowing what to do with my hands.

  Nick leaned in to hug me and kissed my cheek. “It was my pleasure. Really.” He gave my arm a little squeeze, then said, “We’re having a small party at the house tomorrow. Come. And bring Rachel.”

  “Rachel?” I said with surprise. “Like my roommate, Rachel?”

  He laughed. “Yeah, like your roommate, Rachel. I think Trevor misses her.”

  As Nick walked away, I stood there with my mouth hanging open, wondering just how much research he had done on me. He not only knew that I lived with Rachel, but he knew she was Trevor’s ex-girlfriend.

  He turned around to face me as he turned his cap backward. “Say you’ll come, Jess, or I’ll just harass the living shit out of you until you do.”

  Now I was the one laughing. “I don’t doubt that. I’ll be there.”

  With bells on, Nick Fisher.

  With. Bells. On.

  Frat-Boy Scene

  Jess

  After class, I walked back to my apartment and tried to focus on my homework, but Nick’s face kept popping up in my head instead. He had completely taken me by surprise today, and our conversation kept playing in a loop in my mind.

  The door was locked, so I fished out my key before unlocking it and stepping inside. I decided that it was good that Rachel wasn’t home yet, so I’d have a chance to get started on my homework before she talked my ear off about today’s Nick-tivities.

  I grabbed a cold soda from the fridge and headed into my bedroom. After piling all the pillows against the wall, I leaned into them. Reaching for my laptop, I fired it up and began searching for information on my assignment.

  The front door slammed far sooner than I had expected. I hadn’t even read a single article yet.

  “Jess?” she shouted into our space.

  “In my room,” I shouted back.

  Rachel’s curvy frame appeared in my doorway before she hopped onto my bed, making my laptop bounce up and down on my legs. “What’s up?”

  “Just working on this assignment for Psych.”

  “Ugh, core curriculars suck,” she said, referring to the classes I had to take to fulfill my general-education credits. She pushed back off from my bed and walked out of my room without warning. “I need a drink. And I’m starving. Come out here with me and I’ll make you food.”

  I couldn’t resist her offer, so I bookmarked the site, closed my laptop, and grabbed my soda before heading toward the other room. “The class is actually really interesting, but it’s also really hard.”

  “That’s why I took Sociology instead of Psych.”

  “Well, maybe if you’d taken Psych, you could analyze the day I had today,” I said with a slight huff.

  “Why? What happened? Are you okay?” Her eyebrows drew together with concern, which surprised me. I hadn’t expected my comment to worry her.

  “It’s nothing bad. Sorry. I just spent the entire break between my classes with Nick today,” I said in a rush. I popped open the can, taking a sip to silence my babbling.

  Rachel choked on her words. “You what?”

  I grinned, my smile feeling like it took up my entire face. “You heard me.”

  She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward our couch in the living room. Forcing me to sit down next to her, she released my hand before angling her body toward mine. “Tell me everything immediately. And don’t leave anything out.”

  “He wanted to hang out with me after class, so I told him I had ninety minutes.”

  “Wait.” She held up her hand. “What about your fake boyfriend?”

  “I told him we broke up,” I said with a laugh, and she laughed with me.

  “Okay, go on.”

  “He bought me lunch, and then we went to the football stadium and talked.”

  “Talked?” She cocked an eyebrow as if she didn’t believe me.

  “Yeah. Talked. He’s . . .” I paused, searching for the right word, and Rachel jumped in.

  “He’s what, hot? Horny? Great in bed? He’s what, Jess?”

  Shrugging, I said, “He’s really cool.”

  Really cool? That’s the word I use to describe him? #Fail, Jess.

  “Cool?” Her lips curled up with distaste.

  “I don’t know. He was nice. Super nice. And normal. I don’t know what I thought he’d be like, but this wasn’t it.”

  “What did you guys talk about?”

  I didn’t want to tell Rachel about Nick’s family life or his dad’s business, so I decided to keep those things to myself. Even though I didn’t know him all that well, some things shouldn’t be shared without permission.

  “I don’t know, everything. We talked about where we grew up, our families, our majors, what we want to be when we’re real grownups.”

  Rachel swept her dark wavy hair off her shoulder with a flick of her wrist before leaning back against the cushions. “Did he ask you out?”

  I sucked in a quick breath as I remembered. “He invited us to a party tomorrow. Both of us. He said it was small, and he specifically mentioned you and said that Trevor misses you.”

  “He what?” she shouted as she leaned in close. “How would he even know that?”

  “They’re fraternity brothers. I’m sure they talk. Although I have no idea how he knew you were my roommate.”

  “I guess.” She tapped her bottom lip with her finger. “This is all very interesting.”

  “Why’d you guys break up, anyway? You never did give me a straight answer about it.”

  I thought back to last year when Rachel and Trevor had dated. I liked Trevor the few times I’d met and hung out with him. Rachel and I had both lived in the same dorm building as freshmen, but we weren’t suitemates, so I didn’t get to see her every day until we moved in together this year.

  Trevor had
always seemed like he was really into Rachel whenever I saw them together, and when they stopped dating, I never knew why. That was the thing about Rachel, she tended to keep certain details about her life private. When she wanted to share, she shared—overshared really—but when she didn’t want to, no amount of prying could get the information out of her.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said, looking past me and out the sliding glass doors.

  “Will you come to the party, though?” If she said no, I wouldn’t go either. There was no way in hell I’d go to a frat party alone.

  Her gaze darted back to mine. “Are you kidding? And miss the chance to watch Nick Fisher flirt shamelessly with my roommate? Of course I’ll go.” She stuck her tongue out before pushing off the couch. “It’s going to be epic.”

  I blew out an exaggerated breath. “We’ll see.”

  “I hope your fake boyfriend doesn’t show. I heard he’s the jealous type.”

  “Shut up,” I said, swatting her shoulder. “But you’re right. He’s super possessive. That’s why I had to end things.”

  Since Nick hadn’t asked me for my phone number, that meant I didn’t have his either. It also meant I had no way of texting him to ask what time the party started, or tell him we were on our way over, which we were. I prayed that arriving close to eleven would be a safe enough bet, and that the gathering would be in full swing by then. It was a little late, but I had to focus on some homework first.

  I sat in the passenger seat of Rachel’s old Civic, my knees bouncing up and down.

  Rachel shot me a glare. “Stop shaking your knees like that.”

  “I’m nervous,” I bit out.

  “You should be.”

  I snapped my head around to look at her, but she burst out laughing before I could speak. “I hate you.”

  “You don’t. Don’t be nervous. It’s just a party and he’s just a guy,” she said, obviously trying to downplay the entire situation as she made a right turn. The frat house was down the block, but I could already see people gathered on the front lawn.

  I chortled out a laugh. “Just a boy? You’re one to talk. You’ve been building him up since we got to school here last year. It’s like you think he’s part god or something.”

  “You never know. All those mythology stories have to come from somewhere.”

  “Yeah, good writers’ imaginations.” I huffed, absolutely refusing to believe that Nick was anything other than human, no matter how hot and charming he was.

  Rachel pulled the car to the curb, and I smiled at the four guys playing beer pong out front as I got out of the car.

  “Nick! Your girl’s here,” one of them yelled.

  My cheeks burst into flames. How the hell did they know who I was, and that I was here for Nick?

  “Did you hear that?” Rachel whispered as she locked arms with me.

  We walked inside where the lights were dimmed, the music blared, and more than a few people had gathered in the house. A lot of people.

  This wasn’t what I considered a small party. This was a party.

  I scanned the crowd of bodies swaying to the music in the living area, and then checked out the group of guys hanging out in the kitchen, but didn’t spot Nick.

  Trevor suddenly appeared at Rachel’s side, focusing on her as he said, “You came.”

  “Nick said you wanted me to,” she said, her tone downright bitchy.

  “Can we talk?” He motioned over his shoulder, and she looked at me.

  “Will you be okay if I leave you alone?” She raised her eyebrows in that way that meant she wanted me to say yes.

  I scanned the room again before waving them off. “I’ll be fine. You two go.”

  She gave me a quick best-friend squeeze before following Trevor into the crowd and disappearing from view.

  I navigated my way around the sweaty dancing bodies and headed toward the kitchen, where I figured I’d grab a drink and ask if anyone had seen Nick. As I moved through the group of dancers, a guy grabbed me by the waist and spun me around.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi,” I said awkwardly, not recognizing him, but definitely realizing that he’d had way too much to drink.

  “You’re really pretty,” he slurred, pushing his face too close to mine.

  “Thanks.” I gave him a tight smile as I pulled out of his grip. It took a little wriggling, but I finally broke free and bolted away from him in search of the one guy I came here to see.

  Marching up to the group of guys in the kitchen, I noticed six of them circled around a keg. They were trying to convince one of their brothers to do a keg stand, and before they talked him into it, I interrupted.

  “Do you guys know where Nick is?”

  They all turned to stare at me, and I recognized two of the guys from the class I shared with Nick.

  “Hey, you’re Jess, right? I’m Todd.” He extended his hand to me over the counter that separated us and gave it a firm shake. “Everyone, this is Jess.”

  My cheeks immediately heated again with the ridiculous shouting that followed. Drunk guys were the weirdest. Once the cheering died down and I found my voice again, I repeated my question.

  “Do you know where Nick is?”

  “I think he’s in his room. Down the left hallway, last door at the very end,” Todd said, pointing me in the right direction.

  Suddenly realizing that Nick might not be there alone, I asked, “Uh, do I want to go in there?”

  “He was alone when I saw him,” Todd said, and I turned just as they lifted the other guy by his legs and held him upside down, chanting his name.

  Shaking my head, I took a left at the dark hallway and noticed several couplings happening against the walls. I watched my feet, navigating my steps carefully, not wanting to step on anyone’s feet or discarded clothing if I could help it. The hall was ridiculously long.

  “I remember you.”

  I looked up to find the guy from the dance floor in front of me, blocking my way. I had no idea where he came from; it was like he appeared from thin air.

  “Uh, okay.” I moved to slip past him, but he reached out to stop me. When I tried to sidestep him, he moved in front of me again.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m just going to get Nick,” I said, hoping that the mention of his name would deter the guy.

  It didn’t.

  “Nick’s busy,” he bit out with a slur.

  My stomach tightened into a painful knot. Maybe Todd was wrong, and Nick was in his room with some other girl. Why would he invite me here if he was only going to hook up with someone else?

  “But I’m not. I’m not . . . not even busy.”

  The drunk guy shoved me against the wall and extended his arms on either side of me, trapping me as he propped himself up with his palms. His words were mangled as he continued speaking to me.

  He was drunk. Really drunk.

  And he was strong. Too strong.

  No matter how I twisted or ducked, I couldn’t find a way out of the human cage his arms formed around me.

  His voice was drowned out by the sound of my heart frantically pounding in my ears. Not that his words were truly threatening; they were mostly filled with stupid things that drunk guys said when they didn’t want you giving your attention to someone else. It was his body language that caused my current heart palpitations.

  It was as if he wasn’t quite aware of his own strength as he refused to let me get away from him. The more I struggled, the tighter his hold on me became. That’s what scared me more than whatever words were currently spewing from his mouth. His words couldn’t hurt me, but his hands could. And they were.

  “Please stop,” I pleaded, my voice shaking. “You’re hurting me.”

  “Hurting you. How’s I hurting you?”

  His words were nonsensical as he moved his face dangerously close to mine. Then he licked his lips before diving straight at my mouth.

  I turned my head quickly, cringing with disgust as m
y cheek was kissed and licked. Gross. I tried to push him away, but I wasn’t strong enough.

  “Get off,” I said, my voice soft. Too soft.

  “Stop pushing at me.”

  He breathed drunkenly into my face, using his body to press me even harder against the wall. I was half surprised it didn’t swallow me with the force. When his hand moved down the length of my body, I stifled a cry as his fingers grazed my breast. Suddenly feeling ill, I froze as panic coursed through me.

  A handful of people were nearby, close enough to help me, but I couldn’t find my voice. I’d been told what to do in situations like this, but my body refused to do it. I simply went numb. Too intimidated to move, too panicked to scream, too shocked to do anything but stand there, pressed against a wall in the dark with tears filling my eyes as some drunk guy tried to grope me.

  “What the fuck?” I heard before feeling the release of pressure.

  All at once, I was free. I slid to the floor, struggling to right myself, my knees weak with relief and my legs shaking.

  A loud thump drew my gaze as I saw Nick pinning the drunk guy against the other wall, his muscular forearm pressed against the guy’s neck. The drunk struggled, probably the same way I had, but this time Nick was the one who was stronger.

  “You like cornering women? Make you feel like a tough guy to know that you’re stronger than a girl? How about now? Not feeling so tough now, are you?” Nick spat out, and I noticed the guy’s cheeks turning an unnatural shade of reddish purple.

  “Nick!” I pounded on his back. “Nick, let him go. He can’t breathe. He’s just drunk. Nick!”

  I shouted and pulled at his flexing shoulder, his muscles taut and hard. He glanced at me, and when our eyes met, he dropped the guy like he’d never existed in the first place.

  “Jess, are you okay?”

  Nick’s strong arms that only moments ago were being used to inflict pain now wrapped around me, and his hands gentle as he comforted me, touching me with care.

  I started to cry; I couldn’t help it. The emotions over what had just happened overwhelmed me. It was everything—the drunk guy’s actions, my fear, my shame over my inability to help myself, and Nick’s reaction to it.