Poser (5 page)

Ivy

My favorite sport was shopping.

But if anyone asked, I’d say football.

Wouldn’t want to offend Braeden and Romeo, you know.

Seriously, though, what was better than the thrill of finding the perfect outfit? A hot sale? Going into a store and seeing nothing but racks of possibility lining the walls was exhilarating.

The colors, the fabrics, the shoes… the makeup.

Yep, shopping was where it was at. I even liked grocery shopping.

But there was one kind of shopping I didn’t like.

It was basically the black sheep of the shopping world.

Textbook shopping.

Ew. Like who wanted to go into a stuffy old store that smelled like must and mold and sort through piles and piles of books that contained knowledge about chemistry? Or math.

Now I’m not talking about a nice little bookshop with coffee and romance novels. Those were fun. I liked a fun beach read just as much as the next girl.

But school books?

Boring.

And because I disliked the chore so much, I put off buying my books as long as humanly possible… so the campus bookstore was out of one of the ones I needed. That meant I had to go off campus to this little bookshop a few streets over from the boutique.

At least Braeden went with me. Being with him made the task a lot less torturous. The place wasn’t busy, and it didn’t take long to get what I needed. Not like the campus bookstore. We’d been there for like two hours.

The place was flooded with college students, some of them clearly freshmen, looking fresh faced and frazzled at the same time. But then there were the regulars. The students who’d been attending Alpha U just as long as I had.

Seeing them all answered a question I’d had since classes ended last year.

Would everything the #BuzzBoss said about me (aka Missy, aka my backstabbing friend) be long forgotten? Or would my unwanted status as a #slut still haunt me?

The second I walked in, I’d known.

People didn’t forget as easily as I’d hoped.

And it seemed that me being on Braeden’s arm made me even more interesting.

I caught the stares, the casual double glances. I noted the way a few cellphones came out and the people attached to them started typing furiously.

Great.

Just what I needed.

Everyone sending Missy a report on my every move. I could only imagine what would show up later on the Buzzfeed.

Braeden acted like he didn’t notice, but I knew he did. Just the way he angled his body toward mine while we were getting books and the set of his shoulders spoke volumes.

He saw, he understood, and he didn’t like it. He acted like my personal living, breathing shield.

Just knowing that caused two reactions within me:

1) Safety. I felt safe because I knew with him in my corner, things couldn’t possibly get as bad as they did last semester. Now that Romeo was gone, Braeden had a lock on the most popular guy on campus. People would be more afraid to harass me, for fear of his retaliation. Not only that, but he loved me. It’s amazing what the love of the right man could do for a girl.

And

2) Fear. Yes, this was the complete opposite of the first reaction. What could I say? Braeden always had a way of bringing out extreme feelings in me. I liked—
no
—I loved knowing B was here for me. I loved knowing he was my anchor. But. He had a temper. I hadn’t always understood why, but now that I did… well, it wasn’t something I could just forget about. I knew Braeden would never hurt me. He’d literally injure himself first, but that didn’t bode well for others. He was extremely protective, extremely territorial… and he wasn’t going to just sit back and let rumors fly. I was honestly afraid he might do something that would come back and hurt him later.

However, bringing all that up to him in that moment was just bad timing. So I didn’t. I smiled and pretended I didn’t see the sideways looks as we got books and supplies. Of course, we could barely walk two feet without people approaching Braeden. Most of them were football players, and everyone was nice.

It made me relax some. Maybe I was just overreacting.

Too bad that feeling was short lived.

After we went to the old, creepy bookshop to get the one book the campus store didn’t have, we walked over to a nearby café.

It was a total college place. A lot of the students hung out here, especially the upperclassmen because they all had cars.

The café sat high on the sidewalk, so much that you had to walk up about five steps to get to the courtyard that led to the front door. Down the center was a regular sidewalk, but on either side were flagstone patios with black wrought iron tables and chairs.

The building itself was made of brick. It sort of looked like a cottage, not like a modern café, as the name suggested. The windows in front were arched and the front door was painted black with a bright green symbol in the center. The words
LOTUS: Coffee with Atmosphere
were spelled out in small letters beneath it.

Funky music played through the speakers and filled the outside space. People milled around and talked over coffee and food.

I was tense.

I hated being tense. Going on campus today and facing everyone for the first time since last semester totally frayed my nerves. Usually, I was good at hiding any insecurities, but not right now. Right now I felt like a long length of perfect rope…

That had been hacked off halfway with a pair of dull scissors.

The ends were coming undone, tattered and messy.

I really hoped my hair didn’t look the way I felt.

As if he could sense the frazzled way I felt, Braeden draped his arm across my shoulders and pulled me into his side as we walked toward the door.

“B!” some guy yelled from a table off to the right.

“Yo!” Braeden swung around, pulling me with him.

Toward the back of the courtyard was a round table full of a bunch of the Wolves. It was almost funny the way their huge bodies took up so much space and made the table seem insufficient.

“Bring that girl over here,” the guy hollered.

I swallowed and Braeden chuckled. “Ready to meet the fam?” he said low as we started toward the table.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Nope. You know they all want a look at the girl who brought me down.”

I felt my hackles rise. It was a welcome feeling. A familiar feeling. I wore that spunk like a great-fitting leather jacket.

I glanced around the table and my eyes fell on Trent. He winked, and I grinned.

“Trent!” I said and pulled away from Braeden.

He was already getting up and coming around to greet me. Before I thought better of it, I flung myself at him, giving him a hug. He hesitated for a second but then returned the quick embrace.

“Have a good summer?” I asked.

“You bet. Looks like summer agreed with you,” he said, taking in my face. To his credit, he didn’t look me up and down.

I beamed. Maybe I didn’t look so frizzy after all.

“You hitting on my woman?” Braeden quipped. He said it good-naturedly, but I heard a hint of steel beneath his tone. Trent made a rude sound (was that supposed to be a no?) and held his fist out to Braeden so they could pound it out.

“Maybe,” Trent replied when they were done, glancing at me and winking.

I smiled but slid a glance at B, hoping he knew Trent was only kidding.

Braeden angled himself slightly between Trent and me with a glint in his eye I didn’t really like. So I slid my hand up the small of his back and let it rest there. My touch worked. He said nothing and turned to address the rest of the table.

“Y’all know Ivy, right?”

“Oh, we know her all right,” one of the guys cracked.

Something in me stilled and my breathing lurched. He seriously wasn’t going to say something about that picture Missy released of me and Zach, was he? Surely he wouldn’t dare… The Wolves wouldn’t be so callous to one of their own…

Would they?

Around my waist, Braeden’s arm tensed, but he didn’t say anything.

“This girl here is a legend on campus,” the player went on. “She’s the girl who managed to shackle the least dateable guy at Alpha U.”

Relief and amusement caused me to burst out laughing. Braeden released his hold on my waist to give everyone at the table the finger.

“I don’t know if shackled is the right word here, guys,” I joked. “I think
trained
is a better choice.”

Everyone howled.

Braeden leaned over and whispered, “You’re gonna pay for that later,
baby
.”

That was the most delicious threat I’d ever been served.

I batted my eyes at him innocently.

“Where’s your dog tags, B?” one of the guys ribbed. “Did you get your rabies shot yet?”

I laughed, finally feeling at ease for the first time today. At least I was being accepted by Braeden’s friends.

Trent caught my eye and smiled. I returned it, glad he didn’t seem to hold a grudge that I pretty much brushed off his attempts at dating me to be with Braeden. He said it wouldn’t get in the way of our friendship, but then school ended and summer began… and no one heard from him at all.

But that didn’t matter, because he looked good as ever and there wasn’t the slightest hint of anything but kindness in his eyes when he looked at me.

Braeden’s arm returned and spun us around. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d done it on purpose, to break my eye contact with Trent.

“You guys are funny as hell,” he said sarcastically. “But we came here for coffee.”

“Grab your stuff and come sit with us,” Brady, the one who called me a legend, offered. “We can talk football, get to know your trainer better.”

To my surprise, Braeden hesitated. His eyes slid to Trent. It looked like he was debating on whether or not he wanted to sit with him.

Trent noticed. Hell, I think the entire table noticed.

An awkward silence descended.

I cleared my throat. “We’d love to!” I offered a big smile. “Can I get anyone a refill?”

Everyone shook their heads. Trent stood slowly from the table and picked up a half-empty iced drink. “I actually have somewhere I gotta be. But thanks for the offer, Ivy.” He said my name but still looked at B.

“Oh, okay. Well, it was good seeing you. I’m sure we’ll see you around campus.”

“Totally.” He finally looked away from Braeden and smiled. “See ya.”

Everyone was silent while Trent walked away.

I looked up at Braeden with a question in my eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

He grunted. “C’mon.”

We turned from the table toward the sidewalk that led inside. I was still kind of surprised by the strain between Braeden and Trent.

Surely he wasn’t jealous Trent and I almost went out last semester?

I mean, seriously. He knew he was like the be-all, end-all for me.

I hadn’t even kissed Trent!

I opened my mouth to tell Braeden what I thought about his ass-like behavior, when someone very familiar stepped out the café door.

Missy.

I stopped in my tracks, like someone poured instant super glue right there on the pavement.

Braeden took a couple more steps before realizing I was no longer at his side. He swung around. “Blondie.” He sighed. “It’s just guy shit.” But his words cut off when he noticed this wasn’t about him and Trent.

Missy saw me and stopped as well. The door to the café slammed behind her.

The large latte gripped in her hand complimented her outfit perfectly.

Her cropped jeans were artfully ripped up, the nude suede wedges on her feet made me want to find a pair online, and the lacey white loose top paired perfectly with the destructed denim. She had on several colored necklaces, a large chunky watch, and her fingernails were painted dark plum.