Dash pushed the heels of both hands against his temples. “I know you hate me, Bella. But I didn’t think I could stop them, short of calling the police. And since I’d just committed a
crime
, I didn’t do that. That’s how Whittaker sets up all his shit — he always makes sure that someone else is more culpable than he is. I didn’t understand until then. And I never went back.”
“What do you mean?”
“I slept on the sofa that night, in the same room where they left you alone to sleep it off. And after you left in the morning, so did I. And I haven’t been back since.”
“You haven’t?”
He shook his beefy head. “But I was still guilty of mixing your drink, so I didn’t say anything. Not until last week. They started harassing me, so I had a chat with my father, and then I went to the dean.”
“Why were they harassing you?” I asked, as the hair stood up on the back of my neck.
He chuckled. “There was a certain prank at the football game. They thought I did it.”
“What?”
Beta Rho thought an idiot like
Dash McGibb
had pulled my stunt?
He gave me a wry smile. “Don’t look so outraged, Bella. You’ll give yourself away.”
Shit! Focus!
“You must be in a pile of trouble for telling the dean what you helped Whittaker do.”
“You bet.” He nodded. “I got a year’s probation. And I’m off the football team.”
My inner bitch gave a snort. What kind of punishment was that? “What about the cops?”
He looked up with a wince. “After the dean finishes her investigation, she’ll probably ask you if you want to press charges against me. I asked my dad’s lawyer, and he said that’s probably what would happen.”
“Oh.”
Oh
. Jesus Christ. His fate was in my hands. How appropriate, really. And how
strange
.
The moment stretched on. We had a staring contest, which I won when Dash looked at his shoes again. “My dad’s lawyer probably wouldn’t want me talking about it. But I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. G’night.” He met my eyes one more time before walking away.
I don’t think I even answered him, I was too busy trying to understand what had just happened. How absolutely trippy.
A
fter taking
a few minutes in the (gross) Capri’s bathroom, I went back to our table. The quarters game had wound down, and all my friends were finishing their beers. Someone had taken my seat, so I took a seat on Graham’s lap, the way I used to. And that felt… fine, actually. The old ache was finally lifting. I looked from face to face, each one lit by the soft light of Capri’s neon beer signs, and dusty old lamps which hung from the ceiling.
I’d never be able to say that this was an easy year at Harkness. But not everything had gone wrong, and some things had gone very, very right. “What time is it?” I asked suddenly.
Graham lifted his hand to peer at his watch. “Almost eleven.”
“Damn. I have a presentation to give tomorrow. Walk me home?”
“Sure.” Graham gave me a friendly nudge off his lap. “You coming?” he asked Rikker.
And that was trippy, too. Graham never used to acknowledge Rikker in public. That’s why it had taken me so long to figure out they were a couple.
“Think I will,” Rikker said, getting up.
“Night, guys!” I called to the hockey players who were still there.
“Bella! Bella!” Trevi chanted.
A couple of other guys picked up the chant, so I held my hands up to silence them. “Stop already. But will you
please
beat Harvard this weekend? Because I’m going to be watching.” And not on TV, either. I had the sudden urge to see some hockey games again.
“You bet, lady.” Trevi winked at me from across the room. “Then you’ll come out with us afterward, right?”
“Sure.” This whole being-seen-in-public thing wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
We made our way outside and walked home to the Beaumont gate. Rikker didn’t live in Beaumont, but Graham had a roomy senior single, and it was probably their favorite hook-up spot.
“Goodnight, guys!” I kissed them both on the cheek. I didn’t need to fake any cheer, either. Because there was someone waiting for me in my room. Someone I was very happy to see, especially if he’d removed any of his clothing since the last time I’d seen him.
“Night, sweetie,” Rikker said, giving me a squeeze. “Good to have you back.”
I don’t do mushy, so I slapped him on the ass and gave them both one more wave. Then I let myself into my own entryway, trotting up the steps as fast as I could. At the top, I opened my door to find a shirtless Rafe asleep face-down on my bed, his face buried in the crook of his muscular arm. My bathroom door was standing open. So I tiptoed through to peer at Lianne, who was asleep on her own bed in the exact same position.
In her case, though, an empty plastic wastebasket stood beside her bed. Perhaps Lianne and Rafe had a bit of a rough trip home.
Bummer.
I went back through the bathroom, shutting my door with a soft click. For a moment, I just stood there, admiring Rafe. His face was peaceful, and his back muscles rose and fell as he slept. I just had to touch him. I crawled onto the bed beside him and kissed the back of his neck.
Nothing happened.
“Honey, I’m home,” I whispered. “I always wanted to say that.”
“You did?” he rasped.
“Well, not always. Only now.”
He smiled without opening his eyes.
“There’s a subtext, you know,” I said, peeling off my jacket. “‘Honey, I’m home’ really means, ‘take off your clothes and fuck me.’”
“I never knew that.” Rafe rolled over and stretched his arms above his head.
His position gave me access to his fly, which I unzipped.
“Our project is ready,” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“What project?” I leaned over him and began to kiss the skin just above the waistband of his briefs.
Rafe propped himself up on his elbows and looked down his body at me. “Did you have fun tonight?”
I tugged on his waistband. “I’m trying to right now.”
With a chuckle, Rafe put a warm hand on my hair. “I like what you’re doing,
belleza
. Just give me a minute to wake up.” He lifted his hips, allowing me to slide his jeans and briefs off.
“Did Lianne puke?” I asked, removing his socks.
“Only twice.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged, stretching out on the bed, naked now. “No big deal. I didn’t have to do anything except hold her hair.”
“Aw. You did that for her? I think you deserve a blow job.”
“From
you
though, right?” He winked up at me.
I slapped his thigh. “Who else? And you don’t even have to be quiet, because she’s passed out.”
Rafe must have liked that idea, because his dick began to swell. I slipped my hand around him, and he groaned. “Take off your clothes,” he ordered.
“Bossy much?” I grasped the hem of my T-shirt and pulled.
“I’m bossy for a reason.” He helped me shuck off my shirt.
“Why’s that?”
He caught my face in both his hands, and those espresso-colored eyes bored into mine. “Because whenever I tell you to take off your clothes, you get the best look on your face.”
“I do?” The proximity of my boyfriend’s naked body made it hard for me to listen, though.
“Yeah,” he whispered, his gaze dropping appreciatively to my cleavage. “Your face says, ‘Do me Rafe. And be quick about it.’”
I closed my eyes and groaned. “That sounds like something my face would say.”
“Yeah?” He pulled me down onto the bed and popped the button on my jeans.
“It does.” I helped him shuck them off. Then, wearing nothing but my favorite black bra, I stretched out on my back. “Are you awake yet?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Good. Because I want you to do me. And be quick about it.”
Chuckling, he rolled on top of me and kissed me.
“
D
on’t forget
to mention that there’s a sale-ratio trigger on the equity component,” Bella prompted me on our way to Urban Studies.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And then flip back to the diagram that shows how the trust is funded after the first wave of sales.” She tugged me toward the lecture hall. It was time for our presentation.
Outside the door, I spotted Alison and Dani waiting for us. I grabbed Bella’s hand and stopped to give us a second alone. “Hey. I’m happy to give our half of the presentation. And I promise to remember all the nerdy bits.”
She grinned at me.
“But I think you should consider doing it instead.”
Her smile faded.
I put my hands on both her shoulders. “Nobody knows this stuff better than you do.
Nobody
.”
Bella looked down at her shoes. “Maybe it makes me a coward, but I’m just not ready to stand up in front of that room.”
“Hold on.” I lifted her chin gently. “There is
nothing
you could do to make me think you’re a coward. Except about spiders, but I’m just going to let that slide.” Her lips twitched. “You’ve worked hard on this thing, and you sound formidable when you’re talking about it. Like, ass-kicking ninja real-estate developer woman. And you look hot in that sweater. If you were ever going to pick a moment to look the whole world in the eye, today’s not a bad choice.”
“I don’t know, Rafe. Maybe you should incentivize me.” She lifted an eyebrow. “What do I get if I do the presentation?”
I laughed. “I know!” I leaned over and whispered very closely into her ear. “An A in the class.”
She gave me a tiny smirk. “I’d rather you slip me the D.”
I leaned in again, brushing the sensitive place right below her ear. “You’re going to get the D no matter what happens.”
“Okay.” She wrapped her arms around me. “I’ll do it. I really want to win this for you.”
I pulled her tightly to my body. “Relax, baby. It’s all good.”
“How do you figure?”
I kissed her cheekbone, then whispered. “I
already
won. You’re a whole lot more important to me than this contest.”
The look of surprise on her face practically broke my heart. “Nobody ever said that to me before.”
I curved my hand around the back of her neck. “You know, maybe you didn’t plan it this way, but I’m happy to be your first.”
She let out a giggle, then rose to her toes to kiss me.
P
ulling herself together
, Bella did a fabulous job with our half of the presentation. And, if I was honest, so did Alison with hers. But there were
twelve
houses competing. So even though I was certain we’d bested seven or eight of them just with our excellent preparation, it was still a long shot.
After the last team was through, there was a five-minute lull while professor Giulios and his guest — Jimmy Chan, the food truck guy — conferred over the scoring.
Then Giulios took the stage, and Bella grabbed my hand. “Ladies and gentlemen, we saw some very fine work here today. In fact, it breaks my heart to know that a certain block of West 165th Street is not truly poised to go under the wrecking ball.” He lifted his clipboard. “We have a second-place winner to announce first. Team Beaumont, you did an excellent job, especially with just four team members.”
“
Shit
,” Bella cursed under her breath.
“There was some fine attention to detail on your project. And I think you were the only team to actually visit the site and take pictures. But ultimately, your design and your funding strategies were at war, which is why Coleman House will win tonight’s competition.”
Cheers erupted from team Coleman, and Bella heaved a sigh.
“I’m sorry,” Alison said from the other side of Bella. “This is my fault. That damned green roof.”
“Not your fault,” I argued, meeting Alison’s eyes. “We didn’t lose the World Cup here. We’re going to get an A in this class. And your green roof was cool.”
My ex’s cheeks pinked up at the compliment, and she gave me a tiny smile.
“The man makes a good point,” Dani said, tossing her notebook into her backpack. “I call that a win.”
Up front, Giulios was finished complimenting Coleman’s strategies, and the lecture was breaking up. “I’ll be right back,” I said, hopping out of my seat.
I found Mr. Chan at the front of the room, chatting with a student. I planted myself a few feet away, and was eventually rewarded by a glance and a smile when the other student moved off.
“Hi,” I said, thrusting out a hand. “I’m Rafe Santiago, and I was on team Beaumont.”
“Ah!” the man said, shaking my hand. “You were so close.”
“Yeah, that’s cool. But I was wondering how I can figure out the food-truck business. My family runs a Dominican restaurant in Washington Heights. We need to think about a food truck, but we don’t know the steps.”
He nodded. “How’s your health department rating?”
“It’s awesome because my mom is a slavedriver.”
The man laughed while he reached for his pocket. “Take my card. When you’re ready to get serious with it, call my secretary and tell her that you were the Harkness kid who wanted to get going on a Dominican food truck. We’ll have a meeting.”
My fingers closed around the card. “Thank you, sir. I will do that.”
“Nice to meet you, Rafe. And feel free to bring some majarete to the meeting.” He patted his stomach. “I love that stuff.”
“It’s a deal.”
I walked away, patting the card in my pocket. And just like that I really
did
win everything. I got a good grade and a connection at the City of New York.
And the girl, too.
Pinch me.
O
n the first
day of Christmas vacation, I came down with a nasty cold.
In my family, we called mid-December “catering season” because of all the orders for holiday parties. Naturally, I was helping out in the restaurant kitchen. Because that’s what a Santiago did.
But after the third time I had to step out the back door to sneeze and blow my nose, my mother fired me. “Go home,” she said. “I don’t want sickness in my kitchen. I’ll bring you soup later.”
On my way out the door, I slipped my phone out of my pocket and found a call from Bella. When I listened to the message, all she’d said was, “I have the most disgusting cold. Damned Lianne! Miss you.”
Click
.
I laughed. Lianne had been sick during exams, and the poor girl had been all freaked out that she was going to deliver “Romeo, O Romeo” in a frog voice. Though she’d recovered already, it was no surprise Bella and I had gotten sick next.
I called her. “Me too,” I said when she picked up. “The cold and the missing. Can I bring you some fresh-squeezed OJ?”
“Really? I thought you were working today.”
“I got the plague too. And Ma doesn’t let anyone sick work in the kitchen.”
“I knew I liked your mom. Get your cute butt down here and bring orange juice. We are going to have a movie marathon.”
“You need anything else?” I asked her. “Tissues? Cold medicine?”
“I’ve got all that. Get on the train, hot stuff. Lianne went to rehearsal, and I’m bored and lonely.” She hung up on me.
Turning around, I stuck my head back into the restaurant kitchen. “Ma? Don’t bring me soup later. I’m going to Bella’s. She’s sick, too.”
My mother frowned. “Take that girl some juice.” She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a quart of the stuff.
“What are you doing?” my cousin Pablito complained. “Takes me half an hour to juice a quart.”
He wasn’t wrong. This stuff was like liquid gold. “I’ll pay you back later. I’ll take one of your shifts.” Then I got the heck out of there.
T
he front
of Bella’s mansion on East 78th Street was just as grand as I’d expected it to be. It had a limestone facade and arched, leaded-glass windows. I walked up five steps to a paneled oak door that had been buffed to a high sheen. There was a little button beside the door and a small black sign reading: “Please ring the bell.”
So I did.
A few seconds later the door was opened by a comfortable-looking, middle-aged Hispanic lady. “You must be Rafe.”
“Good morning, ma’am.”
She smiled and took a step backwards. “Miss Cranky is upstairs in her room. I will show you up.”
“Thank you.” I held up the bottle of juice. “I brought her some orange juice. Can I pour her a glass?”
Now she beamed. “Follow me.”
We went through a gleaming entryway, and then through a white-paneled sitting room. In the back was the most beautiful kitchen I’d ever seen in a New York City home. “
Aquí están los vasos
,” the housekeeper said. She opened a cabinet and brought out two juice glasses.
“
Gracias
.” I opened the bottle on the pristine stone countertop. “Grab another one, though, because this is really good juice. You should have some. My family makes it for our restaurant in Washington Heights.”
For a second the housekeeper just stared at me. Then her face broke open into an enormous smile. “Call me Maria. And I will try your juice.” She turned to get another glass, and I heard her mutter something in Spanish under her breath. Something like:
at least one of my girls has good taste in men
.
I filled three glasses. Then I lifted one toward Maria, the housekeeper. “
Salud
.”
She touched another glass to mine and then took a sip. “
Perfecto
.”
Smiling, I picked up Bella’s glass. “I’ll take this upstairs if you don’t mind.”
She pointed at a narrow doorway off the kitchen. “The back stairs are closest — just one flight up, and to your right. But I warn you, she is cranky. My Bella — always a happy child, except when she is sick. When she was a little thing, you see a grumpy look on her face? You go looking for the children’s Tylenol. That’s Bella. Not her sister — that child was unhappy for any number of reasons. But it takes a lot to make Bella miserable.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Recently, I’d seen Bella
very
miserable, but I wasn’t about to share that. Besides, I was pretty sure that the tide had turned.
“You look sick, too,” she said, patting my arm.
“Exams,” I explained. “Maybe we worked too hard.”
Or maybe we spent a lot of time having sex instead of sleeping
.
“I will bring you both soup later. Now go up to Miss Cranky.” She gave me a small shove toward the stairs.
I carried two glasses of juice up the little stairway. At the top, I turned right into a generous bedroom, where I found Bella. She sat surrounded by pillows on a queen-sized upholstered bed. Her nose was red, and she wore an oversized T-shirt that said:
Huck Farvard
. She was still the most beautiful girl I knew.
“Hey!” she said, pausing the TV. “You
did
bring me juice!”
“Of course,
belleza
.” I set the glasses down on the nightstand and kicked off my shoes. “Nice pad you got here.” There were gorgeous old windows that looked out over a brick patio, and a thick Oriental rug on the floor. All the upholstery was rose-colored. Comfortable, but a little girlier than I expected from Bella.
She took my hand and tugged me onto the bed. “I missed you.” She put her hands on either side of my face, but I only got a tiny peck on the lips. “I probably look disgusting.”
“No way.” I gave her a bigger kiss. “You look great. We only
feel
disgusting.”
“You too, huh?”
“Yeah, but I’ll survive.” I sat myself up against the headboard next to her. “Is this okay? Can I sit on your bed without breaking any rules?”
Bella snorted. “Oh, honey. They gave up on making rules for me a long time ago. My parents just went out of town anyway — to West Palm for a golf thing. My mother tried to get me to go with her, because she’s going to be bored out of her skull by a bunch of real estate people. I played the sick card, and I don’t think she blamed me at all.”
I handed her a glass of juice. “Drink up,
belleza
. What are we watching?”
“Let’s see…” She navigated to the Netflix menu. Then she turned to me with a little smile. “This is nice.” One of her bare feet found its way to mine. “Thank you for coming.”
It
was
nice. “Anytime. I feel like I’m getting away with something. The rest of my family is slaving in the kitchen, and you and I are going to watch TV all day.”
“And Maria is going to bring us food and tea.” She snuggled closer. “And I’m going to man up and check my email at some point.”
“For what?”
“Ms. Ogden was going to get back to me today about my application to nursing school. I filled everything out like she said and lined up the recommendations. But I need to get good grades in three biology courses next semester to be truly eligible. She was trying to get them to consider my application as if those classes were a done deal. She said she’d tell me today if it was going to work.”
I massaged the sole of her foot with mine. “And if it doesn’t?”
“I’ll take some post-grad classes at NYU next year and then reapply. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would set me back.”
“Ah.” I drained my glass and set it aside. “Let’s watch a movie, and then you can check.”
“Okay. Deal.” She picked up the remote. “I think I feel a chick flick coming on.”
I did my best Joan Cusack. “Coffee? Tea? Me?”
Bella’s eyes widened. “I love
Working Girl
. And you’ve got that Staten Island accent down. Are you sure you’re not from there?”
“I
thought
you were a nice person.”
Bella laughed, and I pulled her a little closer to me, burying my nose in the clean scent of her hair.
M
aria stuck
her head in the bedroom door as our movie was ending. “I made pozole. But you have to come downstairs to eat it.”
I groaned. “I
love
pozole, especially when I’m not the one making it.”
“You cook?” Maria asked.
“Sure. Doesn’t everyone?”
The housekeeper sniffed. “Bella, this boy is a keeper.”
“I know,” she said, sliding off the bed. “He convinced me already.”
“Bring your phone,” I reminded Bella. “You have to check your email.”
She blew out a breath and grabbed it off the nightstand. “I’m goin’ in.”
Downstairs, Maria fixed us giant bowls of soup, thick with braised pork and hominy. “I have toppings,” the housekeeper said. She brought us a tray with chopped onions, diced avocado and a couple bottles of hot sauce.
“Wow,” I said, finding Bella’s feet under the table. “That’s it. I’m never leaving.”
But Bella didn’t listen. She was staring at her phone, and her eyes got big. “I can’t believe it.”
“What?”
“This is going to work! Ms. Ogden thinks they’ll offer me a conditional acceptance. And if I do okay on the bio coursework, I can start at the nursing school in the fall.” She smacked her phone down on the table. “You know what this means, right?”
“You’re going to spend all of next semester in a weenie bin?”
She waved a hand, dismissing that problem. “Whatever. I’ll come out for hockey games and sex. But next year? I’m at Harkness again.” She got up from her chair and moved into my lap. “How do you feel about that?” she whispered.
I slid my hand between her legs and squeezed one of her thighs. “I like that a lot.”
She clenched her thighs around my hand. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
I found Bella’s mouth with my own. The first kiss was slow and soft. But one wasn’t nearly enough. I pressed forward, parting her lips with my tongue. She tasted of orange juice and happiness.
Bella wrapped both arms around me, and the kiss went from “congratulations, honey” to “rip my clothes off” within a minute.
“I
know
you’re not letting my soup get cold,” came a scolding voice.
Guilty, I pulled back.
But Bella didn’t look guilty. She only smiled at me. “More on that later,” she promised.
I gave her ass one more good squeeze before she went back to her own seat.
P
ropped
up on cushions on her big pink bed, Bella and I used up a lot of tissues, played some cards, and watched TV. We were beginning to nod off when I heard a sound at the door. I opened my eyes and saw Maria peeking in from the hallway.
She put a finger to her lips. “I didn’t mean to disturb you two. But I’m heading out for the night.”
“Thank you for lunch,” I whispered.
“Anytime,
chiquito
. Will you make sure that my
Bella eats something for dinner? There’s more soup. Or homemade pizzas in the freezer.”
“I will.”
She winked at me and then left.
It was dark outside now, and the only light came from Bella’s muted TV. I just lay there enjoying the warmth of her body next to mine, until eventually she woke up with a gasp and a cough.
Sitting up, I handed her a glass of water.
“What time is it?” she asked eventually.
“Seven.”
“We are so lazy.”
“Eh. We’re sick. It’s allowed.” I stretched toward the lamp on her bedside table and clicked it on.
Lianne’s voice came up the stairs. “Hi honey I’m home!” She appeared a moment later. “Hey! It’s Rafe, too. Good timing! I got what you asked me for.” She lifted the handles of a shopping bag. “I’m going to put it away.” Lianne scurried off, toward the guest room I supposed.
“What did she buy for you?” Bella asked.
“Can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Um, Bella? It’s a week until Christmas. Duh.”
She poked me in the belly. “What
is
it?”
“Didn’t you
just
hear me say I wasn’t telling?”
“I can make you talk,” Bella insisted.
“No,
belleza
. Nobody can make me talk.”
“Okay. No sex until I know what’s in the bag.”
I laughed. “If that’s the way you want it.”
She turned to study me. Then she ran a hand from my chest to my crotch. “Goddamn it. What did I just do to myself?”
“Break it up,” Lianne said, bouncing into the room. “You two had all day to grope each other whilst I toiled in yonder salt mines.”
“You poor thing. We were busy with TV and naps,” Bella answered. “Thanks for the plague.”
“Sorry.”
“You can make it up to me if you tell me what’s in the bag.”
Lianne rolled her eyes. “I’m not telling.”
She tried me again. “Please can I open it? It’s almost Christmas.”
“It’s not wrapped,” I argued.
“Actually, it is,” Lianne said. “The store offered, so I said yes.”
“What store?” Bella asked.
“Nice try.” Lianne climbed onto the foot of the bed. “I bought some cocoa on the way home. Can we make hot chocolate?”
“Sure we can.” Bella used her toe to poke Lianne’s hip. “You know that will have calories, right?”
“Yep. But I’ve decided to make a few changes. I’m going to eat whatever I want, for starters.”
“
Really
.” Bella wrapped her arms around her knees and stared. “What else?”
Lianne picked at one of her perfect fingernails. “I’m going to spend time only with people I like. And stop listening to the ones who try to control me.”
Bella and I exchanged a glance. “That sounds like a good plan for anyone,” I said quietly.
“I need to stop letting people push me around,” she said. Then she looked up at Bella. “You wouldn’t put up with a quarter of the shit that I do. The next time some Hollywood asshole tries to step on me, I’m going to ask myself, ‘What would Bella do?’”
Bella snorted. “I don’t want you to take any shit from anybody, Lianne. But maybe we should find you a less notorious role model.”
“No.” Lianne shook her head. “I never take any risks, and you do. And I know they didn’t all work out the way you planned…”