Logan (Chosen Champions #1) - Macy Blake Page 0,19
quite believe he’d been an idiot for so long.
When their food came, Ashley divided up the turkey sandwich they’d ordered while he did the same to the stack of pancakes. Joey and Heather had a similar system in place, while Will just devoured a giant stack of pancakes with extra bacon on the side all by himself.
Ashley poked Bailey in the ribs, distracting him from his thoughts. He turned to glare at her, but her smug grin had him keeping quiet.
“Don’t say it.”
She laughed and dunked her sandwich into the side of ranch dressing she’d ordered for them. “Told ya so.”
“Ugh. You’re so awful. Why are we even friends?”
“What are you two fighting about?” Will asked. He had his fork poised in front of his mouth with a huge bite of pancakes on it that dripped rather ominously due to an obscene amount of syrup.
“You’re going to choke to death on that.”
Will arched a brow. “You think I can’t fit more than this in my mouth?”
Joey choked on his drink and water spewed everywhere.
“What am I missing?” Heather asked.
“Well,” Ashley began, holding up her hand and using her fingers to count off her points, “Bailey just realized we’re all actually his friends, so he’s having a moment. Will is trying to flirt with Bailey by promising he gives great blowjobs, but only because he knows Bailey’s safe to flirt with because Bailey is somehow not Will-sexual. Joey, however, is not safe to flirt with and would like nothing more than to find out exactly how well Will swallows. And you, my precious snowflake, really should pay closer attention and stop drooling over the baseball players at the next table.”
Bailey looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, half the baseball team sat behind them. How the hell had he missed that? He turned back to the table to see Joey’s eyes really wide and his mouth half open in shock. His cheeks were bright red as well. Will looked confused and glanced back and forth between Ashley and Joey, like he wasn’t quite sure if she was serious.
“Everyone at this table is clueless. I don’t even know why I bother with you people.”
Bailey wasn’t entirely sure either. After they ate, he returned Heather’s purse and then drove Ashley back to her sorority house. She dragged him up to her room, and they plopped down together on the chair and a half she had crammed into the small space. They propped their feet on the matching ottoman, and Ashley set up her laptop so they could start their research.
She somehow finagled him into filling out the application, and then found a list of scholarships and grants on their school’s website. Before he could blink, she’d set up an appointment with the financial aid advisor for him for the following day.
“You are a whirlwind.”
“When I’m anxious,” she confessed with a sad smile.
Bailey put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. “I’m sorry I didn’t keep a better eye on you.”
She laid her head against his. “It’s not your job to do that, and you know it. You stopped whatever was going to happen, though. And Bails… it scares me to think about what almost happened.”
It scared him too. “We’re okay, though. And if you thought I was kidding about the buddy-system thing, you were wrong.”
Before they could talk further, a couple of Ashley’s sorority sisters came in. Both of them were crying.
“Ashley, did you hear?”
She froze and grabbed Bailey’s hand. “Hear what?”
“Rebecca Allmon was attacked last night. They’re saying—” The girl broke off, and she began crying harder.
“They’re saying she was raped,” the other girl added.
Ashley squeezed Bailey’s hand so hard he thought she might break his fingers. “Where did it happen?”
“She was on the strip, at one of the bars. We’re going to call our advisor and set up a house meeting.”
She nodded. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
The moment they left the room, she began to tremble against him. “Bails.”
She didn’t need to say the obvious. He’d reached the same conclusion she had. It was almost her.
“You go talk to your sorority sisters, okay? I’m going to head home. Call me if you need me, and don’t go anywhere by yourself.”
She nodded again. “We’ll set up a buddy system. We have one anyway, but we’ll give demerits to anyone who breaks the rule.”
Bailey pulled her into a hug and held her until she stopped shaking. As he walked to his car, he shivered and looked over his shoulder.