mimics my stance, his fingertips squeezing, anchoring me to him.
I can feel a slight tremble coursing through his body, and my hand reaches up to cup his cheek. “Mase…talk to me.”
“What do you think of our apartment?”
#Epilogue
The nervousness flooding my system as I wait for Kay’s reaction makes it hard to swallow.
“It’s beautiful.” The tension releases, my body going almost boneless in relief only to seize again at her “Wait?” I meet her narrowed eyes. “Did you say our?”
She caught that did she? I nod, blowing out a breath.
“We needed a place where we could all just…be.”
These last few months have been complicated. The football season may have ended, but both the basketball and all-star cheerleading seasons entered their busy times. Add in that none of us felt comfortable hanging around the AK house or Kay’s dorm, and it made it difficult to find places large enough to accommodate a group of our size.
CK’s dorm room sure as shit couldn’t hold us all, and driving to Blackwell every night wasn’t feasible with G and the girls’ practice and class schedules.
Mom and the twins loved that we started spending more time at the house, but I learned quickly that couldn’t be a long-term solution due to the tension still simmering between Brantley and me.
“Come on.” I reach for her hand again and take us back outside, all our friends now seated at the table and ready to eat.
Pulling out a free chair, I help Kay into her seat before taking the open one beside her and draping an arm along the back of hers.
“So?” Quinn bounces in her seat, rattling her drink glass and causing CK to reach out to steady it before it spills.
“What did you think?” Em asks with much more poise than our perky friend.
Kay’s gaze darts around the table, taking in the seven sets of expectant eyes turned our way. “I’m confused.”
Confused I can handle. There was a part of me that worried she’d be pissed she wasn’t involved in the decision, but I didn’t want to risk her refusing because of some misguided notion that she’d be seen as a user. She won’t say it, but I know Brantley got in her head about her seeing me as a meal ticket.
Em braces her elbows on the table and inclines her head in my direction, waiting to see how I want to handle this. I give her a nod, letting her know I’m okay if she takes the lead.
“Do you remember how my dad reacted after we were ambushed by the paps?”
“When he said you couldn’t be my roommate anymore?”
We may have come up with a solution, but the sadness in Kay’s voice still makes my heart hurt.
“Well…this building has a doorman, and all visitors have to be on an approved list in order to be allowed access.”
“No more leeches waiting outside your door,” G says darkly, earning a round of agreements from everyone present.
“The only way into the apartment is through a private elevator, and you need one of these”—Em leans to the left and pulls the plastic keycard that matches the ones we all have from her pocket—“to access it.”
Kay is silent as she looks at the small rectangle and back at her friend, a tear falling from her eye. I tuck a finger under her chin and turn her face my way, wiping away the streak of wetness on her cheek. It broke my heart when she admitted how lost she felt thinking about having to navigate her next year of college without the one person who had become her rock at the U of J.
“The Logans’ only objection to Em rooming with you was the risk of press and unexpected visitors showing up. This place solves both of those issues.” I wipe away another tear that breaks free.
I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Em’s father is a senator. It’s no wonder she and Kay became friends—the two of them sure know how to keep their identities under wraps.
“But you said this was our place?” A wave of snickers goes around the table at Kay’s question.
“It is,” G answers.
“Why else do you think it looks like MTV is doing a revival of The Real World?” Trav adds.
I smooth a hand over my hat, rethinking this strategy. I don’t know if I’ll survive living with him and Kay under the same roof. I hope these walls are strong enough to handle the smartassery.