“There’s probably some secret alumni fund that keeps it clean.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I agree, taking a hit.

“We need to get the keg down here and fill those bar shelves,” Riley says.

“How are we supposed to do that?” I ask.

“We’ll figure out a way. More importantly, who will we invite?”

“It’d have to be people we trust not to tell, right?” Dallas asks.

He passes me the joint again and I say, “Could we bring people here without letting them know where it is?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Blindfold them? That would keep the location safe. And without the key, no one else can get in anyway.”

Riley ponders that for a second but then gets distracted by a poster of a hot girl above his head. “This place is sweet.”

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH

Sex for your ex.

English

As I’m walking to my seat in English, I get a text from B.

B: I set up a call with the takeover guy for tonight. 12:30 am EST.

Me: Thank you :)

I stand here for a few seconds, waiting for him to reply, but he doesn’t.

Dallas tickles my side as he walks by so I decide to take my seat.

But before I do, I can’t help but rub his adorable buzz cut. “Your hair is just too cute like this.”

“What is with girls? They all want to rub it. I’ve starting saying, If you rub it three times my genie will pop out.”

“Dallas!” I crack up laughing. “Has anyone taken you up on that? Speaking of which, what ever happened to Panties for the Poor?”

“Still taking donations. Just got a little sidetracked by you-know-who.”

“Ha! She’s like Voldemort. She’s so bad, we can’t even say her name.”

Dallas laughs. “And right now I’m busy with the Sex for your Ex Club.”

“Do I even want to know what that is?”

“I’m offering my services to help newly single cheerleaders get back at their ex-boyfriends.”

“You really are an extraordinary philanthropist.”

“I know,” he says, loosening his tie.

Katie plops down by us. “So, what do you think about Annie and Jake? Ace was pissed last night.”

“Good,” Dallas and I say at the same time.

We all look at each other and laugh.

“Ladies!” our teacher says. “Can we focus on class, please? And Mr. McMahon, kindly tighten your tie so I’m not forced to give you another demerit.”

After she turns toward the blackboard and continues to bore us with Shakespearean vocabulary, Katie makes a funny face and I start giggling.

Dallas whispers, “Did you get into Jake’s brownies again?”

Which makes me giggle some more.

Or maybe I’m still high from Aiden kissing the hell out of me before class.

“Miss Monroe! Why don’t you come up here and pass out the quizzes, since you seem to have so much energy.”

As soon as I stand up, Dallas flips the back of my skirt, causing the whole thing to fly up in the air, probably exposing my thong.

“Dallas!” I yell, laughing and pushing it down.

“All right. That’s it. You two. Outside.”

I freeze and wipe all emotion from my face.

Our teacher motions for us to go and follows us out in the hall, where she chews us out and tells us we’re both getting zeros on our quizzes.

Dallas and I slide down the wall, sit on ground, look at each other, and then both start giggling.

“Last night was awesome. Can you believe that place?” I ask.

“It still sorta seems like we dreamed it.”

“Could we have all had the same dream?”

“We need to find out more. Wanna go back tonight?”

I think about the text I just got from B. “Probably not. It’s only second period, and I’m already tired.”

“Come on, we need to go make sure it’s real. We’ll invite Aiden.”

“Maybe.”

An adorable wink.

Lunch

Cooper comes by our lunch table and hands me a piece of paper.

“Here’s a pass to get out of your seventh period class so we can do some physical therapy on that hamstring.”

“Um, thanks.”

“I’ll help you stretch,” Aiden says. “You should really do it every day.”

My mind immediately goes to doing it with Aiden. I don’t even try to hide my smirk. “Every day, huh?”

He whispers, “Stretching is what I was referring to, but if you want to . . .”

Jake and Annie sit down across from us and I watch as Jake gives her an adorable wink.

So cute, I think. But then Annie does something that surprises me. The girl winks right back at him.

I decide I like the new, bolder Annie.

They flirt as I pick at my food and try to think about doing it with Aiden as opposed to worrying about why Cooper needs to talk to me.

The Side Door.

7th period

Opening the door to Cooper’s office, I take a deep breath and steel myself for whatever bad news he’s about to give me.

But when I sit down, he’s grinning.

“What’s going on?”

“I decided not to wait for Garrett. I got a friend of mine to talk to Vincent’s assistant last night. Most of it’s boring bar conversation, but there’s part of it that might be something. I want you to listen.”

“Have you heard anything from Garrett? Did they all make it to France okay?”

“Yes, actually. I got a text from him a few minutes ago. He said all is good.”

“Thank goodness.”

“Okay, here goes,” he says, and presses play.

“My boss? Oh, don’t get me started. He’s always been really demanding, but now he’s almost unbearable. He’s obsessed with some girl that he saw in a club. Wants her to star in this film we’re producing. You’ve probably heard about it. The nationwide search for the next Abby Johnston.”

“Sorry, I haven’t.”

“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter. What matters is I scheduled a business dinner he’s been on me about setting up. With their schedules, it was literally the only night I could make it happen in the next two months. When I posted the date on his calendar, he was furious. Started yelling at me about how I should know he has plans every Thursday night.”

I hear her drinking, a mug hitting the bar, and a voice saying, Another round?

She replies, Please.

“Do you want to know what stupid thing he does every Thursday night he’s in town?”

“Uh, sure.”

“He goes back to the club where he first saw her.”

“Club? What is she, a stripper?”

“No, it’s a dance club. Some bar with no name.”

“The Bar With No Name is the name of the club?”

“No, it literally has no name. One of those places where only the rich and pretty people get in. Or even know about.”

“The Side Door,” I whisper.

Cooper hits pause. “So now you know where he’s going to be tomorrow night. What’s the rest of—” He stops, squints his eyes, then continues. “The rest of the stretching plan? Go change, and I’ll meet you in training room.”

While I’m changing, I remember the first time I met Garrett. It was the day Vincent put the note in Avery’s backpack, and he asked about my habits.

“Are there times you go places by yourself?” Garrett asked me.

“Um, I guess I drive to school by myself and dance class, but that’s about it.”

“You’re supposed to go to the club later tonight,” Tommy reminded.

“Yeah, but I’m going with Cush.”

Mom and Tommy both looked at Garrett.

He said, “I think it’s fine if you’re not alone. Are you picking him up or is he coming here?”

“I was going to pick him up.”

“Let’s have a tail on her just to be safe.”

“Uh, I don’t want some old guy in the club with us.”

“It won’t be some old guy, and he won’t follow you into the club. He’ll sit outside, watch Tommy’s car, and follow you home after you drop off your friend.”

“It’s either that or you don’t go,” Tommy said sternly.

Vincent must have followed me to the club that night. And it may have been just dumb luck that he ran into Vanessa and RiAnne there after I’d left.

In the training room, Cooper pats the table. “Lie on your back,” he says loudly, but then he whispers, “The dean is wandering around.”

I lie on the table. Cooper pulls my legs so that my butt is down toward the end of it. He pushes one of my legs straight up in the air, letting it rest on his shoulder as he leans his shoulder into the back of my thigh.

“Try to keep your knee straight,” he says. “I’ll gently push your leg toward your chest until it hurts. Then I want you to push back against me hard.”

“And you thought having me in this position would put his mind at ease?” I whisper.

He ignores me. “If you have a friend who could help you stretch before you go to bed, that would help too.”

Now I see why Aiden offered to help me stretch. Cooper’s practically lying on top of me.

My leg starts to shake, so I push back hard against his shoulder.

After pressing for a few seconds, he says, “Stop,” then gently pushes my leg again. I’m surprised that it easily goes farther than it did before.

He stretches my other leg and then says, “I’m going to get you a heat wrap.”

He leaves, comes back with a warm wrap, and says, “Okay, he’s gone. Come back here.”

He leads me into a supply room. “Tell me about The Side Door.”

“It’s where he tried to kidnap me,” I say simply. “Tomorrow night, I’m going back there.”

“What?! No, you’re not.”

“This is the part where you’re going to earn that raise.”

“Are you nuts?”

“No. I want him to think I’m back home, so he’ll stay far away from B and my family.”

Cooper keeps shaking his head.

“I’ll take care of our flight. Let’s plan on leaving here at six.”

“Fine. I think it would be best if everyone thinks I’m still here, since you’re signing out. I’m going to hide in the back of your car, okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds smart.”

Heading to the girls’ locker room to get changed for soccer, I run into Dawson.

“Hey, we’re all going to Taco Tuesday tonight, even though it’s Wednesday. You wanna come?”

“Yum. That sounds awesome.”

“Yeah, we thought we’d do that then go to the wrestling match.”

A ticking time bomb.

Tutoring

“Hey, Dawson said the guys are all going to Taco Tuesday even though it’s Wednesday. Are you?” I ask Aiden when I get to his room.

His gorgeous mouth twists into a frown. “I meant to talk to you about this last night,” he says, the frown disappearing, “but you kept my mouth busy until curfew.”

I blush. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Us.”

“What about us?”

“On the beach, when we talked about Brooklyn . . .”

“Yeah?”

“I said I'd take you for now.”

“I remember.”

“Look, I know you were in a relationship with Dawson, but I feel like until we get past that point, until you decide who you . . .” He stops again. “I guess I'm saying I’m not planning to ask you to be my girlfriend—because, obviously, you aren't ready for that—but that doesn't mean I could handle you dating other people here.”

My chest swells with happiness. “I don't want you dating anyone else either.”

“Boots, I told you, you're the only girl I've kissed all semester. The only girl I ever want to kiss.”

I run my fingers through his hair. “I appreciate how understanding you’re being about all of this.”

“I have a ticking time bomb countdown app on my phone. For your birthday,” he confesses.

“Aiden, that's horrible!”

“No, it's not. It’s just reminding me that each day I get with you is precious.”

“I’m sorry I didn't tell you when I stopped doing stuff with Dawson. It must have been horrible for you when I hung out with him. Now I understand why you acted like such a little bitch sometimes.”

“What?!” he says with a grin, grabbing my waist playfully. “I think you just liked watching me suffer.”

“No, I didn’t, because when you suffered you pretend-punched my head. And pretend-punching someone's head is not nice.”

“Better than punching it for real.”

“Maybe, unless you tell them you’re pretend-punching them.” I put my finger up to his lips. “And before you say I did that. I did not. You were lurking behind me when you overheard. You told me to my face.”

He looks deep into my eyes, the playful mood turning serious with a single look. He doesn't say anything, just kisses me.

And does this kiss ever speak.

It's a kiss that's more emotional than it is sexual. It's a kiss that says all our fighting, all our misunderstandings, our lack of communication, all the hurt feelings, were worth it.

But when his tongue gets involved in the kiss and he pulls me onto the bed with him, and onto his lap, it takes the kiss to a whole other level.