Faking the Play (Hot Mess Harems #2)

29. Amelia

Chapter twenty-nine

Amelia

G iving the evidence of Jason’s deceit to Jefferson Hardwicke had been strangely anticlimactic. I’d considered getting Dr. Isenberg involved, but then I thought about how he hadn’t stuck up for me when he was told to ask for my resignation and I decided to bypass the department altogether. I didn’t want it to look like I was trying to retaliate against Jason for his accusations. Going with Hardwicke meant I was also able to lodge a complaint against Jason for putting those photos on the internet. Only Logan had gone with me, since he was the one to talk to Jason’s other victims, but Ryan and Ethan had waited for us outside.

I was also feeling particularly grateful that in the two days since I’d handed everything over there hadn’t been much attention given to my behavior at the bar. I didn’t remember much, but I’d made the guys tell me everything and, based on what they said, I’d either finally gotten a lucky break, or they’d made it clear that anyone who posted anything about me on social media would have to deal with them. I hadn’t flat-out asked because I didn’t want to put them in the position of deciding whether or not to lie about it, but I’d made a point of telling them how much I appreciated all the support they’d given me.

And tonight, I intended to cook them dinner, both as a gesture of appreciation and as a way to show them that, while I might not be able to put my feelings for them into words yet, I cared very much about all three of them.

Almost to my dorm, I was in the middle of going through my list of ingredients when someone stepped in front of me, blocking out the sun. Some primal part of me must’ve registered his presence before I raised my eyes from my phone because by the time they reached Jason’s face, every muscle was already tense, adrenaline pouring into my system.

“You fucking bitch.” Color suffused his cheeks as he glared down at me.

I took an instinctive step back, needing to put a little more space between me and him, but I didn’t look away. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how hard my heart was pounding in my chest.

“I got fucking expelled!” He practically shouted the words, his hands curling into fists.

I pushed back the impulse to cheer. Hardwicke had told me that I most likely wouldn’t hear back about the cheating accusations, and I knew that proving anything about the pictures would be difficult. I hadn’t let myself hope for anything more than a black mark on his reputation, even for the cheating, because I had no idea how much he’d be able to talk himself out of it. Expulsion was more than I had dared to anticipate.

“What the fuck, Amelia?! How could you do that to me?”

In my peripheral vision, I could see people turning our way, and some of that bright panic receded at the knowledge that people were watching this. Jason had done some stupid stuff, but I didn’t think he’d go to the extent of trying to physically hurt me with all these witnesses. And after how my guys had rallied around me these past couple months, Jason’s words didn’t scare me.

“I didn’t do anything to you, Jason,” I said calmly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be.”

I took a step to the side as if I intended to walk around him, and he moved back into my personal space. Squaring my shoulders, I made my voice as steely as possible.

“Out. Of. My. Way.” I gestured around me. “Or you can explain to everyone here why you’re not letting me by.”

“Now you listen to me, you fucking cunt,” he hissed from between gritted teeth, “you’re gonna fix this. You’re going to tell everyone that you lied. And if you don’t, I’m gonna ruin you.”

“Leave me alone.” After making that statement, I walked around him, half expecting him to grab my arm and pull me back, but he didn’t. What he did do, however, was shout one final threat at me.

“You’ll be sorry you ever fucked with me, Amelia! I’ll destroy you!”

Considering what he’d already done to my reputation, both professional and personal, I wasn’t too concerned about his threats. If he decided he wanted to tell people about me and my guys, then I’d deal with it, but I wouldn’t be alone, and that would make all the difference. And, honestly, after the way people had treated me when those pictures got out, I really didn’t give a damn what anyone thought of me. All I cared about was that rumors of my sexual preferences couldn’t be used to prevent my acceptance into the graduate program.

By the time I dropped off my books in my room, grabbed some extra clothes, and picked up the ingredients I needed for this evening’s meal, thoughts of my run-in with Jason had moved to the back of my mind. I didn’t want to give him a single second of my time when there were other people who deserved it more.

“Hey, Lia,” Ryan said as he opened the door to the apartment. He gave me a light kiss as he took the grocery bag from me. “What’s all this?”

“I told you guys I’m making you dinner tonight,” I said.

“Yeah, but we didn’t think you’d go to this much trouble.” Ethan came up and kissed my cheek before taking my other bag. “I figured you’d keep it simple.”

“I just hope you guys like it,” I said.

“I’m sure we’ll love it.” Logan wrapped his arms around me, giving me a tight hug before walking with me over to the counter where Ryan had put down my bags.

I took a few things out of the bag and then realized that all three guys were still in the kitchen, just casually leaning against the counters and watching me.

“You guys know I can do this myself, right?”

Ethan grinned at me. “We don’t intend to help unless you ask us to. We just wanna watch you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Is this one of your relationship lessons? Sexy cooking for your man? Or, men, I guess?”

“Oh, I like that,” Ethan said. “Maybe cooking while wearing only an apron?”

“I’d like to get behind that,” Logan said with a grin.

“Only if Ethan does it when he cooks too,” I countered.

“Please.” Ryan looked vaguely nauseated. “I don’t want to think about Ethan being naked near my food.”

“I don’t want to think about Ethan wearing only an apron,” Logan added.

A question popped into my head and I almost didn’t ask it, but then I thought that if I couldn’t be completely transparent with these three men, then I’d never find anyone I could truly be myself with.

“How do you guys handle seeing each other naked when we’re all together?” I kept my tone casual and glanced at Logan as he hopped up onto the counter. He didn’t seem annoyed by the question.

“I’m too busy staring at the naked woman,” Ethan said. “I mean, why would I want to look at Logan’s hairy ass when I could be looking at your cute one?”

“I guess it’s like when we’re changing or showering in the locker room,” Ryan said.

“Except we’re generally not hard when we’re around the other guys,” Logan pointed out.

“That’s true,” Ryan agreed.

We had a few minutes of silence while I carefully measured all of the seasoning, and then I decided that, as long as they were hanging around, I might as well ask something I’d been thinking about on and off for a couple weeks.

“So, I was wondering why you guys weren’t giving me lessons anymore?” I sprinkled the seasoning onto the chicken breasts I’d put into an aluminum pan. “Did I miss the final exam?”

“You don’t need them anymore,” Ryan said.

“Because I’ve miraculously become a less awkward individual?” I asked.

“Because the entire point of those lessons was to teach you how to be more comfortable flirting and on dates,” Logan said. “And you don’t need to know that because you already know how to flirt with us.”

“Besides,” Ethan cut in, “we like it when you do awkward things like ask Ryan if you can touch his dick in public.”

My cheeks burned as the memory resurfaced. Ryan leaned over and punched Ethan in the shoulder.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “And anything else embarrassing I said.”

“No apology needed,” Ryan said. “And you can touch my dick tonight if you want.”

A hunger that had nothing to do with actual food made my stomach clench. We’d flirt and eat and have a bit of fun, but at some point tonight, I planned on taking him up on that promise.