Without You

My mouth dropped open as I stared at her. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Are you sure he has a video?”

She nodded her head. “I’ve seen it. He had his brother record us. He set me up.”

“Wait—I don’t understand. Grace, there has to be another reason he wants to keep dating you, not just to keep his parents off his back. And what do your grandparents, Sue and Mark, have to do with anything?”

She looked down and slowly nodded her head. “My grandfather works for the biggest law firm in Austin, Alex. He sits on some board at UT, and he is pretty powerful. He’s already talked to Mike about interning at his law firm. Mike’s parents were beyond happy, and so was Mike. He’s just using me, Alex. If I break up with him, he doesn’t get to intern at Grandpa’s law firm.”

She stood up and started pacing. “It’s all so messed up. I have to stay with him because the bastard recorded us fucking. I hate him so much, Alex. I can’t even stand to be around him, and I’m not sure I can keep pretending like this. It’s slowly killing me.”

“I thought you were going to UT just because he was going. You always talked about going to A&M, Grace, but then everything changed.”

She turned and looked at me with tears rolling down her face. “I never want my father to see that video, Alex. It would kill him. I can’t do that to my parents.”

“So, you’ll give up what you want to help this bastard?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I have no other options.”

An idea popped into my head. A few weeks ago, I’d seen Mike flirting with Maegan when she was a bit tipsy.

“The hell we don’t.” I pulled out my phone and hit a number. “Maegan? I need you to dress slutty tonight. Yep. Show the girls like you’ve never shown them before. Make sure your phone battery is fully charged, too. I’ll explain when you get to Libby and Will’s.”

I hit End and looked at Grace. She looked confused.

“Tonight, you get your damn life back. Nobody messes with my best friend.”

I sat on the back of my tailgate, watching the girls all dance.

Colt walked over, jumped up, and sat down next to me. “Um…why is Maegan sluttin’ it up tonight?”

I let out a laugh as I tipped my water back. I wasn’t planning on drinking even though we were at my place. I was going to take Lex back to the clubhouse later.

“I have no clue. Lex said they were all on a mission tonight. Something to do with Mike Clark.”

Colt made a grunt sound. “I really don’t like that guy.”

He went to take a drink but stopped. He was staring off to the side, so I followed his eyes.

Lauren was standing there, talking to Luke and Bryan Wilson.

“Why’s Lauren talking to Bryan Wilson?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “How do you know she’s not talking to Luke, and Bryan’s just standing there?”

Colt slowly looked at me. “Because she’s looking right at Bryan and smiling at him. That leads me to believe she’s talking to him.”

I just stared at him. “Why don’t you go find out?”

He looked away and took a drink. “Nah, I don’t care that much.”

I raised one eyebrow and stared at him. He wasn’t paying attention to me, so I just sighed and brought my attention back to Lex and the girls.

Luke came walking up and yelled out, “William Fuckin’ Hayes! Dude, this year, we are gonna be at fuckin’ A&M together. You and me as roommates! We’re gonna raise hell.”

I smiled as I watched a drunk Luke make an ass out of himself yet again. “Luke, you probably need to slow down.”

He waved his hand at me and made a face. “Bushshit. I’m fine.”

Colt started laughing. “Bushshit? Luke, watch out. That drop-off goes right to the river.”

Luke grinned at Colt and pointed to him. “Colt, my dad said you play football like your daddy. Said colleges are gonna be watching you this year, so don’t fuck it up, Colt. Don’t be partying and screwing around with girls. You study, little buddy.” He grabbed Colt and began hugging him. He rubbed his hand on top of Colt’s head. “Dude, you’re good-looking. I gets it. Girls throw themselves at you. Don’t do it…look at me.”

Luke was attempting to force Colt to look him in the eyes while Colt was attempting to push Luke away.

“Jesus, Luke. You make a terrible drunk. Your ass is going to fall in the water if you don’t watch it. I’m not gonna mess anything up. I know what I want, and I want to play football for A&M. End of story.”