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I don’t miss the flicker of irritation cross his face when he hears the name of the two people that know about our history. He catches himself, smoothing out his expression and letting his mouth curve up.

“Sure you don’t want to stay?” His tone is casual. Easy. “I thought maybe we could talk. Catch up.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Brent.”

The deal Twyler and Reese made with Brent was clear. He and CJ would not only remove the video of me that they put up on LonelyCams without my permission, they’d destroy it. They’ll also leave me alone. Otherwise, I file a report.

That was the dealtheymade. I just want to forget the whole thing happened.

Brent takes a step closer, out of the shadows, close enough for me to smell the whiskey on his breath. The bottle hangs loose in his fingers down by his side. “Now that everyone has cooled off, I thought maybe we could reassess.”

“Reassess?” I ask, not following.

“Our relationship.”

That one gets me. “We didn’t have a relationship. We had an arrangement. You called. I came over. We fucked.” Until he gottired of me and decided to get a ‘real’ girlfriend. Someone that looks good on his arm.Nota jersey chaser. “You handed me over to CJ.”

He takes a deep breath. “In hindsight, I can admit that trying to look out for CJ wasn’t a great idea. He was just in such a low place and I wanted to help him out. I thought that’s what you wanted too?”

That’s the problem. I had willingly hooked up with his best friend. Why? One reason. He asked me to. “Yeah, well… he took it too far.”

It’s an understatement.

“I regret it.” Brent’s eyes drag down my body, lingering over my chest and down to my hips. That look used to give me hope, make me willing to do whatever he asked, but I know better. He reaches out and I feel the firm press of his fingers grazing down my neck. “Seeing you with him–seeing what you did with him on camera. It made me realize what I was giving up.”

I try to process what he’s saying. He regrets giving me up? Does he actually want me back? I close my eyes and ask, “What about Shanna?”

He doesn’t even blink at his girlfriend’s name. “Our relationship has nothing to do with Shanna, and you know that.“ His thumb strokes the divot at the base of my throat. “I need her for certain, official, roles.” His tongue darts out and wets his bottom lip. “I need you for entirely different reasons, Nadia.”

Heat creeps across my skin at the implication. Brent is insatiable in bed and I was willing to do whatever he wanted. Even things I wasn’t always comfortable with. I was certain–desperate–that I could convince him I could fulfill all the roles in his life; a partner in and out of the bedroom. He disagreed, and when Reese and his long time girlfriend, Shanna, broke up, Brent had swooped in to claim the girl who spent herlife preparing to be an athlete’s wife. Basically, Shanna’s good enough to be seen with in public.

I’m not.

“Come on, babe,” he says, leaning in, breath hot by my ear, “let’s give this another shot.”

I tense. “You know that can’t happen.”

“Why?” He jerks back, glaring at me. “Because you don’t want it to happen or because you’re afraid of Cain and his girlfriend knowing you want it?”

“It’s not about them,” I say, knowing it’s only half true. “It’s about me having some self-respect for once in my life. I’m better than just being some booty call, or worse, the girl you get tired of and hand off to your friend.” I swallow. “Once you’re ready to be seen with me in public, and not including a dark hallway at the back of a frat party, maybe we can talk.”

His jaw tenses. “I knew you were a slut, Nadia, but I had no idea you were so fucking stupid.”

And there he is. The Brent I knew was hiding under the surface. The mean, petty, entitled, athlete that wants what he wants,whenhe wants it.

“Fuck you, Brent.”

I step away, not wanting this to escalate, but his hand snaps back out and his fingers tighten around my throat. “I’d watch your mouth or you’re about to see the other side of this, the one where I’m not so nice. I’ll put the word out to every athlete at Wittmore that you’re toxic. That baseball player out there, the one trying so hard to get in your pants? He won’t even look your way. You’ll be blacklisted. Every girl down on sorority row, everyone that you so desperately want approval from, will see you for what you are; trash.” There’s no mistaking the ferocity behind his threat. In the hierarchy of Wittmore, the captain and quarterback of the football team, is always going to outrank ajersey chaser. But to get one last dig in, he adds, “You’ll be less than nothing when I’m through with you.”

“I’ll go to the police,” I whisper.

He cocks his head. “I don’t think you will.”

One thing that I hate most of all, is how well Brent knows me. He knows all the buttons to press. What gets me out of bed at 3 AM to go over to his house for a booty call. What my goals and aspirations are. How desperate I am for approval–for the life he dangles in front of me like a carrot. And in this moment, with his smell all around me, and his fingers on my throat, all I want is for everything to go back to normal. Just accept who I am. Even without him spreading the word around campus that I’m blacklisted, what do I have? A crappy reputation. A best friend who is currently living my dream life. The fear of everything in my life falling apart even more than it already is.

“Hey,” an upbeat voice carries down the hall, “you guys having your own party back here?”

Brent glances over his shoulder and grunts, fingers loosening. “Rakestraw. Nadia and I were just catching up.”