Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I nod, grateful. “I know. Thanks.”
She rocks forward a little, elbows on her knees, hands clasped like she’s thinking for a moment.
“Sim?” I ask. “What’s up?”
She takes a deep breath and smiles. “I may be speaking out of line, but I know what it’s like to fall for someone older.” The words land soft, but not easy. “I adore Liam. He’s helped open the world to me, and made me see things I didn’t even know existed. But you have to be careful, Andie. Men like that—they have experience. They have money. They know what they want, and most of the time, it isn’t forever. They can walk away whenever they want and not lose a thing.” She lifts her eyes, searching my face. “Girls like us? We’re the ones who pay.”
I absorb this. My jaw locks. I don’t want to look away, but I do, instead staring at the exposed metal springs under my mattress, each one shadowed like a threat.
Simone is gentle, but relentless. “Does he know about the bet?”
I freeze. My fingers tangle together, nails digging hard enough to leave marks. “No,” I say, and my voice is almost nothing. “I didn’t tell him.”
She tilts her head, waiting.
My heart is hammering in my throat. “I mean, I thought about telling him. Okay, not really, but there’s something else,” I say, and then I make myself say it: “I recorded it. Last night.” I watch the truth leave my mouth and hang there, quivering in the air between us. “I set my phone up. I haven’t shown it to anyone. But I did record it.”
Simone goes perfectly still. It’s not fear, or even surprise. It’s disappointment—a sharp, clean line that draws her features down.
“You recorded him being intimate with you without asking?”
I nod. “I know it’s wrong. I know.” I look at my hands. “I just—I didn’t want to lose this bet thing. I wanted it to count. But after, I couldn’t even bring myself to watch it. It just sits there. Like a grenade.”
The silence is so heavy I almost can’t breathe. On the other side of the wall, someone’s playing music—slow and syrupy, a sad guitar and some girl’s voice drifting in and out.
Simone finally says, “Don’t show it to anyone. Not even to me.” Her tone is firm, almost maternal. “Delete it if you can. Please. If you have to keep it, keep it for yourself and password protect it. But don’t ever let him find out.” She runs a hand through her hair, the bun coming loose. “That’s not who you want to be, Andie.”
I nod, mouth tight. “I know.”
She sighs, stands, and starts fussing with the boxes again. “I never liked that bet, you know. It was freshman-level stupidity. We’re not that desperate, and we’re definitely not that dumb.”
I almost laugh, but it comes out as a wet, broken sound. “Yeah.”
She glances over at me, face softening. “You’re not a bad person, Andie. You just got caught up in something with those girls you hang out with.”
“You’re friends with them too!”
She nods, a frown on her pretty face.
“Yes, but I’ve grown apart from them in the last year or so. I mean, I met Liam and everything changed. The stuff they’re interested in seems so childish now. I don’t know,” she says. “I love Kayleigh, Mary Kate and Stella, but we’re just on different planets.”
I nod.
“Totally get it. You’re different, Sim, since dating Professor Thomas, and I hope things work out for you.”
A shadow crosses her face for a moment as her hand slips over her lower belly.
“I think it will. I know it will,” she says in a more determined voice.
With that, I smile before lying back on my mattress and staring at the ceiling, thinking about Thomas Moreland and our intimate video. What should I do? God, I have no idea.
Simone goes back to her packing, but she keeps talking, her voice gentle and low. “I think you really like him,” she says. “Maybe even love him, a little.”
I close my eyes, let the word love fizz around my ribcage. “No way,” I say. “It’s way too early.”
She smiles, just a little. “That’s what I thought with Liam too, but within months we were serious. I just hope your new guy deserves it.”
For a long time, neither of us speaks. The music next door gets louder, then stops abruptly, replaced by the muffled thump of a headboard against a wall. The light outside shifts, going blue and hard as the sun slips behind the campus library. Simone tapes another box shut, the sound slicing the quiet.
My phone buzzes on the mattress. I reach for it and see the group chat lighting up: “Update time, ladies. Coffee tomorrow? Who’s got news on the bet?” Stella’s name at the top, followed by Kayleigh and Mary Kate. The notification lingers, waiting.