Sitting up on my elbows, Sara Jane is curled in a chair in the corner of the room. “I was?”
“Yeah, you kicked me. Twice. I tried to wake you, but you pinned me down. You’re strong even in your sleep.” She sips from a mug.
“I’m sorry.”
“You were dreaming about that night.” She leaves it there. Neither of us needing more to know which night she’s referring to.
Looking away from her in shame, I whisper, “Yeah.”
She exhales through her nose, then takes another sip before setting the mug on the dresser and crawling back into bed. “And yet I’m still here.” Lying back, she pulls the covers over her and then tugs on my arm. “Maybe one day you’ll have sweet dreams of us instead.”
I’ve had many sweet dreams with Sara Jane as the star. How could I not? When my head hits the pillow, I reply, “Sometimes wishes come true.”
19
Sara Jane
Before Alexander leaves, he comes to my side of the bed and kneels down. “I need to go to the manor to get ready for work, but think about tonight, okay?”
I’m tired, still sleepy in the six o’clock hour, but I’m honest. “I will.”
He kisses me on the head, and whispers, “Have a good day.”
“Love you.”
Before he leaves the bedroom, he sends me a wink that would make my knees weak if I were standing. When the door closes, I grab the pillow he slept on and bunch it in my arms, inhaling his musky male scent into my lungs. The smell of his sweat turns me on, but I could get drunk on the smell that lingers from our early morning connection.
I take the hour I have left and close my eyes. I’ve not felt this content in a while. Everything feels right, feels how it should. Finally.
*
The morning hours fly by with classes, and then I’m rushing to the library. I reach the second floor where the group usually meets. Maya and Shelly are there. Cal is sitting at the head of the table and Ryan’s next to the empty seat I take. “You guys are early.”
“Friday night,” Ryan says. “My fraternity is having a party. I need to get back and help set up.”
Maya asks, “Do you have plans?”
She crossed a line when she talked to Alexander behind my back. “Yes, with my boyfriend. He asked me to move in with him, and we’re going to be celebrating all night long. If you get my drift.”
“Sara Jane.” Shelly’s tone is cautioning.
Shooting Shelly a glare, I don’t back down. Maybe it’s the stress of the last few weeks or the memory of Maya flirting with Alexander that set me off, but we are not friends, and I refuse to pretend we are. If I make claims on Alexander in the meantime, so be it. “What? She hits on my boyfriend, then she asks me a question, fishing for information on him. So I was just letting her know that I plan on fucking my boyfriend all weekend long.”
“What the—?” Shelly stands. “What has gotten into you?”
Maya protests, “I wasn’t hitting on him.”
Cal stands with his hands out. “Let’s all calm down.”
Ryan sits back and laughs. “Holy shit. Girls play dirty.”
“If you only knew,” I joke, not really, nudging him like we’re locker room buddies.
Shelly steps around the table. “Are you drunk, Sara Jane?” When she walks by me, she says, “We need to talk.”
I roll my eyes, but get up and follow her to the corner windows. As we stare down at the quad, she asks, “What in the hell are you doing?”
Irritated, I look her way. “Why are you so upset? I’m the one who was betrayed by my friends.”
“It doesn’t matter how you feel. You can’t act like that.”
“Like what? I’m lost on what the hell you’re talking about.”
“You’re with Alexander—”
“And?”
“And you’re better than what you displayed back there.”
“I am so confused. Are you saying because I’m with Alexander I need to act a certain way?” She looks around and if I didn’t know her better, I’d say she was nervous. “Shelly? What is going on? First you lie to me for what? Months? Years? Now you’re telling me I should be acting a certain way because of whom I’m dating?”
“Look,” she starts in a hushed tone. “I shouldn’t tell you, but I’ve hated lying to you—”
“How could Alexander trust you more than me?”
“It’s different.”
“How? This betrayal cuts deep, Shelly.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I really am. Please. It was never about trusting me more than you. It’s about him loving you too much to risk losing you.”
“Don’t defend him. There is no defense for the lies. You were my friend first. You should have never lied to me.”
“I had to. For Chad. He needed the money, and I missed sleeping with him.”
“You kept massive secrets from me over sex with your boyfriend?”
“No. That’s not it. I didn’t mean sleeping with him sex. I meant actually sleeping at night together. He was never home, and I missed him. We were drifting apart. I did what I could to save my relationship.”
“So you sold our friendship out?”
“Don’t say that, Sara Jane.”
“It’s the truth. You sold me out for Chad.”
“You would do the same for Alexander.”
“No. I wouldn’t lie to you. You know why? Because there’s nothing I would do behind your back that I would need to lie about.” I move to return to the table.
To my back, she asks, “What about Alexander?”
I pause to absorb her question before turning back around and crossing my arms over my chest. “What about Alexander?”
“What does Alexander have to lie about? Why did he need to hide what he’s doing from you if it’s all on the up and up?”
She knows how to get my blood boiling. Seething, I come back, so we can finish this. I get closer, and whisper, “You tell me. You seem to know all about what’s happening over at that fancy penthouse. What are you doing when you hang out over there all night?”
“They trust me.”
“So they don’t trust me? Whatever you’re implying, just say it, Shelly.” I huff. “And for the record, I trusted you and got burned. Do I need friends like that?”
The frown on her face arches lower before she pleads, “Please don’t hate me. I was protecting you just like they were.”
“From what?” I run my hands through my hair in frustration. “I’m so tired of this. I just want to go back to when everything and everyone was normal.”
“See, that’s the thing. Was it ever normal?” Her tone softens, her own exasperation evident as she sits in a chair nearby. “I’ve been around that place enough to learn a few things.”
“Like?”
Her shoulders are hunched, but she looks up. “Alexander owns fifty-one percent of Kingwood Enterprises.” My eyes flash to hers in astonishment. She goes on to say, “His mother’s money enabled Alexander Kingwood III to start the company. She didn’t want a position, but she remained the majority shareholder.”
“So?”
“So I think Alexander is right. I think his mother was murdered, and maybe by his father.”