Whatever It Takes (13 page)

His calm words echoed through her mind as she calmly worked
the lock. After only a few moments, she felt the tumblers move and the lock
popped open. Smiling to herself, she stepped into the room and shut the door
behind her.

Trey’s room looked the same as it had the last time she was
there. She scowled at the memory of how he had threatened and touched her then.
She put a hand to her stomach and thought of how much she hated him.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, she moved to
his desk and made quick work of that lock too. When she pulled the drawer open
she smiled down at the bright-green flash drive just left behind for the
taking. Trey really was an arrogant son of a bitch. She snagged the device,
turned on his laptop and plugged the flash drive into it. While it was loading
she took a moment to check all the drawers for any possible copies he might
have made. Finding no disk or other portable drives, she turned her attention
to the laptop.

As she viewed the files on the flash drive, she spotted her
name. She pulled up the file and watched as she stupidly incriminated herself.
Shaking her head at her own gullibility, she deleted the file from the drive.
That’s when she noticed the other files and realized they were Trey’s term
papers for several of his classes. Her chest burned as she thought of how he’d
treated her, and with a shaking hand she selected the option to format the
drive, erasing every file on it. Her heart pounded as she double-checked to
make sure no files remained. Satisfied there would be no way to recover the
deleted files, she dropped the drive back in the drawer and closed it.

Laurie was just about to close the laptop when she noticed
the open can of cola on a shelf above the desk. She thought of how Trey had
fondled her and made her fear being used for sex by him and his frat brothers.

She picked up the can of cola, noting that it was about half
full. Looking down at the laptop, she made a quick decision and smiled
wickedly. As she tilted the can, letting some of the syrupy liquid spill into
the keyboard, she heard a sizzle and quickly moved back, watching as the screen
began to flicker and change colors. She wasn’t sure what would happen. Would
the damn thing blow up? She took another step back and continued to watch.
Finally, a puff of smoke came out of the computer and the screen went dark. A horrid,
burning smell filled the room and Laurie covered her nose. She placed the can
of cola exactly where she’d found it then she attempted to turn the computer
on. Nothing. She had no doubt the thing was fried. She wiped any excess cola
off the keyboard and desk, sure that the inside would be dried out by the time
Trey returned. He’d have no clue what was wrong until he took it to be
serviced.

Laurie glanced around the room, tempted to destroy something
else of Trey’s but thought better of it. Instead, she left the room and
sprinted down the stairs. When she stepped out the front door she forced
herself to walk calmly and slowly, drawing no attention to herself. The moment
she got back to her room, she sent a one-word text to Mason.

Success!

Several days had passed and Laurie hadn’t seen Mason again.
He had taken to texting her good morning every day and they exchanged messages
more and more frequently but it was not the same as seeing him, and she did her
best to ignore her frustration. All had been quiet on the Trey front, too,
although she knew he’d gotten back from his vacation. Unfortunately, her peace
and quiet didn’t last…

You have another delivery to pick up. When you bring it,
dress nice. Some of my brothers want to meet you ;).

Laurie read and reread the text message from Trey, bile
rising in her throat. Looked as if the son of a bitch had decided to start
whoring her out to his frat brothers. She punched furiously at the keys on her
phone then smiled as she hit send.

No fucking way on all requests, asshole.

Do it or the dean will get that email we talked about.

Go head; send it. I’ll take my chances.

Then silence, at least until later that afternoon.

Laurie was walking to her dorm when he appeared out of
nowhere and grabbed her.

“You fucking bitch!” he yelled, shaking her. “How the fuck
did you do it?”

Laurie shoved him away and took a few steps back.

“Keep your goddamn hands off me.”

Trey took a step toward her but stopped as a couple of male
students who’d been walking past paused and reversed course, looking concerned.
Laurie recognized the larger of the two guys from several of her classes. She
thought his name was Taylor.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked.

“Just my ex-boyfriend having trouble accepting the fact that
we are through.”

“Do you need us to call security?” Taylor asked.

“No,” Trey snapped. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”

“Don’t come near me again, Trey,” Laurie said. “You aren’t
going to control me anymore. We’re done. If you bother me again, I’ll go to the
dean. I’m sure you don’t want your father to hear you are harassing other
students.”

“You better listen to her, buddy, ‘cause if she has to go
that far, we’ll be witnesses for her,” Taylor warned. “Just leave her alone.”

Trey looked from Laurie to the two men standing nearby and
backed away.

“You can go to hell, bitch,” he spat before he spun around
and stalked off.

Laurie smiled, enjoying a sense of freedom. She’d been
dreading this confrontation and now that it was over a weight was lifted and
relief made her giddy. She thanked Taylor and his friend and headed back to her
dorm.

On her walk, she thought of how she owed her liberation to
Mason. She wanted to thank him, to celebrate with him. On impulse, she messaged
him, asking if he was busy the next day. He replied quickly.

Never too busy for you, Angel.

* * * * *

The next afternoon, Laurie sat at Mason’s bar, watching him
munch on the Christmas cookies she’d brought for him as she detailed her
interaction with Trey. When she finished her story she reached into her bag and
pulled out a small gift bag.

“I got you something,” she told him sheepishly.

“You got me a Christmas present?” Mason sounded surprised,
looking from the gift bag to her face.

“Is that weird?” she asked and squirmed in her seat, feeling
embarrassed.

“Yes.” Mason laughed as he dropped a small, clumsily wrapped
box in front of her.

Laurie relaxed and smiled, touched not only that Mason would
think of her but also that he took the time to wrap it in girly pink wrapping
paper. Not to mention, it was the first Christmas present she’d received in
seven years.

As they opened their gifts, Laurie wondered how many drug
dealers and their customers were exchanging Christmas gifts right at that
moment.
Ah, the magic of the season.
The thought almost made her laugh
out loud.

In her box, she found a stainless steel necklace…a simple
chain with a pendant that depicted the silhouette of a woman on a swing, her
hands gripping the chain, her bare feet pointed up. It was the sweetest thing
Laurie had ever seen. Smiling, she held it up to get a better view.

She glanced over at Mason and found him grinning at his
gift. It was a small multi-tool, which fit on a key chain. It folded out into
several different tools, like a wrench and a screwdriver. The moment she’d seen
it she’d thought of him.

He looked up at her, closed his fist around the tool and
nodded.

“It’s perfect.” He looked at her hands holding her necklace
and raised his eyebrows.

Laurie returned her gaze to the necklace then back to him. “It’s
the prettiest thing, Mason, I love it.”

To prove her point, she lifted it to her neck and put it on.
“How does it look?”

“It looks like it was made for you.”

Laurie beamed and leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on
his cheek. A second later, he was standing between her legs, pulling her to
him. He pulled her to the edge of her barstool, bringing her into contact with
him. He ground his hips, rubbing his already hard dick against her center and
teasing her clit through her jeans. A burst of pleasure shot through her body
and took her breath away. She moaned and bucked against him, gripping the front
of his shirt.

Mason rested his forehead against hers. Breathing heavily,
he shivered and swallowed hard.

“Damn it, Angel, I want you so bad,” he breathed. “You can’t
get close to me like that without warning, I can’t take it and I’m going to end
up hurting you.”

“You said you’d never hurt me,” she whispered.

“I would never intentionally hurt you, baby, that’s why this
is a bad idea right now.”

Laurie sighed and nodded, feeling a sudden wave of guilt as
reality washed over her.

“You’re right. We shouldn’t do this. I’ve never been a
cheater and I don’t want to start now.”

Mason leaned back and frowned at her.

“Cheater? What do you mean?”

“Well, technically, you have a girlfriend. If we do this, we’ll
be cheating.”

Mason scoffed at the idea and then stroked her cheek with
the back of his fingers. “Brook’s no more my girlfriend than College Boy was your
boyfriend. Neither of them ever gave a shit about either of us. Brook fucks
everything that walks and College Boy…well, College Boy was a bad joke. We never
belonged to them. They were just people we were pretending to be connected to.”

He pulled her to him hard and rubbed against her, sending
jolts of pleasure through her. She arched her back to get closer.

He dropped his forehead back to hers and whispered,

“This is connected.
We
are connected. Have you ever
felt anything like this with College Boy?” His hands traveled up her back and
tangled in her hair.

“I’ve never felt like this with anyone,” she whispered,
hoping he would kiss her.

A small, frustrated moan escaped her. He opened his eyes and
pulled back far enough to look at her face. She licked her lips and his gaze
darted to her mouth.

His hand tightened in her hair almost to the point of being
painful. He turned her head to a better position and leaned in closer, so close
she could taste him. His lips brushed hers, his tongue flicked against her
bottom lip and she opened for him, then they both stiffened at the sound of
voices on the stairs. He turned his head away and growled.

“Fuck.” His voice was full of frustration. He pushed himself
away from her and ran his hands over his hair. “Perfect fuckin’ timing for an
asshole invasion. We can’t do this right now. You should go, Angel.”

Shaken and flushed, Laurie nodded. She was ready to go when
the door opened and Mason’s friends and bitch of a girlfriend came in. Brook
glared at her but didn’t say anything. Laurie gave her a big, gracious smile
before making a point of hugging Mason goodbye. He didn’t act as if it was the
least bit odd and hugged her back with zeal, rubbing his hand up and down her
back with a familiarity that made her bones ache.

Brook made a disgruntled noise, which they both ignored. As
she pulled away, she saw the amused glint in his eye. She sauntered to the door
then took a moment to turn back and wave to everyone before leaving the
apartment. She smiled to herself as she descended the stairs, not feeling the
least bit guilty for tormenting the beautiful, blonde, curvy Brook.

Mason watched Laurie leave and then stared at the closed
door. The last thing he wanted was to let her get away again but he wanted
complete privacy when the time came to claim her, and deep down he knew she was
right. Although he hadn’t considered Brook his girlfriend in a long time, he needed
to officially end things with her so there were no misunderstandings of the
situation.

“What the fuck was that about?”

Brook’s voice came from behind him and he sighed.

“Why was that bitch hugging you? Doesn’t she know you have a
girlfriend?”

Mason turned to face her, noting fresh hickeys on her neck
and a few track marks on her arm he’d never seen before.

“She’s not a bitch. She’s very special to me, and I don’t
have a girlfriend because my girlfriend wouldn’t fuck everything that waved its
dick in her face.”

Anger flashed across Brook’s face for an instant before she
recovered her composure. She rounded her eyes in an obvious attempt to appear
innocent.

“It’s not my fault, Mace. I was high and they took advantage
of me.”

She stepped close to him and grabbed the front of his shirt
at chest level.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’ll make it better. I’ll quit the dope
and stay home with you. I promise it will never happen again. Just give me a
chance. I can make it good again.”

Brook closed her eyes and raised her lips toward his. Mason
stared down at her for a moment before he lowered his face, his lips only a
breath away from hers.

“Get the fuck out of my apartment,” he whispered.

Brook’s eyes popped open and she took a step back. Her eyes
narrowed and she planted her hands on her hips.

“Fuck you, Mace. You just blew it. I’ll get the fuck out—you
bet your ass I will. Good luck with your fucking little college whore. When you
find out she’s a dead lay, don’t you dare come begging me back. You can go fuck
yourself, you bastard.”

Mason waited patiently as she ranted, a small smile on his
face. When she was done and standing before him, chest heaving, he motioned
toward the door.

“That’s the way out,” he said.

Brook let out an angry shriek and stomped toward the door,
followed by Chris and Joe. The only person who stayed behind was Dewayne, who’d
watched the whole scene with amusement while he cradled his purple bong in his
lap. Once the door slammed behind Brook and her companions, Dewayne laughed.

“‘Bout damn time, big guy.”

Mason glanced in Dewayne’s direction just in time to catch a
glimpse of his .38 being safely tucked away. He smirked at his friend and gave
a nod before he headed for a cold shower.