My lips curved upward. “You’ve got a bad reputation, Coulter. Stop trying to corrupt me. I’m a good girl.”
Maddox didn’t give a damn about his bad reputation. In fact, he loved being a bad influence. Such a rebel and a troublemaker.
“Good girls do bad things sometimes,” he drawled. “It’s me and you, Garcia.”
“Me and you?” I breathed.
Maddox and I against the whole world. Partners in crime and best friends.
“Me and you,” he agreed, starting up the car. “So, where to?”
I raised an eyebrow, smiling because there was only one answer to that question. “I have a dare, but it’s dangerous.”
I loved the way his eyes lit up to the word dangerous. Such a rulebreaker.
“Do you dare?” I asked.
Maddox grinned, a devious grin, and I had my answer.
Who would have known it end this way? From that day in the coffee stop, to us being enemies… and then calling truce, being friends… and to this moment? Maddox and I had come a long way together. Fate really had a way of playing with us.
I used to despise him.
And now he was the most important person in my life.
28
Lila
Three years later
I tapped my foot against the asphalt, waiting for Maddox to show up. I shot Riley a text, letting her know I was going to be late for dinner. She was cooking tonight, her infamous ravioli dish. We were celebrating since she finished her thesis last night. We were currently halfway through our second semester in our third year at Harvard.
While I had gotten accepted into Harvard for Chemistry, Riley was studying Sociology. She was planning to pursue a post-graduate degree in Criminal Law.
Colton was majoring in Statistics while Maddox was studying Business, although he wanted to pursue a football career. Him getting a business degree at Harvard was just to appease his parents, although he did say he enjoyed it. At the end of the day, football was where his heart belonged and he was really good at it.
I still couldn’t believe it had been three and half years since that day in the coffee shop – the day I spilled my ice coffee on Maddox and the rest was history. I tried to think of a moment when I hated him, but although we had been enemies for a short period time, I never truly hated him. Sure, I had despised his arrogance and douchebaggery attitude, but it wasn’t hatred.
Maybe that was the reason why it was so easy for us to go from enemies to friends to best friends.
Such a strange twist of fate – from that day to now, almost four years later.
There was a tap on my ass and I rolled my eyes, knowing full well who it was.
“You got to stop touching my ass, Coulter,” I warned.
He chuckled and walked around me, coming into view with his glorious self.
A lot had changed in three years. Maddox, for instance, had grown bigger. He was already brawny in high school from playing football and working out, but now, he had packed on extra muscles. His shoulders were half a size bigger than before and now twice the size of my own. His biceps bulged, his arms full of veins and muscles. He filled out the black shirt he was wearing, the fabric stretching tight over his wide chest. He had a six-pack before and now he had eight. His abs were hard and cut. My fingers itched with the memory of touching them. I had seen him shirtless countless times and had seen his progress from seventeen-year-old Maddox to twenty-year-old him.
Me? I was still the same. Same height, same weight – still a midget compared to Maddox, and he took great pleasure in reminding me of that fact every time he manhandled me and put me where he wanted.
His blue eyes glimmered in the sunlight. He eyed me up and down, his gaze lingering longer on my bare legs. I wore denim shorts that were frayed at the end and a black long-sleeved shirt with a brown leather jacket over it and ankle boots. It was March, and the weather was slightly hotter than normal. To our surprise, spring came early this year.
“My eyes are up here, Maddox,” I teased.
He glowered, and I fought back a smile. I stuffed my hand in my bag and pulled out his phone charger. “Here you go. Thank you for letting me use it.”
I handed him the charger and waved for him to go. “I’ll see you tonight. You’re going to be late for your next lecture. Go!”
“I'm always coming to your rescue.” He tsked with a slight grin. Maddox gave me a finger salute as he started to backtrack. “Always at your service!”
“I don't need a knight,” I said, loudly enough for him to hear a few feet away.
“I know you don't. You're not the damsel in distress who I need to save.”
My heart warmed, and my lips twisted in a smile. “You're right. I guess I am more like the dragon, eh?”
“A cute and sexy dragon,” he called out.
Maddox jogged across the open field toward his building. Since our programs differed greatly, his classrooms were on the opposite side of the campus while mine were on this side.
He faded away in the distance, and I strode away to our apartment building, which was only about a ten-minute walk through the campus.
I took the elevator up to our apartment, which was on the third floor. I found Colton at the door with a girl in his arms. They were kissing, and by the look of it, they were about to fuck in the corridor.
I cleared my throat, and he peeled himself away from the chick, his eyes hooded. “Sup, Lila?”
My eyes narrowed on the girl beside him. Her mocha skin glistened with a sheen of sweat, and she flushed. It appeared like they had clearly already fucked on the way here.
“Are you coming over for dinner or…?” I asked.
He gave me a half shrug, his gaze moving to the apartment next to him. “She didn’t invite me.”
I grimaced and smiled sheepishly at him. Things were tense between Colton and Riley – well, tense was an understatement at this point in their ‘relationship’ or whatever they had.
To put it simply, they… hated each other.
But that story was for another time.
I opened the door to my apartment, the one I shared with Riley, which also happened to be next to Maddox and Colton’s; we were neighbors.
“Baaabee, is that you?” Riley called out.
Colton’s jaw clenched at her voice, and he grabbed the chick, pulling her into his apartment. The door closed with a bang behind him.
“It’s me,” I said, walking inside.
Her back was to me as she stood in front of the stove, humming a song under her breath. She had sweatpants and a shirt on, her blonde hair up in a messy bun. Riley spared me a look over her shoulder. “Did you get the garlic sticks I asked for?”
I lifted my arm up, showing her the grocery bag I was holding. “Gotcha. It smells good in here.”
She brought the spatula to her lips and blew on it. “Wanna taste?” she asked, cheekily.
I nodded, and she offered me the spoon. The richness of the sauce hit every one of my taste buds, and I moaned. “Yummy!”
We set up the plates, and she placed a bottle of wine on the table. “Is it just us? Is Maddox coming?” Riley asked as she took her seat at our small dining table, opposite of me.
I shook my head, piling some ravioli on my plate. “No, he missed his lecture this morning, so he’s attending a later class today. Isn’t it too early for wine? It’s not even six yet.”