The Deal (Off-Campus Book 1)

“Stop right there!” a sharp voice booms as I hurry toward my bedroom. “Where do you think you’re going, young lady?”

I spin around, startled to find Allie lying on the couch in our common area, balancing one of her icky juice cups on her knee. In my haste, I hadn’t even noticed her.

“What are you doing home?” I ask in surprise. “I thought you have econ on Wednesdays.”

“It got cancelled because the prof is dying.”

I gasp. “Holy shit! Are you serious?”

She snickers. “Well, no. I mean, maybe. He sent out an email saying he’s come down with an illness—” she uses air quotes “—but he didn’t say what the illness was. I like to imagine it’s something bad, though. Because then he won’t be able to teach for the rest of the term and we’ll all get automatic A’s.”

“You are an evil person,” I inform her. “And one day karma is going to come back to haunt you. Seriously, don’t come crawling to me when you get some deadly disease. Anyway, I have to go. I just popped in to drop off my stuff before I head to rehearsal.”

“No way, Han-Han. You’re going to sit your pretty butt down on this couch, because we need to have a little chat.”

“I really can’t be late for rehearsal.”

“How many times has Cass been late for rehearsal?” she challenges.

Good point.

With a sigh, I walk over to the couch and flop down. “Okay. What’s up? And make it snappy.”

“Fine, you want snappy? How’s this—what on God’s green planet is going on with you and Garrett?”

My mouth snaps closed. Crap. Busted. I mean, I had texted her last night saying “over at Garrett’s—be home late” but Allie lives in her own Sean-centered bubble for so much of the time that I’d been hoping she wouldn’t bring up the subject.

“Nothing’s going on,” I answer.

Ha, if by “nothing” I mean “I went over to his house and we both got naked and masturbated in front of each other and then I had an orgasm and he had an orgasm and it was the best feeling ever.”

Allie sees right through my feeble attempt at lying. “I’m going to ask you this one time, and one time only—Hannah Julie Wells, are you dating Garrett Graham?”

“No.”

She narrows her eyes. “Fine. I’m going to ask you twice. Are you dating—”

“I’m not dating him.” I sigh. “But we are fooling around.”

Her jaw falls open. A second ticks by, then another, and then her blue eyes light up in victory. “Ha! I knew you were into him! Oh my God! Hold my juice—I think I need to break out in a happy dance! Do you know how to do the running man? If so, can you teach me right now?”

I laugh. “Oh God, please don’t do a happy dance. And it’s not a big deal, okay? It’ll probably fizzle out soon.”

Yeah, when I go out with Justin.

And double crap—this is the first time since Dean’s birthday that Justin has even crossed my mind. I’ve been entirely focused on Garrett, on the way he turns me on, the things I want to do with him. But now that I’m reminded of my impending date, I experience a sharp tug of guilt.

Can I really go out with someone else after what Garrett and I did last night?

But… It’s not like I’m dating Garrett. He’s not my boyfriend, and there’s no way he considers me his girlfriend, so…why not?

Still, the urge to cancel on Justin refuses to go away, but I push it aside as Allie continues to gush about the awesomeness of this hookup.

“Did you sleep with him? Oh, please say yes! And please say that it was good! I know you and Devon didn’t have major chemistry in the sack, but from what I’ve heard, Garrett Graham has some serious moves.”

Yep. He certainly does.

“I didn’t sleep with him.”

She looks disappointed. “Why not?”

“Because…I don’t know, because it didn’t happen. We did other stuff.” My face burns hotter. “And that’s all I’m saying about the subject, okay?”

“Not okay. BFFs are supposed to tell each other everything. I mean, you know everything about my sex life. You know about the time Sean and I tried anal, and you know how big Sean’s dick is—”

“Which is above and beyond TMI,” I interject. “I love you to death, but I never, ever wanted to know about your sex life, and I definitely could’ve lived without you bringing out a ruler and demonstrating the size of your boyfriend’s penis!”

Allie pouts. “You’re the worst. But don’t worry, I’ll get all the dirty details eventually. I’m very good at prying out details.”

It’s true. She is. But she’s not getting a single one right now.

Rolling my eyes, I stand up. “All right, are we done here? Because I really need to go.”

“Fine, go. And no, we are not done.” She grins at me. “We won’t be done until you bust out that ruler and put an end to the age old question, how big is Garrett Graham’s—”

“Goodbye, perv.”

The first thing I see when I walk into the choir room fifteen minutes later is a cellist.

Question: How do you know when things have spiraled out of your control?

Answer: When you find a cellist in your rehearsal space and don’t even bat an eye.

Ever since MJ endorsed Cass’s choir idea, I’ve given up on arguing with either one of them. At this point, they can do whatever the hell they want—AKA whatever the hell Cass wants—because I simply don’t have the mental energy to play his game.

“You’re late.” Cass tsks with disapproval as I unzip my coat.

“I know.”

He waits for me to apologize.

I don’t apologize.

“Hannah, this is Kim Jae Woo,” MJ says with a hesitant smile. “He’s going to be accompanying you guys during the second verse.”

Uh-huh. Of course he is.

I don’t bother asking when this decision was made. I just nod and mutter, “Sounds good.”

For the next hour, we concentrate only on the middle section of the song. Normally Cass would be stopping us every two seconds to criticize something I’ve done, but today the brunt of his criticism lands on poor Kim Jae Woo. The Korean freshman shoots me a panicked look every time Cass bitches at him, but all I can do is offer a shrug and a sympathetic smile.

It’s sad. I’ve lost all enthusiasm for this song. The only thing that brings me comfort now is the knowledge that if we don’t win the scholarship thanks to Cass’s theatrics, I’ll get a second chance in April during the spring showcase.

At two o’clock, Cass calls an end to rehearsal, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I pull on my coat. When I step into the hall, I’m startled to find Garrett standing there. He’s wearing his Briar jacket and holding two coffee cups, and he greets me with a crooked smile that makes my pulse race.

“Hey!” I wrinkle my forehead. “What are you doing here?”

“I stopped by your room, but Allie said you were rehearsing, so I figured I’d come by and wait until you were done.”

“You were standing out here the whole time?”

“Naah, I grabbed some coffee and wandered around for a bit. Just got back now.” He glances past my shoulder into the music room. “Is rehearsal over?”

“Yep.” I take the cup he hands me and pop the plastic lid. “We have a cellist now.”

Garrett’s lips twitch. “Mmm-hmmm. And I bet you’re positively thrilled about that.”

“More like indifferent.”

A sharp voice snaps from behind me. “You’re blocking the door, Hannah. Some people have somewhere to be.”

Rolling my eyes, I move away from the doorway and allow Cass and Mary Jane to exit. Cass doesn’t spare so much as a look at me, but when he notices who I’m talking to, his blue eyes fly in my direction.

“Cass, have you met Garrett?” I ask politely.

He warily turns back to the tall, strapping hockey player at my side. “Naah, I haven’t. Nice to meet you, man.”

“You too, Chazz.”

My duet partner stiffens. “It’s Cass.”

Garrett blinks innocently. “Oh, sorry—wasn’t that what I said?”

Cass’s nostrils flare.

“So I hear you’re singing a duet with my girl,” Garrett adds. “I hope you’re not giving her any trouble. I’m not sure you know this, but my Han-Han has a bad habit of letting people walk all over her.” He arches one dark brow. “But you wouldn’t do that, right, Chazz?”

Despite the pang of embarrassment his words evoke in me, I’m also fighting hard not to laugh.

“It’s. Cass.”

“That’s what I said, no?”

There’s one long moment of very obvious macho posturing as the two guys stare each other down. As I expect, Cass is first to break the eye contact.

“Whatever,” he mutters. “Come on, MJ, we’re gonna be late.”

As he drags the sweet blond girl away like a piece of luggage, I turn to Garrett with a sigh. “Was that necessary?”

“Fuck yeah it was.”

“Okay. Just checking.”

Our eyes lock, and a burst of heat goes off inside me. Oh boy. I know exactly what he’s thinking right now. Or rather, what he’s thinking about doing.

Me.

I’m thinking the same damn thing.

I might have told Allie that this thing between us would fizzle out, but at the moment, it’s blazing even hotter than it did last night.

“My place?” he murmurs.

Those two words, low and husky, make my thighs clench so hard I’m surprised I don’t pull a muscle.

Rather than answer—my throat has clogged with desire—I take the coffee from his hand and proceed to dump both our cups in the trashcan behind him.

Garrett chuckles. “I’ll take that as a yes.”