Chapter 20 - Wakely

“I’m so sorry!” Cora said, her voice was filled with worry. “I didn’t realize.

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing that can’t get fixed by a quick wash.” I laughed as I pulled my bedspread off of my bed.

The ice cream that Cora was eating was left forgotten as she got more enthralled by an episode of The Bachelor, she was screaming at the television when he chose the wrong girl…at least the person that Cora thought was wrong.

I didn’t pay attention. My mind kept reliving the conversation I had with my father. He had a knack for saying just the right thing to keep me reeling for days.

“I’ll go with you.” She said as she cleaned up.

“No, don’t worry about it. It’s late, and don’t you have to get up early for the art students’ breakfast?” I asked as I held my bedspread in my arms.

As if on cue, she gave a big yawn and nodded at me. “Yeah. Are you sure? I don’t want to make a mess and have you clean it up.”

“I’m fine. Let’s meet up for lunch or dinner tomorrow.” I smiled at her.

Cora perked up. “It’s a date.” She left and went to her room.

I took a deep breath and walked down to the laundry room. I was excited for the solitude. I liked Cora but sometimes I just needed to decompress after a day of socializing.

I guessed it was from how many years I spent alone in my room. I was conditioned to be alone. I had no problem being around others, but after a while, my social battery would drain and I sought solitude.

I turned the corner to enter the laundry room, and I froze. Why in the hell was Waylon in the laundry room at this hour?

His eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily. He was asleep. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he had his chair tipped so he was leaning against the wall. A washing machine was going, which must have been his.

I quietly walked to the washer and shoved my bedspread into it. I tossed my head back and silently cursed at the ceiling. I forgot to grab my detergent. I wasn’t about to climb the million stairs back to my room just to come back down them.

“Need detergent?” Waylon’s deep, sleepy voice sounded from behind me. That voice did things to me.

“No, it’s fine.” I waved a hand at him without turning around.

“You say that a lot.” I heard the chair land on the floor, and then footsteps. His hand went in front of me, handing me the bottle of detergent he had.

“I don’t want to take your stuff.” I finally glanced at him over my shoulder. His hair was ruffled, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked tired.

“One capful of detergent isn’t anything.” He smirked at me.

I took his offering. “Thanks.” I chewed on my lip as I poured the liquid in and started the washer. He didn’t move away from me as I worked. He just stood there like a sentinel.

“What brings you down here so late?” He asked, voice still deep. I could feel the heat of his breath against my neck, and I shivered.

I had to get away from him. I walked to the chair that was across the table from the one he was sitting in. At least I could put a table between us. “The Bachelor-induced ice cream accident.”

Waylon chuckled, that was the first time I heard him laugh. I hated to admit that I liked it. “The Bachelor-induced ice cream accident? How does that happen?” He said through his chuckles.

“You’ve met Cora, she’s very…passionate.” I laughed. “She was screaming at the guy, saying he chose wrong and knocked over her container of melted ice cream onto my bedspread.”

“Passionate is a good word to describe her. I like her, though.”

“Don’t tell her that because she will expect you to propose in the next week.” I laughed at him. I knew that she had a boyfriend, but if she even remotely thought that she had a chance with one of the Walker brothers, she would drop Marty faster than she could say ‘I do.’

Waylon chuckled again. “Thanks for the warning.”

“What happened to yours?” I asked, nodding to his washing machine.

His face became serious, and he sighed. “My brothers partied in my room. Someone barfed on my bed.”

I cringed.

“That’s not even the worst part. One of them fucked their girlfriend in my closet and jizzed all over my clothes.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe his own words.

My hand went to my mouth. “You can’t be serious.” Even though I questioned him, I knew that his brothers would be capable of something so disgusting. They seemed the type.

“I am very serious. And I’m very pissed off at them. Before I left, I told them to leave before I got back from my swim, and I’m pretty sure they did that in retaliation.”

“That’s horrible. I’m sorry they did that.” I grimaced at him. I couldn’t imagine coming back to my dorm room to find vomit and cum all over my stuff.

“You don’t need to apologize. You weren’t the one who did it.” His face was serious. I wished I knew what he was thinking. His eyes were constantly saying something that I couldn’t translate.

I nodded at him and chewed on my bottom lip. He was watching me intently. Not missing a thing that I did.

“Did you have fun at the Meet and Greet today?” He asked, filling the silence.

“For the most part,” I smirked at him. “There was this douchy guy though who has asshole brothers who think it’s okay to vomit on his shit. It was all very dramatic.”

Was I flirting with him? Jesus, I was terrible at it. But it was hard not to. He was very gorgeous, and I could tell he was stacked with lean muscles from his swimming.

Waylon chuckled. “Did you want me to beat him up for you?”

“Aww, you’d do that for me?” I held a hand to my heart.

His face became serious. “I’d do anything for you.”

My face dropped, and my heart thudded in my chest. Did he really mean it? We were joking before, but now with that look in his eye, it seemed like he meant it.

“Oh my god!” A girl yelled as she walked into the laundry room. “Such a small world.” A very drunk girl staggered in with a small basket that had barely anything in it. “What are you doing down here so late at night?” She laughed. The question was directed at Waylon.

Waylon’s jaw clenched, and he answered without tearing his eyes away from me. “Doing laundry.”

My eyebrows rose, and I bit my lip to hide a smile.

One corner of his mouth turned up slightly for a moment but then dropped back down.

The girl dumped her laundry into a washer but then stopped. She did the exact same thing as I did, she forgot her detergent. But I didn’t have the excuse of being drunk for the reason why I forgot.

The girl walked over and leaned over his shoulder, her face close to his, and tits threatening to spill out of her top. “Way, can I please borrow some detergent?”

A look of disgust crossed his face, and I stifled a laugh.

“No.” He said quickly.

The girl pouted at him. “Come on, please. For little ol’ me?” If it were at all possible, she squeezed her tits together and they emerge from her top, but didn’t spill out. It was a magic trick that could impress Houdini.

Waylon rolled his eyes. I had to lean onto the table and cover my mouth because I couldn’t contain the smile any longer.

“If I give you some, will you get off of me?” He practically growled at the girl.

“Oh, you want me to get you off?” She perked up at the sound of that.

“For fuck’s sake, no.” He said as he leaned away from her. “I want you to stop touching me.”

I looked away. I couldn’t continue to look at how hard this girl was trying to turn Waylon on, and he was dodging her advances. She just didn’t get it. It was as if she thought that if she tried just a bit harder, he would cave.

If her tits fell out of her top, he would just shrug and grab them or something. But he kept his hands on the table in front of him.

The girl stood and pouted at him. “Way, you’re no fun.” She turned and looked at me for the first time. It was as if she didn’t realize that I was there at all, even though I was sitting here the entire time. “Who the fuck is this?” She asked, pointing at me, nose wrinkling as if I were something disgusting.

The look on her face was as if Waylon was cheating on her with me. As if I were the mistress. I was far from it.

In an instant, Waylon stood, shoving his chair back and toppling it over. “Get the fuck out.” He growled at the girl, finally looking at her.

“But…” The girl took a step back.

“Out,” He growled again.

The girl’s head dropped, and her lip stuck out even further. She grabbed her empty basket and stumbled out of the room.

When she was far enough away, I pulled my hand away from my face and started to laugh. I was laughing so hard that tears stung my eyes.

Waylon looked at me as if I were crazy.

“It’s just…it’s just so funny how hard she was trying to fuck you. And she didn’t take the hint that you didn’t want her.” I said through my laughter.

Waylon grabbed his chair and sat again. A smile was on his face.

“I guess the life of a god is a tough one.” I threw my head back and laughed.

He joined. “What can I say, it’s a hard life.”

“Does that happen to you frequently?” I asked when the laughter died down.

“I hate to admit how often it occurs. Some days I just want to be somewhere and not have a girl try to sit on my lap or give me a shoulder rub.” He shuddered.

“That sounds awful. I have a rule about touching people,” I said.

“Please enlighten me.” He waved a hand in front of him, motioning for me to continue.

“It’s my pregnant lady rule.”

“If you are comparing me to a pregnant lady, that is going to shatter my self-esteem.” He said with a smile.

“No, I’m not comparing you to a pregnant lady. It’s the pregnant lady rule. You never go up and touch a pregnant lady’s stomach without asking first. You should never touch someone without asking. It’s just rude.”

His eyes widened, and he nodded. “I like that rule.”

“Not to mention, I’m slightly a germaphobe.” I shuddered at the thought of someone randomly touching me. I wouldn’t have handled it well if what happened to Waylon happened to me.

“Noted,” Waylon said.

The way he said it was as if he was planning on touching me a lot. More than anyone has before. My stomach clenched at the thought of him touching me. My mind wandered back to the dream of him pinning me to the door. I wish I had gotten further in that dream so I could enjoy it more.

The washing machine buzzed, and it caused me to jump.

Waylon snorted and stood. “Jumpy?” He changed his laundry to a dryer and started it. I tried not to make it obvious that I watched him pull out his clothes, his arm muscles stretching and moving with him smoothly.

He looked positively delicious.

I wondered what those muscles would feel like if I touched them. If I grabbed his arm. I bet my hands wouldn’t wrap around them completely.

He turned, a knowing smirk on his face, and he cocked an eyebrow at me. “You okay?” He asked with a hint of humor in his voice. He knew that I was watching him. And he wanted me to know that he knew.

Well fuck.

“I was just trying to understand why everyone reveres you as a god,” I said quickly. I was proud of myself for coming up with something so quickly.

“Oh, is that what you were doing?” He laughed. “Because from where I was standing, you were checking me out.”

I scoffed at him. “Me…checking you out? Never. To me, you are disgusting. Revolting actually.” I smirked at him.

He laughed, tossing his head back. It was the first time that I had seen him really laugh. That only made him hotter.

Damn him.

“Well, I’ll be.” A girl walked into the room, in nothing but a pair of short sleep shorts and a see-through tank top.

It was obvious what her intentions were. She didn’t even bring any laundry to pretend she had to be here. I rolled my eyes, I needed to look busy.

I didn’t understand why I needed to look busy, but I did. Maybe it would make me invisible. That’s how I survived by making myself invisible. I grabbed a lint ball and rolled it between my thumb and forefinger.

“When Rachel said that she saw you in the laundry room, I thought they were just her drunk ramblings. But here you are.” She flipped her red hair over her shoulder and gave Waylon a brilliant smile.

Waylon rolled his eyes at me and then turned to the girl. “What do you want?”

If it was any other boy, I’m sure he would have been drooling as he looked at her tits that were fully on display.

But not Waylon, he turned back to me and sat down.

She crossed the room, her hands on her hips as she stood in front of him. My focus was on the lint ball that was still between my fingers as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

I wish that I had brought my phone, at least I could read a book or something instead of sitting here awkwardly as this girl was practically giving Waylon a strip tease.

“I wanted to see if the hottest guy on campus was down here. I couldn’t miss an opportunity to see him.” She gave him another brilliant smile.

Waylon sighed. “Didn’t you try to fuck Whitt last year and called him the hottest guy on campus?” His voice sounded bored. “And didn’t he turn you down?”

“Oh gosh, that was in the past.” She waved a hand in front of her.

I watched in horror as she held a hand to his shoulder and slid onto his lap. Jealousy surged through me. I hated seeing her on his lap. He wasn’t mine, but that feeling was there. There was no reason for me to feel like that…but I did.

Waylon’s eyes closed, and the hand that was on the table turned into a fist. His jaw worked as he tried to contain his rage.

The very same rage that I have seen from my father. But this anger was warranted. And it wasn’t directed at me.

“We could have some fun this year. What do you think?” She purred at him, trailing a finger across his chest.

Waylon took a couple of deep breaths. “Get off of me,” he said through clenched teeth.

The girl pouted at him. Instead of getting off, she leaned closer to him so her tits were pressed against his chest. It was like I wasn’t even here.

But that didn’t bother me as much as this girl invading his space and not taking no for an answer. “Didn’t you hear him?” I asked before I could stop myself.

She turned and looked at me as if I had appeared out of thin air. “Who are you?”

“I’m someone who likes to listen to people if they say stop and get off of me. But clearly, you didn’t do too well in kindergarten. It’s a wonder how you got into college if you couldn’t even follow basic instructions that a mere child could.”

Well, crap. I’ve only been here two days, and my list of enemies was becoming longer.

She furrowed her brows at me but didn’t move off Waylon’s lap. “You look familiar.” She practically spat at me.

I tilted my head down so my hair could cover most of my face. “I shouldn’t.” I didn’t need anyone else to know who I was. Usually, whenever I got discovered, I would have people following me around trying to get pictures.

It was exhausting. I felt like I couldn’t leave my house without someone tailing me. I wouldn’t leave if I didn’t have to, and that made me feel like a prisoner.

More of a prisoner than I already was with my father.

I swallowed hard. Please don’t recognize me. I repeated in my head. If she did, my school year was going to be difficult. I couldn’t deal with that. I didn’t know what to do.

I couldn’t run away. That would tip her off that I was someone, and she would dig into it more. But if I stayed, then she may be able to work it out on her own.

Fuck.