I couldn’t help myself. I had to do a happy dance. I squealed no louder than a mouse as I twirled around once before getting a hold of myself. I’m sure the students still writing wanted to concentrate.
The T.A. sitting behind the table smiled at me.
I smiled back before turning and walking up the stairs.
I grinned from ear to ear as I walked outside. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was high in the sky. It was probably seventy-five degrees. I wore shorts and a T shirt over my bikini top. Madison and I had been going to the beach every chance we got since the beginning of May.
I was tan from head to toe.
Welcome back to My Beach Life, set in San Diego, California, my favorite place on the planet! I was never going back to dreary Washington D.C.
I jumped in the air and screamed for joy. I was so excited! I’d made it through my first year in college!
“Hey, crazy girl,” Christos said, walking out of the shade beneath a tree beside the entrance to the lecture hall.
“Christos!” I jumped into his arms.
The last time Christos had been waiting for me outside of a final exam had been last December. At the time, I’d thought we were broken up. After Damian Wolfram, I thought I’d never find true love. How wrong I had been.
Christos gave my butt a good squeeze while he kissed me briefly. “How’d you do, agápi mou?” he asked, setting me back on the ground.
“Great! I totally aced my final!”
“I think we need to celebrate,” he said, flashing his dimpled grin.
“Hells yeah!” I cheered. “What did you have in mind?”
He opened his mouth to speak and his cell phone rang. “Hold on a second,” he smiled, fishing his phone out of his pocket. He looked at the screen. “I need to take this call.” He suddenly looked nervous.
“Okay,” I said hesitantly. His nervousness was catching. So much for celebrating.
Christos held the phone to his ear and said, “Hey!” as he walked toward the lawn across from the lecture hall. He obviously wanted privacy.
Not this again.
I was determined not to feel deflated, no matter what bad news he might have after he hung up.
Crap.
I looked skyward and started searching for silver linings. The blue sky was flawless and empty of all clouds. The only cloud in the area was the dark one inside Christos’ stupid phone.
I wanted to break that stupid thing.
CHRISTOS
“Russell!” I said as I answered the phone, trying to sound casual. “What up?”
Russell Merriweather chuckled on the other end of the line before he said a word. It was always good to hear from him, no matter what the news. “Christos, my boy, how have you been?”
“Awesome,” I said, grinning.
“Any more fights?”
“Not lately,” I chuckled. “But I seem to remember you saying something about being able to kick my ass. When are you going to back that shit up in the ring?” I was grinning as I said it.
He laughed, “You don’t want to mess with me, son. You know I throw bricks when I put the gloves on. I’ll break your face.”
“Bring your bricks,” I snickered. “They’ll be powder by the time I’m done hammering your ass.”
“Considering that thick head of yours is made of solid rock, you might have a point,” he chuckled. “But I suggest we keep your pretty face intact, for the sake of your lady friend Samantha. I like her a lot.”
“Yeah, she’s awesome,” I smiled. “So, what’s up? I know you didn’t just call to harass my ass.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Russell sighed. “I wanted to get you up to speed on the civil suit that your pal Hunter Blakeley is still waving over your head.”
Shit, I think I’d blocked it completely out of my mind. I’d been too busy with a thousand other things to give a shit about Hunter Fucking Blakeley and the bloody nose I gave him months ago. Besides, Russell was on top of things and I trusted him to handle it.
“And?” I prompted.
“And, my people didn’t have much luck with the wait staff at Hooters. Those girls remember you and Jake better than they did Hunter Blakeley and his pals. Apparently,” he chuckled, “you and Jake are excellent tippers.”
“We try,” I said dryly.
“And I think one of the waitresses is sweet on you. She remembered exactly who you were. She even had the audacity to ask my guy if she could get your phone number,” he laughed. “At any rate, she mentioned she saw you and Jake having drinks with two young women?”
“Oh yeah. They were law students over at USD.”
“Anything I should know more about?” Russell asked with a hint of amusement. “It seems like everywhere you go, the ladies throw themselves at you, son.”
“What can I say?” I grinned. “But no, they were gone before Hunter showed up.”
“Also,” Russell continued, “I’ve had a chance to go over the statements from Hunter Blakeley and his three friends in detail. They are all very similar, and they all point to you being the aggressor in the fight. As things stand right now, it doesn’t look good. I had my people check every nearby bank security camera, traffic camera, convenience store camera, everything we could think of. Nothing is on video. All we have is the word of Hunter and his friends against you and Jake, who, by the way, is a fine young man. After I had Jake come to my office to give his deposition. Rhonda and Brianna couldn’t stop talking about him when he was gone. Those two were drooling over him so badly they needed bibs,” Russell chuckled.
I blurted a laugh, “That’s my boy. Yeah, Jake is awesome,” I shook my head, smiling at the thought. Then I sighed. Back to business. “So, where are we at?”
“Where we’re at is that your court date is in a couple weeks. I don’t think there’s much else I can do besides spend more of your money chasing dead ends. All we can do now is hope that by virtue of some miracle, we can hold our ground in court. I suggest you start practicing your sad eyes for the jury. I want them looking at you like you’re Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.”
“God bless us, everyone,” I muttered.
“That’s the spirit,” Russell said. “I’ll do what I can, Christos. But there are no guarantees. I’ll be honest with you. This feels like it’s going to be a closer race than I’d like.”
"Thanks, man.”
“We’ll be in touch.”
I ended the call.
So much for celebrating. I’d do my best to keep a game face on for Samantha. My sad face could wait until court.
SAMANTHA
While Christos was on the phone, I grew more nervous by the second. Despite the warm weather, I wrapped my arms around myself to stop from shaking.
When Christos finally hung up and walked toward me, he looked haggard.
“Who was it?” I asked. “Or do I not want to know?” I’d had enough bad news lately. Maybe it could wait.
“I’ll tell you, if you want,” he sighed.
What was love without a few troubled spots along the way? “I may as well know.”
“It was Russell. About the Hunter Blakeley trial.”
“Oh.”
“It’s looking pretty grim,” he sighed.
“Oh,” I sighed with him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I might owe Hunter a pile of money after the trial is over.”
“What’s a pile?”
“The last estimate Russell gave me, which was over a month ago, was anywhere between two hundred fifty K and eight hundred.”
“What?” I gasped.
He nodded.
“That’s absurd! For a broken nose?”
“Hey,” Christos chuckled sourly, “they were asking for more before. Russell has been negotiating with Hunter’s attorney since this started. Russell is trying to settle out of court, have me only pay for Hunter’s medical bills, which are minor, and save everyone a bunch of time and money. Because, let’s face it, I hit the guy. Too bad Hunter and his attorney haven’t accepted any of our offers. I suspect someone working for Hunter’s attorney did some digging and found out my family has more than a few dollars to our name.”