His Little Secret by Aubree Valentine

Chapter Five

Keegan

I told Brooke I love her. Well, drunk me told Brooke that I love her. It wasn’t a lie though.

If there’s one thing that I’m really good at when it comes to Brooke, it’s making a complete fool of myself.

Now the woman is on her way to my house with breakfast and I’ve still got a raging hangover. And maybe a case of whiskey dick too, or just a boner that won’t go away because she’s all I can think about.

I’ve somehow managed to shower and swallow down two Tylenol by the time Brooke shows up with two bags full of greasy breakfast food. The smell alone makes me want to vomit but I know I have to eat something. Thankfully when she pulls the containers out of the bags and starts opening them, my stomach gets on board.

“I wasn’t sure if Lawson was home or not. Or if it was in the same shape you were in, so I figured I’d bring extra,” she says sweetly as she makes herself a plate from the buffet, she’s brought with her.

“Speak of the devil,” I grumble.

Lawson shuffles into the kitchen in his white briefs.

“There’s a lady present,” I warn with a growl.

He turns around with zero shame his entire body on display including what has to be a sock that he’s stuffed in his underwear.

Brooke thinks the entire exchange is hilarious.

“You must be Keegan’s new lady friend,” he steps closer to the counter and reaches out a hand. “I’m Lawson. Best friend and best roommate ever.”

“Brooke,” she shakes his hand like he’s not actually standing here in his tighty-whiteys and this whole thing is totally normal.

“Jesus Christ! Lawson, go put on some clothes for fuck’s sake.”

“If you’re hungry, I brought enough for everyone. You could join us after you get dressed.” Brooke adds.

Lawson looks at me, “I like her, man.” Before he walks out, he kisses her cheek, “I like you a lot.”

“I’m going to kill you,” I threaten.

My roommate and ex best friend laughs.

“So, that was Lawson,” Brooke looks at me with amusement in her eyes.

“Lawson needs zero encouragement,” I warn her.

“Was that a uh…sock?” She sputters.

I curse under my breath, refusing to answer her.

“Of course not,” Lawson grins as he walks back in, fully clothed this time, and adjusts his junk.

Grabbing my plate and a cup of coffee, I look over at Brooke, “Let’s go, we’re going in my room, away from this weirdo.”

“Don’t leave on my account,” Lawson laughs at me.

“Oh, we’re leaving on your account. Otherwise, you’ll be leaving in a body bag.”

Lawson grabs a cup of coffee and shakes his head. “No, really. Don’t leave. I’m going back to my room. Thanks for breakfast, beautiful.”

Brooke reaches across the counter and puts her hand on my arm, “He’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“It’s working,” I growl again, and she giggles.

“I love this possessive side of you.”

Something in the way she says she loves my possessive side sounds like she’s saying so much more. I search her eyes for confirmation, and she shakes her head.

“I love you,” she tells me with a bright smile.

“Fuck. I love you, too.”

Brooke reaches up on her tip toes and kisses me. Whiskey dick reminds me that he’s still ready to party as he pokes Brooke’s side.

“Uhm. We do need to talk though,” she pulls back with a small frown.

“I re-read my texts; I didn’t say anything too over the top. Did I? I didn’t text you something crazy and then delete it on my end, did I?”

“No, no. It’s not that.”

“Oh. Okay, then what is it?”

She clears her throat then proceeds to tell me about her roommate Constance, and how she saw a text or twenty from me last night while Brooke slept.

The walls of my apartment feel like they’re closing it. This is exactly what I was afraid of happening.

“Hey, take a breath,” she tries to reassure me.

“If she were to report it,” I choke on the sip of coffee I just took.

“She won’t. She was pretty clear that it was none of her business and she wouldn’t say a word. I told her nothing was going on. Still, I have a plan.”

“Brooke, she’s one of my students too. At any point it time she could say something.”

This is why I don’t drink. This is exactly why I shouldn’t have ever gotten involved with Brooke. I should have waited. If our feelings were true, then we could have waited until next semester or even graduation.

“You’re not listening, Keegan. I think I found away that I can make sure it’s not an issue for us. Besides, aren’t you tired of constantly sneaking around?”

“It’s what we have to do,” I remind her.

“Yeah, well I can’t do this anymore.”

I can feel the color draining from my face. “Why the change of heart? First you tell me you love me and now you want to break up because you can’t do this anymore. Its it really because I can’t go as your plus one to your literature club’s fall fest? Brooke, we’ve been over this. What we’re doing is against Thackery’s code of conduct. Anyone finds out, I lose my position as TA not to mention it could put my entire academic career as well as my future in jeopardy.”

“Oh my God! Keegan. No, it has nothing to do with the fall fest for goodness’ sake! I’m worried about you losing it all because of me. That’s what I’m worried about. We almost got caught today. At first, the thrill was fun, exciting even – but Keegan, I care far too much about you to let your future go down the drain because of me. That’s why I withdrew from your class.”

“You did what?” Guilt consumes me. Running a hand through my hair, I start pacing.

“I withdrew from your class. We’re no longer breaking any rules.”

“You withdrew from my class?” he raises a brow. “Brooke, we only have a few more weeks left. We could have kept things under wraps. Or even taken a break. Withdrawing seems like such a waste, especially since you were doing so Goddamn well.”

She shrugs. “Who cares? I’ll retake it next year, once you’ve graduated.”

“That puts you behind though. Why didn’t you talk to me about this? The last thing I want you to do is to screw up your education because of me.” It’s hard to hold back the frustration in my voice. This is the last thing I wanted her to do.

“You worry too much.” She lifts a hand and caress my cheek. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to be your little secret. I don’t want to hide my feelings for you from the rest of the world. Keegan, I’m madly in love with you and if being with you means I double up on my English classes next year, or hell – even over the summer, then so be it. I’m choosing you.”

“Brooke, I love you. I do. But this doesn’t solve everything. Don’t you think people will realize when they see us together that that is the reason you withdrew from my class? I could still face repercussions. Not to mention what people could say about you.”

She chose me. She put me before herself. Before her education. No one ever chooses the good guy. And as much as I want to be happy about all of this, I can’t help but feel like she’s made the wrong choice.

“There are no repercussions to take if we agree that we only started dating after I withdrew from your class. I’ll say that it was just too much with all of my other classes and since I knew it would always be the easy A, I dropped it to focus on some of my harder course requirements.”

Maybe she had a point. Here I was freaking out and Brooke had seemed to think of everything. As long as she maintained that we didn’t start dating until after she dropped my class, and that I didn’t pressure her in anyway, we could be in the clear.

“And you don’t think Constance would rat us out?”

“Hell, no. Constance has her own secrets that she’s been keeping,” Brooke tells me.

“You fucking quit English for me,” I shake my head, really processing what just happened.

“I quit for us. Because I want the world to know that I love Keegan Fuller.”