Bad Judgment Read Free

year.
    “It’s not a good idea. School is my only focus.”
    He lowers himself down on the bench beside me, and instinctively I slide over to put some space between us. I don’t need more contact to melt away the last of my resistance.
    “I need to go find my friend. She’s probably waiting for me to leave.”
    “Give me five minutes, and I’ll convince you.”
    That’s exactly what I’m afraid of . The words float in my head as I scoot around the U-shaped booth to slide out the other side. With that determined look in his blue eyes and my guard down, there’s no telling what he could talk me into in thirty seconds, let alone five minutes.
    “I have to go.” I keep my tone firm.
    Ryker leans back in the booth and crosses both arms over his broad chest. “I think you’re scared of me.”
    Pushing to my feet, I grab the edge of the table to steady myself on Merica’s heels. “Excuse me?”
    “You’re scared. Afraid you might actually want what I want, and that’s why you keep shooting me down.”
    A forced laugh escapes my lips, and something—probably the alcohol—flips my filter to the off position. “Are you serious? Come on, we both know that you just haven’t given up yet because I’m the only girl who’s ever said no to you.” I gesture to the empty glass on the table. “I might be a few drinks in, but even I get you’re all about the chase. If I said yes, you’d lose interest within days.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “Doesn’t matter. The answer is still no.” And with that I stride away, making an exit that doesn’t include me falling on my face. Win .

    I find Merica at a tall table near the door, and her face is even whiter than her normal Irish-American shade of pale.
    “What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Taking in the other similarly horrified expressions on the faces around the table, dread curls in my stomach.
    Merica turns and grabs me, fingers locking tight around my forearm. “Chad and Chris left the bar and there was an accident. We don’t know what happened, except that someone apparently hit them. Rachel just texted to tell me that Chad was in handcuffs and there was an ambulance.”
    Oh my God. No .
    “Chad France? My Chad?” Panic rises in my chest, stealing my breath.
    Chad and I have been friends since we were eleven and he taught me how to play marbles in the dirty alley behind Gramps’s house. He lived with his grandma because his mom took off, and his dad died in prison for a crime Chad swears to this day he didn’t commit. That’s why he’s here—to become a kick-ass criminal defense attorney.
    Merica nods.
    “Is he okay? Is he hurt? If Rachel saw him in handcuffs, then he couldn’t have been in the ambulance, right?”
    “Rachel said he was standing next to the cop car in cuffs. That’s all.”
    She has to be wrong. Maybe Rachel got it wrong. “Did she see it happen? Is she sure it was them?”
    “Rachel left here right after they did. Their apartment is on the way to her place. Apparently half of Red River Avenue is closed right now to clean up the accident.”
    “Oh my God.” Handcuffs mean arrest. The most likely reason being . . . drinking and driving.
    We’re all thinking the same thing; Merica just says it first. “Chad is fucked if he gets a DUI. He’s already got an offer for after graduation with that hotshot defense firm he’s been working at, but I bet they’d rescind that before he could say not guilty .”
    “Oh my God,” I murmur again, squeezing my eyes shut. Working at the top defense firm in the state has been Chad’s goal since before we even started school. He’s going to be devastated .
    Merica looks down at her phone again. “Rachel says they’re reopening the road, but Chad’s truck looks like it’s totaled.” She glances over to me. “Wasn’t he supposed to help you move your stuff into storage tomorrow?”
    “That’s the least important thing anyone needs to worry about right now.” As much as I’m SOL, I