Read Trouble: A BWWM Bad-Boy Billionaire Romance for Free Online Page B

my head. "That's a complete cop out. More details, please."
    "Well, when we went to his place, David taught me this thing with his tongue..."
    "Ew! Ok, no. I'll tell you what went on last night." I took a breath, and we stepped forward another spot in line. "Trouble asked me out last night."
    "Last night? And you went on a date on the same night?"
    I nodded.
    "Girl, he must really like you."
    "You think?" I touched the back of my neck.
    "I know! That's awesome. Wait a minute. I wasn't there. Did you have to get ready all by yourself?"
    "He gave me like a half second of notice before we went on our date."
    "Oh my gosh, seriously?"
    "Yeah, and I also probably had helmet hair. Gross."
    "What? Why were you wearing a helmet? Did he take you on a tandem bike on the beach or something?"
    "No. He has a motorcycle."
    Her eyes got huge. "You went on a motorcycle ride? Dang, girl, I had no idea you were such a hardass."
    The person in front of her turned around to look at me.
    "Shh," I chided. "Seriously, just shut up."
    "Did you pop your cherry?" she said even louder.
    I wanted to melt through the floor.
    "No. There was no cherry popping."
    People stopped staring at us.
    "My gosh, could you BE more embarrassing?"
    "You better tell me the whole thing tonight, or I will embarrass you later!"
    We were finally at the front of the line, and we ordered two Frappuccinos.
    I looked down at my cellphone. "Ugh. We're going to be late if this takes more than 3 minutes."
    "Chill out. Our professor doesn't even care. He comes in late half the time."
    "Yeah, because the class is at the asscrack of dawn."
    "Girl, I've been up at dawn. Well, so have you. This is not the asscrack of dawn. It's more like the shining smile of dawn."
    "Whatever." She covered a yawn with her hand.
    They called our names, and we got our Fraps. I practically sprinted to class, leaving her a few steps behind me.
    I got to a desk. Only half of the class was there. Andrea strolled in, nonchalantly sipping at her Frap. I started sucking mine down. I needed both the sugar and caffeine to make it through this class.
    I got a text from Trouble.
    Are we still on for 6?
    Yes
    Good
    The teacher came in, finally. We started class, and I put my phone away in my backpack. I wanted to keep talking to Trouble, but I also needed to pay attention. Good thing my phone was on silent, or I would've been trying to check it all through class.

16

Prep
    Laila
    W hen class was over , I pulled out my phone. There wasn't anything from Trouble. I felt a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Did he not like my curt response?
    I blinked. Maybe he was in class like I was. I didn't know.
    Andrea and I walked out together to grab some lunch. Yes, it was early in the morning, but we needed more food. Andrea was practically dead on her feet.
    "Let's get Chipotle."
    "Okay." She yawned.
    We both got burrito bowls with fajita vegetables and sofritas. Sofritas just tasted like chunky tomato sauce, honestly, but in LA, there was an absolute vegan craze. I was a weekday vegan, getting my protein from tofu, lentils, beans, and Beyond Meat. On weekends, I ate steak, burgers, chicken, fish, everything. It had led to a surprising amount of weight loss, which is why I kept up with it, even though I had cravings for chicken pretty much every weekday.
    Andrea was more genuinely vegan. She worried about helpless little animals, a concern that I did not share. 
    When I was little, we went to Mexico. We went to a farm to table place. Dad had to walk around a yard full of chickens and choose one. As soon as he pointed, the farmer/restaurateur immediately picked up the chicken and snapped its neck in a Mexican towel snap.
    I cried. As an American, I was highly insulated from death. Meat came in plastic-wrapped containers from the grocery store, not living beings.
    Dad made me eat the chicken anyway.
    "You might as well learn about death someday, sweetheart."
    I ate that poor, defenseless bird with tears running down my