“Tia’s home.” She starts to blink rapidly, staring determinedly down at her textbook, but her eyes cloud over in a way that tells me she’s not really reading anything.
I swallow, tossing out a desperate attempt to get her to even look at me. “You can come to my place. Talon and Jay are—”
“I’m trying to study, Bohdan.” Her words are soft, and I can see a tear start to track down her cheek.
“Sloan.” I push my chair back, the legs scraping against the floor.
She closes her eyes at the sound, like it’s hurting her.
The idea of that hurts me.
I go to stand, but she beats me to it.
“I don’t feel well.” Sloan slams her textbook shut; her chair screeches against the tile, somehow so much more jarring than mine sounded.
I reach for her when she storms by, and for an NCAA athlete, one of the quickest wrist shots ever seen, a top-five skater in the entire country, I’m somehow too slow.
I sit there, stunned and stupid, unsure what the hell just happened.
She had a decent head start, and I have to wait outside her building until someone lets me into the main entrance because she’s not answering her phone, so I don’t catch up to her at all until I’m pounding on the door of her dorm room.
“Sloan!” I slam my palm against the peeling wood laminate.
Nothing.
There’s no way Tia’s actually home like she said—Tia wouldn’t be able to mind her business if she tried. She’s like her brother that way.
“Sloan!” I try again, dropping my ear to the door, beside my palm, trying to hear anything at all. “Sloan! At least tell me if you’re okay.”
I’m about to shout again when the door across the hall creaks open.
“Dude, can you—” He cuts himself off when I whirl around, muscles in my jaw ticking.
“Oh. Shit.” He blinks, stupid, looking a bit like he smoked too much weed. “Aren’t you Bohdan Novotnak?”
I don’t answer, turning back to Sloan’s door, pressing my palm against it like maybe she’ll feel my arm straining against the wood, as if I could break the thing down and get to her.
“Can I have your autograph?”
“No.” I don’t bother looking back at him, about to actually try my hand at breaking down her door when it swings open.
My reflexes finally decide to show up and I catch myself before I fall forward.
But it’s not Sloan standing in the doorway.
It’s Tia Valdez, and she looks decidedly unhappy to see me.
“Quite a scene you’re causing out here, Novotnak.” She purses her lips, arms crossed firmly over her chest before she peers over my shoulder. “Krish, mind your business.”
He does, and fortunately, he does so quietly, his door clicking shut behind me.
Tia’s eyes snap back to me, flashing with displeasure.“What do you want?”
I give her a flat look. “What do you think I want?”
“She came back here from the library crying, but she wouldn’t say what happened. What did you do?”
Splaying my arms wide, my voice rises again. “I don’t know. I fucking sprinted across campus after her to find out.”
