My answer is immediate. “No, not in the least. But I’m doing my best.”
She gives me a sympathetic look. “Ashley says you’re rarely in the room.”
“Yeah, it’s been a crazy few weeks.”
“Are you getting enough sleep? You look like you have dark circles under your eyes.”
I grimace. “I probably do. I’ve just been so busy and stressed out. The more stressed out I get, the more I have a hard time sleeping at night.” I shrug and smile. “College life, right?”
She lifts her coffee cup and knocks it into mine. “Right. If I can ever do anything to make your load lighter, please let me know.”
“This right here—having coffee with me? That’s what I need.”
I don’t tell her that I’ve had a hard time sleeping at night and that my stomach hurts almost all the time. I really thought I was prepared for college life, but the joke’s on me, I guess. I’m not nearly as strong as I thought I was. A lot of what I’m dealing with is from stress; I know that. But it’s hard to know how to change. Besides all the stress for my classes and getting my work done and turned in on time on top of traveling, there’s the added stress from our pack. We’re all on high alert, just waiting for the next attack. Zane, Reid, and Slate get pulled in almost daily to search a new site or deal with some new problem. And when it’s quiet at night, and it’s just me alone with my thoughts, I can’t stop thinking about the black roses and wondering what’s coming next.
Chapter 35
Riley
I’m feeling melancholy as I head back to my room after classes. I’m frustrated with myself. I blew a test that I studied hours for, and I don’t even know how. It’s like the information just kept slipping away from me. I wish I could go for a run, but I need to stay fresh for practice tonight. I’ve stopped running in the mornings because it’s too taxing on my body along with practices and games. My wolf moves inside of me at the direction of my thoughts, and I try to think of the last time I shifted and ran. I’m pretty sure it’s a bad sign that I can’t remember.I’m sorry; we’ll run soon.Her lack of response bothers me, but I just add it to the growing list of concerns I need to deal with...eventually. I climb the stairs and head to my room. I’m hoping for just a few minutes of down time before I have to get changed and head over to practice. I open the door. “Hey, Ashley.”
She turns from where she’s standing at the dresser. “Hey, how was your day?”
“It’s Monday, right?”
She laughs. “Yeah. Oh, somebody sent you flowers. They’re all black. That’s kind of weird, right? Or does that mean something I don’t know. I’m not exactly up to date on trends and—what's wrong?”
My heart pounds in my chest. “Who delivered them?”
She looks at me in concern. “I don’t know. They were in here when I got back. Are you okay? Your face is really pale.”
I continue to stare at the flowers.Somebody was in my room.
“Riley?” Ashley touches my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I shake my head, trying to clear it and then work at playing off the whole thing. “I have no idea who they’re from. But whatever. They’re probably from one of the girls I took the starting position from,” I say, not even really teasing. If I didn’t know these particular roses were a calling card of sorts from the skinwalkers, I would one hundred percent believe they were from Angeline or even Jaida. Angeline would be my first guess, though. She's done everything in her power to make life miserable for Star and me, mostly me though. She’s taken my clothes while I was in the shower more than once. She doesn’t realize that while I don’t enjoy walking around naked, I did grow up in a pack. So, it’s not a totally foreign concept to me. Each time it happens, I simply make my way out to my locker and find what I need. She’s also tampered with my water, but I’ve caught that each time before anything happened because of my shifter nose. I’ve taken to sniffing my water bottle before I ever take a drink. That’s also how I know it’s her and not Jaida; I can smell her scent all over my bottle. There have been a few other minor things, but I choose not to let them bother me. But I know the roses aren’t from her. I debate reaching out to tell my dad or Reid, but I know they’ll both just double down on protection for me. Reid will get frustrated because he’s not here, and my dad will do something crazy like pull me from the team so I can live at home. I’m not willing to let that happen, so I keep it to myself.
“Are the girls still giving you a hard time?” Ashley asks.
I shrug. “It is what it is.”
She gives me a look of concern. “You should tell your coach.”
“No, that’s not how things work at this level. It will just make me look foolish, and it definitely won’t help my relationship with my teammates. My best course of action is to keep my head down and ignore their antics; they’ll have to move oneventually.” Any notion of resting is long gone, so I change into my clothes for practice. A few minutes later, I’m ready to head out.
“Have a good practice.”
I smile at Ashley. “Thanks. Have fun...” I glance down at where she’s sitting at the desk. “Writing a paper.”
She groans. “I am literally never going to get this one done.”
I drop a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve got this.” I start towards the door and stop. “You know, we should plan a movie night soon and watch a Christmas movie.”
Her head whips in my direction. “You’re going to take a night off and watch a movie? Who are you and where is the real Riley?”
“Hey, now. We should invite Stephanie too.”
She laughs. “Yeah, she’s even more less likely to watch a movie.”
