I grin. “To make her jealous that you’re together with me, duh. And so she can learn what a dick you are.”
Blaze chuckles and pushes off from the mirror. Yep, he definitely smeared his sweat all over it. “She got the hint already. About me being off the market, not about me being a dick.”
“Right, and she needs to know the dick part.” I hook my arm with his. “Come on, indulge me. I promise I won’t be distracting at all.”
“You’re definitely distracting,” Blaze argues as he leads us out. “I’ll study with you at the library. My group project with Monica is done though, so there’s no reason to let you terrorize anyone anymore.”
“I wasn’t going to terrorize her!” I protest.
“I meant me.” Blaze and I laugh, and I kiss his jaw.
As we make our way to the lockers, though, I think about everything else that’s still undone, about all the women who are locked up and desperate and scared.
The knives under my skin threaten to shred me apart.
This is why I need to study. If there’s nothing I can do right now, it’s better I focus on passing my classes than spiraling into a bloody mess.
2
BLAZE
Finals are in two weeks, and all I can think about is how none of it really matters.
What am I going to do when this is all over? My grades weren’t supposed to mean anything to begin with, since I was going to join my father in the family business.
Provided my father doesn’t disown me completely.
I stare at my laptop and the notes for my marketing class. The project with Monica and Terence had gotten me a decent grade, so I could fail the final and still get by. It would be a shit grade, but again… what’s the point?
It doesn’t matter if I study at home or at the library or here in the business building, it all comes down to the same issue.
None of it is sticking in my mind. Even when Pandora isn’t around to distract me, the ROI formulas or marketing effectiveness crap is in one ear and out the other.
My phone buzzes with a new text. I immediately grab it, because I want any distraction from this hell.
Pandora
I can’t believe I still have to attend class this week.
Blaze
Classes run until the 18th.
Pandora
And it’s bullshit. Everybody knows you literally can’t study in December.
Blaze
Your brain literally doesn’t work in December?
Pandora
No, the amount of shits I give has frozen over.
I laugh, but the amusement dries up when I realize several people are approaching me.
It’s Holden, and Keegan, Brock, and several other of the frat brothers are with him. Even Declan is there, and I haven’t seen him since I’d threatened him into leaving Pandora alone.
