“I think it’s nice to have traditions,” I say as I glance at her. Walking so close to her, she’s within reach, but I can’t throw all caution to the wind just yet. I need to make sure she’s asreceptive as I hope she is. “My family never really had anything like that.”
“Do you have siblings?”
“I have brothers. They’re… pretty eccentric. Believe it or not, I’m the most normal one in the family.” That is not an exaggeration. I like my mazes and the outcomes of them, but my brothers? A different story entirely. We each have our own thing.
Wren says, “So you have brothers, but your parents never made any traditions for you guys?”
“My parents are… also eccentric. My father’s a collector of the finest things in the world, and my mother—” I stop myself. I don’t know how to explain my mother to someone who might not understand. Let’s just say the story of how they got together is one that would raise many red flags if told to the average, everyday person.
And Wren? I don’t know if we’re there just yet.
“My mother likes my father’s peculiarities. Let’s leave it at that,” I say.
“Huh. Sounds like a weird family, but who am I to judge?” Though she says it jokingly, I’m glad she’s not spending too much time thinking about it. Explaining my family to her would probably send her running for the hills, and I don’t plan on chasing her just yet.
Yetis the most important word there. The chasing will come soon enough.
She comes with me to my office, where I drop a few things off, and soon enough we’re at the student union, grabbing lunch. Since the semester hasn’t officially started yet, the union is as empty as it can be. Only a few of the off-brand restaurant fronts are open; some will remain closed down until Monday.
Pizza, salad, a place that makes sandwiches much likeSubway. There is something for everyone here, along with agiant food court with rows and rows of tables in front of a big wall of windows that let in an ungodly amount of natural light.
She goes for a turkey sub, and I get my usual. When it comes time to pay, I offer to pay for hers, catching her off-guard in the process. The way she looks up at me, with her cheeks slightly flushed, as she breathlessly asks, “Are you sure? You don’t have to—”
I grin at her. “I’m sure.” I pay for our subs and our drinks, and we take them to an empty table near the windows. Since it’s so dead, we pretty much have our pick. Sitting down across from her, I can’t help but watch as she shrugs off her coat and drapes it over the back of her chair before she sits down. Me? I don’t bother. My jacket is pretty thin, but that’s because I tend to run hot.
“Thank you,” she says. “You really didn’t have to.”
I have the feeling she’s not used to being taken care of—as in, really being taken care of. She might’ve been in a years-long relationship with her shitty ex, but as big as those rose-colored glasses of hers used to be when it came to that guy, she never saw the truth until it came and smacked her in the face.
Until she saw him naked with her best friend.
So, no, I really don’t think her ex treated her right at all. I might have my dark side, certain kinks that might make most people cringe, but when push comes to shove, I’d never harm a hair on this girl’s head, and I’d do anything I had to in order to make sure she’s treated right.
“So, besides not watching where you’re going,” I start as I unwrap my sandwich, “how have you been doing? How’s your arm?”
She rolls her shoulders, like she has to feel it before she can answer me. “It’s good. I’m good. Sometimes I get a twinge in my elbow every now and then, but good.” She smiles, though that smile isn’t directed at me; it’s aimed at her sandwich. “I used toget excited at the start of new semesters, but after last semester… is it wrong I kind of don’t want to be here anymore?”
“No. You went through a very traumatic event.” Anyone who gets caught in a hit and run would have some not-so-nice memories associated with the nearby area, and unfortunately for her, the police never caught the suspect.
The cameras in the surrounding businesses weren’t so good, and the footage from the girls who drove behind said vehicle only helped so much. Of course, what Wren doesn’t know is that I’ve been busy conducting my own investigation into that night. Assuming the driver was indeed a student here, all freshmen and anyone who commuted had to register their vehicles so they could park in the big southern lot.
The police had that same list, and they exhausted it before giving it up. I, on the other hand, refused—which is why I spent a lot of time these past few months stalking the nearby streets of rentals to find that car. It took a while, but I’m pretty damn sure I found it underneath a not-so-stealthy car cover a good ten blocks away from campus.
As much as I want to enact some swift vengeance when it comes to its owner, I have to take it slow. Baby steps. Right now, my main focus is on Wren and making her mine.
I’ve waited too damn long as it is already.
“I love learning,” Wren is busy saying, “but… I don’t know. It just feels different now. I feel different.” She heaves a heavy sigh, and those shoulders of hers slump. She looks and sounds like she’s in a funk, and I wonder if it’s because she hasn’t seen or spoken to Logan since that night.
Logan… don’t get me started on that guy. Thanks to the cameras I installed in his place, I’ve learned a hell of a lot about him these past few months.
“Give yourself some time,” I say. “There’s bound to be some adjustment. Trauma does things to people, even to the best of us.”
“You say that like you know firsthand.”
Now it’s my turn to shrug. “I might not have gotten hit by a car, but my past isn’t spotless, either. What matters more than the trauma is how we get back up again once the dust settles. Some people decide to never try, but I don’t think you’re one of those people, Wren. You can get back up, dust yourself off, and be better than you were before.”
She blushes an adorable shade of pink as she takes her first bite of her sandwich. “I don’t think I thanked you enough for helping me so much last semester. I honestly don’t know where I’d be now if you weren’t there that night.”
