Page 98 of The Stalker Snafu

Tonal Harmony.

He was reading our textbook for Music Theory.

A book connected to me.

Maybe Julian was right, and this was all a big misunderstanding, because Noah wouldn’t be reading Tonal Harmony if he didn’t plan on coming back to class.

To me.

I couldn’t decide if I was more angry or worried, but there wasn’t room to be anything between. He hadn’t called. He hadn’t texted. He hadn’t even bothered to send a note through his friends. But he was reading a book linked to me, and a tiny love-blind part of my brain thought there had to be something significant about that.

If the butterflies in my stomach could hold on to a string of hope that this was all just some big misunderstanding, then maybe I could too.

And even if everything else was a lie, my Music Theory grade and scholarship still relied on playing a duet with the guy.

Too tired to keep thinking about it, I followed Adrian out the gate and the rest of the way back to Rafe’s car.

Slipping into the front seat, I pulled out my phone and discreetly dropped a pin on our location before Rafe sped off.

Just in case.

CHAPTER 38

A Bribe

Adrian stayed behind, uptown, claiming he had business to handle. Without him, thick silence coated my and Rafe’s drive back to the duplex—prolonged by a gridlocked highway.

I wasn’t sure how long we sat in the car with the engine running before I realized we were in the duplex’s driveway. Rafe kept his eyes on the windshield, and I picked at the hem of my shorts.

“Um, thanks,” I said to break the silence, clearing my throat when the words came out hoarse. I wasn’t sure if I was thanking him for the ride or for taking me to see Noah, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Rafe nodded as he slid his hands down the wheel and flexed his fingers. His car’s dashboard was filled with fancy gadgets, and the leather seats made me feel like we were in a car-chase action movie just as much as his driving did.

The silence stretched, so I grabbed my backpack and hopped out of the car before the quiet could linger again. I hesitated with my hand on the handle, but Rafe was still facing the windshield and I didn’t have any other words, so I closed the door.

The first step up the driveway was the hardest, looking up at the lonely duplex looming ahead, but the second step wasn’t any easier. I focused on counting each one to keep my mind off the way Noah had been leisurely reading while my world had turned upside down.

“You were right, by the way,” Rafe called from the car, pulling both my brain and my feet to a stop halfway to the door.

I turned around. His window was rolled down, and intense dark eyes pierced mine. I frowned, struggling to follow.

“About Happy Meals?” I guessed, drawing a blank.

He shook his head, and a muscle in his jaw jumped. “About Kincaid.”

I chewed on my lip, unsure what he meant, but a memory of something Rafe had said in the kitchen this morning tickled my brain. “You finally believe I’m not lying?”

Rafe rubbed at the scruff on his jaw. He looked like he’d gotten less sleep than I had last night. “I think you were right about him lying to both of us. Either that, or you’re one hell of an actress.”

He rolled his window up without waiting for a response, and his car peeled backward out the driveway. Two black racing stripes dominated the hood, but I couldn’t look away from where he’d be behind the tinted glass.

“I wish I weren’t right,” I mumbled to myself, even less motivated to continue my trek inside.

What was I supposed to do now? Noah was apparently fine—even relaxed enough to be reading a book. And now I had no plans for the next week aside from practicing my duet for Slade’s class without my partner, drowning myself in coffee, and avoiding a potential run-in with a freaking cartel.

I still couldn’t believe it.

A cartel.