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I stare at him. “Whaaaa—?”

“Come on. You need something to lean on, and I’m right here. Problem solved.”

I should say no. This is such a bad idea, but sitting in that chair really is torture, and it’s not like leaning on him will change anything between us, so I grab my laptop off the desk and climb on the bed next to him. I settle back against his chest, and, annoyingly, it’s kind of perfect for balancing a laptop on my knees. It shouldn’t feel this normal, though, especially with his arm resting around me, but it does. I hate how easy it is to get comfortable with him.

“This is weird,” I say as I open my paper.

“Only if you make it so.”

I laugh, and he does too. Then I make myself focus on the screen and start typing. There’s nothing strange about this at all, right?

I WAKE UP WITH NO IDEA what time it is as I blink around at my room. It takes me a moment to figure out where I am and what’s going on. My bed. There’s a blanket pulled up over my shoulders that I definitely don’t remember grabbing, and when I turn my head, I realize Jayden’s gone.

I push myself up onto my elbow and rub at my eyes. My phone’s on the nightstand, and when I check it, it’s the middle of the night and there’s nothing from Jayden. My laptop is closed on my desk, even though I don’t remember putting it there.

I must’ve fallen asleep on Jayden at some point, and instead of shaking me awake, he moved everything and tucked the blanket around me before leaving. When did I doze off? One moment I was typing, and the next... Well, no idea.

Huh. It’s actually really nice of him. Sweet, even, in a way I wouldn’t have guessed from a guy I figured only stuck around for one thing.

Then I remember the paper and groan, flopping back against the pillow, because I fell asleep before I got anywhere close to finishing it, and now it’s due in a couple hours and there’s no way I can write a whole conclusion this early without it being a total disaster.

I get up and grab the laptop off the desk anyway, flipping it open, because I need to find a way to save my grade. A frown creases my brow. What the actual fuck?

My paper’s done. All of it. As I scroll down, there’s nothing missing. Except, I know I didn’t write it. Someone picked up right where I trailed off. Jayden. He actually finished it for me. He finished my history paper while I was asleep. No fucking way. Has hell frozen over?

I read through the last part, waiting to find something wrong with it or some kind of joke, but it’s good. He clearly read the whole thing carefully and made it sound enough like me that my professor wouldn’t notice. I probably would’ve written something pretty close to this myself.

Wow. I lean back against my headboard and let out a long breath. A smile creeps up my face. I don’t really know what any of this is, what Jayden wants from me, or why he’s being like this with me when he could have any girl on campus without even trying.

But Aniyah won’t speak to me, and I don’t really have friends here anymore. Most of the people look straight through me as if I’m not even there. And Jayden showed up with food and did my homework when he didn’t have to do any of it. It’s just insane. Does that mean that he likes me? Do I like him?

Oh hell.

Chapter 23

JAYDEN

SUPREME SENT FOR ME, and as I make my way through the tunnels, I wonder what he might want. When I enter his office, he’s behind the desk and I take a seat across from him.

“You wanted to see me,” I say.

“I keep hearing about your progress with the girl. Or how there isn’t any.”

I really wish I could see his face right now. Who knows where he got this info? It’s not like his spies can know everything that I do.

The thing is, I’ve done everything the society asked, even if they don’t see it. Veronica’s alone now, her roommate’s done with her, and the whole campus ignores her or hates her, and I’m the one who’s still around and getting closer. So whoever’s whispering to Supreme has no fucking idea what happened.

“Everything’s going fine,” I say. “Better than fine, actually. She trusts me now, and she’s into me, and I don’t mean a little. I’m the only person she talks to. I made all of that happen.”

He clasps his hands in front of him. “I didn’t ask if she likes you. She seems to be doing just fine on her own, and she should be on the verge of breaking down. And she doesn’t seem ready to beg us to join.”

“She’s not like the ones who have a breakdown the second the whole campus turns on them,” I say. “She’s stubborn as hell. If we’re not careful, she could react unpredictably. So far, she didn’t quit, transfer, or run away.”

“Yet. Instead of being desperate, she seems too comfortable with your friendship. Maybe someone else should take over.”

I grit my teeth, my fingers curling under the desk. The thought of someone else targeting Veronica makes me want to jump at Supreme, rip his mask off, and punch him in the face until he agrees he’ll never even think about doing that. But I have to stay calm if I want to rise in the ranks because that’s basically why I’m even doing all this.

“Fine,” I say. “I’ll see what I can do because introducing someone new now could make things worse.”