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He’d thought all afternoon of where he’d go next, but his mind kept coming up blank. He didn’t want to leave Granton yet.
A girl with a wild mess of curly red hair said something to Paige, making her smile shyly. Color heightened the tops of her cheeks as she gave a soft blush. Logan sucked in a breath, unable to look away.
Damn, she was pretty, no matter who she was.
Tucking a piece of her long, dark hair behind her ear, she nodded and answered the redhead. He couldn’t hear anything they were saying over the racket in the busy dining hall and from his distance away, but he really didn’t need to. She didn’t seem all that familiar around her acquaintances. They must’ve just met.
He hoped she wasn’t comfortable enough to tell them about her brother’s murderer whom she’d almost shared a class with earlier in the day.
He froze, petrified, when she glanced toward the line of people waiting to sample the pizza buffet.
She didn’t spot him, thank God, before she turned to say something to the girl with the multi-colored hair. Maybe his ball cap had helped disguise him. He had no idea, but he considered it a close call. Too close.
“Hey, it’s your turn.” A finger poked him in the back, reminding him where he was.
Logan stepped aside to let the guy pass him. “Go ahead. I’m not hungry.”
Ducking his chin, he hurried for the exit. Once he made it to the outside air, he stopped to close his eyes, drawing in a deep breath.
Frustrated curses rose in his throat. Seeing her three times in one day was not good. If this was how the rest of the semester was going to progress, he was screwed.
Digging back into his pocket, he counted his cash and wondered where he could go near campus to get a two-dollar meal. With a sigh, he shoved the pair of bills back into his pants and decided it was going to be another ramen noodle night.
Oh, the joy.
Didn’t matter. At least he was still here. He hadn’t caught any rumor about his past, and no one had chased him off campus. That was something to celebrate.
One day down, only six hundred and thirty left to go—give or take a few—before he could graduate and leave of his own free will.
Chapter Five
PAIGE’S SECOND DAY at Granton went much smoother than the first. She actually attended every class on her schedule, and she didn’t spot any tall guys with nearly-shaved heads anywhere. But every time she left her building, her gaze continued to dart back and forth, searching for him, knowing he was out there somewhere. Too close for comfort.
When she didn’t spot him again by the end of the first week, she finally began to relax—at least, she didn’t flinch whenever she saw a guy out of the corner of her eye. She made her decision to stay permanent and official by hopping online and scouting for a decent part-time job.
Tess and Bailey invited her to eat with them each evening, and she looked forward to that. But she didn’t grow any closer to her roommate, Mariah.
Paige had assumed that the guy Mariah was with the first day was her boyfriend. But now she had no idea who that dude had been. Mariah went out every night that first week…with a different guy each time. And she’d only stayed in one evening, which had been to lead some aggie boy in a cowboy hat, boots, and a big belt buckle to her bed, where they’d made sounds under the covers that Paige wanted to erase from her memory for the rest of her life.
She didn’t like to judge, but she was a little scandalized her roommate could be such a ho-bag and act so proud of it.
On the first weekend of the semester, Mariah dressed up in a long grass skirt, a fake coconut bra, and sandals. She’d looped half a dozen leis around her neck before she trooped out the door, snidely telling Paige to have a good night reading.
Since Paige really had planned on reading, she knocked on Tess and Bailey’s door to engage them in a little non-ho-bag fun just to spite Mariah, only to learn her suitemates were leaving to head home for the weekend.
So she stayed up late watching TV by herself instead of cracking open her book. Mariah hadn’t made it back by midnight, which didn’t surprise Paige in the least. She climbed into a comfortable pair of jammies, doused the lights, and hit her pillow. She wanted to call Kayla, just to hear her voice but knew her friend would be able to detect Paige’s loneliness, so she nixed that idea.
Staring at the dark ceiling above her, she lay in bed, wondering what she’d do with a marketing degree. Like magic, the boring subject rendered her unconscious almost immediately.
A loud thud tore her from troubling dreams where she’d just walked into some hazy corporate office wearing nothing but a bra and panties while everyone else in three-piece suits gawked and laughed at her. Instantly awake, she tightened every muscle in her body as a strange scratching followed, accompanied by high-pitched giggles.
“Here. Let me.” A muffled male voice joined the muddled sounds, stopping the eerie scratch.
Orienting herself, Paige realized she was hearing a key in her door lock. Mariah must be home. With company. Again.
She craned her neck to get a glimpse of her alarm clock.
Three a.m.
