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“And what’re you doing back on campus so early?” Usually they didn’t roll in until after sundown on the Sunday before the week started. But it couldn’t even be eight a.m. yet. “Didn’t your ski trip go okay?”
“Oh!” Tess finally brightened. “Yeah. No. I mean, my dad broke his ankle, and we had to leave early. But he’s going to be fine. We heard about Dorian Wade on the news so we hurried back to find out what was going on here. Did you know he was found—”
Paige blanched. “Yeah, I know.” Scrubbing her face with both hands, she sighed and slumped onto the edge of her bed.
Had it only been two nights ago that the whole debacle with Dorian had started? It didn’t seem possible. It felt like ages had passed. Things were moving too quickly. She didn’t know if she could keep up.
“I have a lot more to tell you than you’ll believe,” she admitted.
“Start with Logan,” Tess demanded, plopping down beside her. “And don’t leave out a single detail.”
“Especially the juicy ones,” Bailey added, landing on her other side.
“Actually, I think I need to start three years ago.” Paige groaned and dropped her hands. “But first, tell me what they said on the news. Do they have any suspects for who shot Dorian?”
Tess gasped. “He was shot? With a gun?”
“No, with a paper clip,” Bailey muttered. “God, Tessie. Really?”
Tess ignored her and never took her wide-eyed gaze off Paige. “Holy crap. How do you know he was shot?”
Paige winced. “The cops told us. When they came to question Logan and me.”
Bailey waved her hands. “Wait, wait, wait! Why would the cops question you and Logan? Maybe you should start with that story first.”
“No!” Tess grabbed her wrist. “Start with the bedroom details first. I want to know how long you guys have been sleeping together.”
Paige blushed hard. “I don’t know if I can. It’s so surreal. I still can’t believe this is actually happening. But, oh my God, you guys. It was sooo…” She grinned and sighed. “He kept telling me I wasn’t ready, especially after Friday night. But I kept pushing and—” With a gasp of clarity, she glanced between her friends. “I’m no longer a virgin. Oh, wow. I can’t…this is all just so…I don’t know how to explain it. It was amazing, and I feel so alive and exhilarated and…and…but then I’m also kind of nervous and afraid that my dad is going to disown me, and I’ll lose my friend Kayla. But it was still so worth it.” Cupping her face in her hands, she gave a little moan. “I can’t process everything.”
When both her friends stared at her as if she was insane, she blushed. “What?”
Bailey blinked. “I’m in shock we’re even having this conversation.”
“What brought you two together?” Tess asked.
“Oh, right.” She still had to tell them everything. Blowing out a breath, Paige collapsed backward, landing with a plop on the mattress. Bringing her knees up to her chest, she hugged them hard and swallowed her apprehensions.
“There’s a lot I haven’t told you guys,” she confessed. “About me. About my family. About before I came to Granton. And it started three years ago. With my brother.”
Almost two hours later, Paige had changed into some day clothes and told her friends the entire history of her and Logan. Feeling drained, she slid off the bed and approached the sink to wash her hands. She had no idea why the urge came over her, maybe she needed to physically rinse away her anxieties.
On her bed, Bailey and Tess remained mute, much as they had been through most of her story. Feeling their gazes, she studied her reflection in the mirror. Other than her tousled hair full of bedhead—yeesh, no wonder Logan had appeared so amused when he’d touched her hair—she looked exactly like herself.
It was strange how the world around her seemed to be falling apart and her features hadn’t altered even a tad—well, except for the pair of nifty bruises on each cheek.
Needing something to do as she received her friends’ inevitable reactions, she snatched up her brush and pulled the bristles through the dark strands as she turned to face Bailey and Tess.
“So what do you think?”
Bailey’s mouth moved, but nothing came out.
“Which, uh, which part are you asking about specifically?” Tess pressed her hand against her forehead. “There’s kind of a lot to digest here, and…and respond to.”
“I guess, right now, I just want to know if I’m still your friend.” Paige dropped her brush to her side, her eyes imploring them to forgive her. “I should’ve been up front with you and told you about my mom…and Logan a long time ago. But I was just so…” She winced. “It was just so hard to talk about. I was so mad at both of them, blaming them for things they didn’t need to be blamed for, needing to put my miseries on someone’s shoulders. I couldn’t even talk about it at my grief group, but—”
“Shh, shh.” Tess swept off the bed to hug her. Pulling Paige close, she said, “We aren’t mad, I swear. You just needed a little time before you could talk about it, is all. We still love you, don’t worry about that.”
“Speak for yourself,” Bailey muttered. “These are exactly the kind of exciting details I want to know as soon as I meet a person.”
