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It had been forever since she’d felt like a part of anything. Aside from Kayla, she’d been disjointed from reality since Trace’s death. She hadn’t cared about clothes, or televisions sizes, or much of anything. Tess and Bailey’s overly easy acceptance of her was too touching to properly digest.
Tucking her still-damp hair behind her ear, she snagged her room key and student ID and followed them out the door. She didn’t even remember Logan Xander’s existence until she stepped into the warm evening air.
Then everything came flooding back. With a vengeance.
She faltered behind Tess and Bailey, scanning left and right to make sure she couldn’t spot him nearby.
Bailey glanced back at her and paused. “You coming?”
Not spying the murderer anywhere, Paige nodded and forced a smile. “Uh, yeah. Right behind you.” But when she followed, she did so with reservation, all her carefree emotions from a moment before shattered and blown away.
Baby steps, she reminded herself, as she forced her feet to follow her new friends. If she could get past supper, she would already be closer to attaining her goals.
If, being the key word.
Chapter Four
LOGAN HEADED STRAIGHT to Gibson Hall as soon as he clocked out at the juice bar. He’d worked through lunch, and after serving other people drinks and snacks this afternoon, he was starved.
His muscles ached too. All morning, he’d tensed up every time he’d entered a classroom. After running into Paige Zukowski twice, he’d waited until the last possible second, then slipped in right before the class started to scan the faces first and make sure they didn’t share another course together before he tiptoed to a seat. He’d looked for her when he exited every building and had even held his breath whenever he spotted a dark-headed girl getting into his line at the juice bar.
Almost too hungry and exhausted to care where she was now, he entered the campus’s main student dining hall, ready to visit just about every food station they had to offer. He paused in line at the door to pay his entrance fee. He pulled a thin wad of cash from his pocket, wondering not for the first time if he should’ve roomed in a dorm this year. Meals had been free here when he’d been a dorm resident his freshman year.
But so much close proximity to so many other people had nearly suffocated him. Three years ago, he’d actually been looking forward to living with a large group and maybe trying to get into his dad’s old fraternity. But one fateful night had changed all that. These days, he couldn’t handle crowds. It would be too easy to hurt someone else.
After a year of surviving in the dorms, he’d rented an apartment and rested a little easier with his solitude.
“Yo! Designated Dave,” a voice called as soon as he paid his discounted student price.
Since Dave was what pretty much everyone called him, Logan lifted his face to acknowledge the greeting. Jerod, a member of Phi Gamma Delta, drew near with a welcoming grin, holding out his hand to fist bump with Logan.
Having given up trying to correct people that his name was not Dave, Logan obligingly rapped his knuckles against Jerod’s. “What’s up?”
“We’re having our Fiji Islander this Saturday and need to hire a DD. You in?”
Logan nodded. “Yeah, sure. I don’t have to work at The Squeeze that night, so, I’ll be around.”
He’d purposely asked for the first weekend of school off at work. That was when all the raging parties took place. And there were never enough willing people to stay sober and play the responsible designated driver for them.
“Cool, man. Thanks. You’re a life saver.”
Jerod took off again without sticking around to make small talk. Not that Logan minded. He’d grown used to the whole loner thing. If he didn’t play the dopey DD at every mixer on campus, he doubted anyone would bother talking to him at all or even know who he was—wrong name or not.
He shuffled a step forward in the pizza buffet line behind a group of jock-looking guys discussing the next football game. Logan didn’t listen as he scanned the crowded tables, scouting for an empty place to sit once he filled his plate.
Skimming his gaze past a small round table where three girls sat, he did a double take when glossy black hair captured his attention.
Paige Zukowski picked at her salad and side of fruit like a girl with no appetite. Sitting between two other ladies who talked animatedly around her, she listened to their conversation without adding a lot of input.
He wondered how well she knew them. Had she already told them about him? Had word spread far?
Jerod obviously hadn’t known; otherwise Logan doubted the fraternity brother would’ve asked him to DD
. But who did know?
His muscles seized as more tension filled him. A headache was beginning to throb behind his eyes. Watching Paige, he scowled, wanting to hate her.
He didn’t know a thing about her. But that didn’t matter. She was going to ruin him as surely as he’d ruined her when he’d taken her brother away. He deserved it, yeah, but he didn’t have to like it.
