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CHAPTER24
Owen
I wake up with a satisfying delicious, full body stretch. I roll onto my back, massaging my eyes with my fingers as I try to adjust to the bright light streaming through a chink in my curtains.
Jesus, what time is it?
I fumble blindly for my phone and glance at the screen before pushing onto my elbows and scanning my room.
“Evie?”
But I already know she’s gone. I fall back onto the bed, going through the notifications on my phone. A few messages from Sterling and Liam asking me to join them at the lake. A photo of Oz bent over a fallen tree, either passed out or puking into the bushes. Another blurry photo of the massive bonfire.
I drop my phone onto the bed beside me, turning my head to the side. I never sleep this late because I hate how lethargic it makes me feel. So why the hell did I?
Because that was the best night’s sleep of my fucking life.
Because I didn’t want it to end.
Because I knew, maybe subconsciously, that Evie wouldn’t be around when I woke up.
I breathe in deep, trying to stem my frustration. Why am I surprised? I left bruises all over her ass.
My hand clenches into a fist on the sheet as I press my nose into the pillow. Growling, I snatch the pillow out and toss it across the room.
It fucking smells like her.
Turning around, I try to go back to sleep. But it’s impossible because, somehow, she got her scent all over the sheet, too. I must look like a madman as I rush to my feet, still naked, and begin stripping down the bed.
She took her laundry hamper but she left her smell behind. She tainted everything I own with some kind of… hope.
I throw on my boxers and a pair of sweats and storm downstairs with my sheets bundled up in my arms.
Sterling is in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee and looking like death warmed up. “Wet the bed again?” he rasps, dragging a box of cigarettes from the counter behind him to light one.
“Fuck off,” I mutter, shoving past him to get to the laundry.
“Man, you missed a killer party last night.”
I shove my bedsheets into the washing machine and slam the lid. “I was busy.”
Busy fucking up any hope of a normal life.
“Yeah, I heard.” The stench of Sterling’s cigarettes fills the small laundry room as I hunt around for the soap powder. “Kat says you and Evie were knocking boots so loud, they probably heard you on campus.”
I freeze. “What?”
Sterling lets out a dry chuckle. “I knew you weren’t serious about Willow. But damn, it worked. I’m guessing Evie was so jealous, she probably tied you to the bed and rode you like a—”
I rush over to him and shove him out of the laundry room. “Don’t youdarespeak about her like that.”
“Jesus, what thefuck?” Sterling frowns at me, his cigarette barely clinging to his bottom lip before he rescues it. “It was a joke.”
“You’rea joke.” I glance back inside the laundry room. “Where’s the fucking washing powder?”
“You mean that empty box over there?” Sterling points to the wire-mesh trash can in one corner.
It’s not about the soap. It’s not even about Sterling’s joke.
