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“I think I’ll live. I’ll even let you hog the covers.”
“Conner...” I pale.
“Relax, I’m joking. I just want to help, I promise.”
“Why?” I ask. “Why are you doing this for me?”
“Because I can.” He shrugs. “Because you shouldn’t be alone. And because my brother can’t be who you need him to be right now.”
“It’s that simple, huh?”
“It only needs to be complicated if you make it complicated.”
I hesitate, because I know this is a bad idea. But I need to sleep. I need to close my eyes and know that someone is watching out for me. And Conner is a good person. He’s kind and funny and he doesn’t take life too seriously.
“Okay,” I blurt, forcing all my reservations to the back of my mind.
“Atta girl.” He grabs my hand and pulls me around the side of the building.
“Thank you.” The words fall from my lips.
“For what?” He frowns as we approach the back entrance.
“For being you. You’re a good person, Conner.”
His brows furrow, just for a second, and then his expression morphs into a grin. “I think there’s a compliment in there somewhere, Hadley, baby, but you know what they say about the good guy, right?”
“No, Conner. What do they say about the good guy?” I find myself grinning back. But then his expression hardens again.
“He always finishes last.”
Chapter Eight
Cole
I close my eyes as she walks away from me, her scent filling my nose and my muscles aching to reach out to stop her.
She’s like a fucking angel. So good, so pure, yet so untouchable.
Unable to resist, I turn and watch her walk away.
Like this, I can imagine that everything is as it once was. That things are our usual brand of fucked-up, and I can let myself into her dorm later to do wicked things to her. But I can’t.
I lost that right when she told me she loved me and I threw it back in her face.
Stumbling back against the building, I watch her hips sway as she makes her way toward the dorms. I pull a cigarette from my pocket, wishing it were more than just nicotine. Even more so when I watch Conner catch up with her and wrap his arm around her shoulder. My teeth grind and my fingers clench with my need to walk over and rip her out of his hold.
She’s mine. Motherfucker.
But I can’t. I can’t claim her. It’s too late for all that.
It’s game night. The only reason I turned back up at school. And I can’t stand here watching them, going after them, when I’ve got a job to do. I might not have listened to many people in the past few days, but the threat from Coach that my already questionable position on the team would be gone if I didn’t get my ass to practice, to get ready for tonight was one thing that got me moving.
It’s an away game. The last thing I want to do is get on a bus and leave Sterling Bay for a few hours. The only thing that makes it better is that I know she’ll be there. We might have barely said two words to each other this week, but just knowing she’ll be in the stadium, unable to leave, to walk away from me, settles something inside me.
The second I walk into the locker room, Hayden is right there, just like he was when I appeared for practice the other day.
The moment I locked eyes on his smile, I knew it was him. He was the motherfucker who was in Hadley’s room. He’s the one who’s been keeping her company.
