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“What does that mean?” another one asks. “Someone’s springing for a keg?”
“More than that,” April chimes in. “It’s going to be the party of the semester. Anyone who’s anyone is going to be there. Chi Delta Psi doesn’t throw parties that aren’t legendary.”
I shake my head, trying to tune them out, but out of the corner of my eye, I see Colin come over to talk to them.
“You ladies are going to be there, right?” he asks.
April laughs, batting her eyelashes at him and tossing her flame-red hair over her shoulder. “Of course we are. We wouldn’t miss it.”
He grins and then looks over, catching sight of me listening to them from my table nearby. Before I can look away, he strides over, resting his hip against the table with his arms folded, looking casually handsome.
“You’re coming too, right, Willow?”
I blink in surprise. Before, I would have said no immediately. Parties aren’t really my thing, and there’s not really going to be anyone I know there. I haven’t taken the time to make friends on campus, and Colin is one of the only people who really talks to me.
But this is what people do, right? They go to frat parties and hang out on the weekends and get to know their classmates. Now that I’m not working at the club every night, I actually do have the free time to go to a party if I want to.
So I make a snap decision, blurting out the words before I can stop myself.
“Yeah, sure,” I tell him. “It sounds fun. I’ll be there.”
He grins broadly. “You just made my night.”
He raps his knuckles on the table once before returning to his friends, who are waiting to leave the library.
“Can you believe that?” April mutters once he’s gone, dropping her voice down to a whisper. “He asked her?”
One of her friends whispers something back, and judging from the look on her face, it’s not something flattering about me.
I roll my eyes and go back to my work, making notes for my paper.
By the time I’m finished, April and her friends are long gone. Finishing my paper took me longer than I expected it to, so the campus is nearly deserted as I head for the bus stop, hustling a little so I can hopefully catch the bus that leaves every hour.
I can see it trundling up to the stop as I approach the road that runs along the edge of campus, and I run for it, waving my hand to flag down the driver. I’m just about a hundred feet away when the man behind the wheel locks eyes with me… and then drives off.
“You have got to be kidding me!” I pant, staggering to a stop and resting my hands on my knees. “Fucker.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, resigning myself to waiting for the next bus in the dim light from the street lamp a little way away.
As I walk toward it, I chew on my lower lip.Maybe I should just spring for a cab.
With the money Malice managed to get back from my mom, I’m doing okay. But I still don’t have a job, and I won’t be able to keep dipping into my savings to pay rent forever, so my impulse is to save money where I can.
As I’m debating my options, movement in the shadows nearby catches my attention. I glance over out of the corner of my eye, half expecting it to be Malice or Ransom, or maybe the usually elusive Victor for once. But it’s not any of them. It’s just some other man.
A flash of relief fills me at the thought that they’re not following me around, but nervousness follows on its heels.
There’s something strange about the way the man is standing, away from the light of the streetlamp, half hidden in darkness.
I can’t make out his features very well—just enough to know that he’s not one of the brothers—but he’s bigger than me and dressed in dark colors that blend with the shadows.
A spike of fear makes my heart speed up a little bit, and I suddenly want to be anywhere but here.
Digging out my phone and trying not to draw attention to myself, I pull up the ride share app on my screen. All of a sudden, the expense of not having to wait for the bus seems totally worth it.
The closest driver is ten minutes away, and I clench my jaw as I order the ride. I stare down at my screen, alternating between silently urging the driver to go faster and glancing over at the man hidden in the shadows.
When he steps forward, my adrenaline spikes. I try to keep breathing, telling myself that he probably just got tired of the bus and is going to walk. But when I glance over at him, I realize he’s walking right toward me, his strides long and purposeful.
