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There were more pictures Tuesday. A house with an enormous wraparound porch. A coop with chickens and roosters. The Milky Way in an endless midnight sky. A herd of horses grazing on craggy, rolling hills.
I looked at every single one, hating both of us for it. I wasn’t a ranch girl, so why the hell did these beautiful pictures fill me with a sense of longing?
Becausehewas going to be there.
Amir and Zadie walked with me out of accounting and lingered, which was a little strange. Zadie kept asking me questions, delaying my escape home when I should have been heading to Spanish.
When a rough, warm hand cupped my elbow, I shot Zadie an accusing look. She just smiled, and Amir nodded to the man looming behind me.
Lock was close. Too close. When he spoke next to my ear, my knees trembled. “Come on, El. It’s time for Spanish.”
“I dropped it.”
He chuckled, low and deep. “No you didn’t. Let’s go. We’re gonna be late.”
Zadie and Amir casually strolled off like they weren’t seconds from being murdered. Was there really no loyalty?
“Chicks before dicks, Zadie!” I cried.
Lock laughed again and scooped me up like the old days. I was upside down before I knew it, being carried across campus against my will.
“This isn’t cute, and it’s not going to make me like you,” I seethed, bumping along on his back.
“Right now, I want your ass in class so you don’t fail. We’ll work on you liking me later.”
“After this, I like youlessthan I did this morning, and I really didn’t like you then.” I slapped his back as hard as I could. His steps didn’t even stutter. “Put me down. This isn’t cute.”
“Will you walk the rest of the way? Or are you going to run away and hide?”
“Fuck you, Lock. Put me down. I’ll go to class.”
He swung me around and set me on my feet, holding on to me as the blood rushed out of my head into my limbs. I pushed off him as soon as I was steady, giving him a burning glare before turning around to find we were already in front of the building. He hadn’t put me down because I’d asked, we’d simply reached our destination.
In class, he sat beside me, and when we had to practice interviewing for a job in Spanish with a partner, I was stuck with him. Fortunately, I’d found my anger, so it didn’t hurt to sit so close. I didn’t want to cry hearing his rough but gentle voice.
Speaking Spanish, Lock asked me about my past job experiences.
“Te odio.”
He laughed at my vow of hate, then pressed on, asking about my greatest strength.
I narrowed my eyes. “Te desprecio.”
His eyes twinkled. This was amusing him while I wanted to crawl out of my skin. The hour trudged by so slowly, I fought the urge to scream. Finally, we were dismissed, and I bolted. Lock wasn’t as nimble, but his stride was long, so he had no problem keeping up with me and steering me toward his truck like I was a wild horse he was corralling.
“Are you going to lasso me next?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Now, there’s an idea.”
Groaning, I threw myself into his truck and buckled in before he got the chance to do it for me. He climbed in beside me and pulled into campus traffic.
“You really need to stop this.”
He glanced at me. “I’m not going to. Ican’t. I panicked and messed up in a massive way, but it was never because I didn’t want you. The opposite is true. I wanted you. Iwantyou so fucking badly, I got scared.”
I snorted derisively, not believing anything that came out of his mouth.
He reached across the space between us, stroking the side of my leg. “I’m not going anywhere.”
