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“What do you mean by that?”
He gives me a dry chuckle that lacks all humor before he starts walking to the exit. “Same time tomorrow, Briar.”
I think over his words as I make my to the dorms, I guess it makes sense that he wouldn’t have a choice in his future if he’s here. He’s mostly likely being prepped by his rich parents to take over whatever multimillion dollar company he’ll walk into. It makes me a little vicious to think that he’s not even here to learn how to run the business, he’s just using the time to delay the inevitable, and that thought also makes me unbelievably sad. He’ll never have the choice to pursue his own dreams. His life is set.
I walk into the room to see Peyton lounging upside down on the couch, her feet having off the back and her head pointed towards the floor. This girl. I drop my bag loudly on the floor, startling her and when she looks at the frown on my face she cackles loudly.
“Good study session?” Her voice is sugary sweet and she’s grinning at me like the sadist she is. I flip her off and start for the coffee machine, because it’s once again safe to have coffee in the dorm room now that I’m not rooming with that sociopath anymore. I’d be impressed if she wasn’t such a spiteful headcase.
“Fuck off, Vasiliev. You and Milo are officially on my shit list. What kind of friend ambushes the dead?”
“What? Who’s dead?”
“I was! I was very dead, and I wanted to stay that way for the next few hours but now I have a study plan and homework. The bastard assigned me homework, Peyton, and I’m blaming you.”
She cackles at my dramatics, and I want to pout like a child. I decide right then that I kind of hate her for subjecting me to this sort of torture while I’m still recovering from a night out that she forced me to go to.Lie.Okay, I want to hate her for it, but the girl is too damn likeable. I finish making a coffee and bring one down to the couch for her too and we settle in to watch whatever trash tv show she’s streaming. Even under the duress of pain, I’ll never admit how much I enjoy it, and later that night I buckle in to start the season from the beginning. Sue me.
Chapter Seventeen
I’m hiding from Leo. It’s Friday and we spent every day studying at the library. We mostly work in silence with him correcting my work and jotting down notes in the margins. It makes me want to bang my head against a wall to just get out of it, but every day I show up and we study for two hours. The guy surprises me with his knowledge on the subject. He’s really smart. Not that I’m surprised, but I guess I just expected him to be a stereotypical rich boy and the more I get to know him, the more I realise how wrong I am.
He wants to get a head start on the reading with me so that I wouldn’t fall behind over the fall break, but I needed a justbefor a moment. Not just from my studies. He makes me feel things that I don’t understand. My heart has started fluttering in my chest whenever he looks up at me from his spot in the library and it takes everything in me not to lean in closer to take deeper breaths of his mint and woodsy scent.
So now I’m hiding out at my tree, the one I swore I couldn’t return to since Jack cornered me here, but he still hasn’t returned to Fairwater yet and it’s the only spot on campus I couldn’t imagine he’d look if he indeed was looking for me, which is doubtful in itself. It’s colder now than it was the last time I was here, the wind chilling in the air, rustling in the leaves, but the sun is still warm enough that it comfortable to be outside without rugging up.
Clarke has been more persistent in his updates, and I managed to find a text thread between Blakely and her mother that appeased him. I didn’t understand what it meant when they were talking about preparations for the upcoming event, but Clarke leaves me in the dark with majority of the information for this. All I know is what he’s told me, and he’s told me fuck all, but expects results.
I’m laying flat on my back on the grass, soaking in the sunlight. My eyes take in all the fantastic colors of the leaves, the array of yellows and orange. I’m surrounded by falling leaves and I’m kind of hoping that if the wind blows hard enough that I’ll see some drop straight off the trees. We don’t get this back in Darling Valley, the trees we have there are as worn as the roads and look half dead, like the struggle to sprout in such a desolate area sucked all of life out of them and all that is left is scrawny branches and twisted trunks. I wonder if the students here even realise how lucky the are to see nature thrive so lusciously.
Movement in the corner of my eye captures my attention and I drop my head to the side to see Nash striding this way. I’ll never get over how good-looking this guy is, the blazer is missing from his uniform and he’s folded the sleeves of his white shirt to the elbow. He drops down beside me, a cigarette perched between his lips, taking long draws in before blowing it into the air around us and I’m captivated by the movement.
I’ve done everything in my power to not think about the kiss, and everything else we did last weekend, which meant that I’ve failed every single time I’m along. I’ve replayed our kiss over and over in my mind. It’s not like I’d never kissed a man before, but not once has it felt like that. I avert my gaze before he can call me out on it and close my eyes again.
He gently knocks his leg against mine and I smile in his direction without reopening my eyes, so that he knows I’m listening. “You’ve been a hard girl to track down. Most girls would be clinging off my leg after what went done last week.”
I stiffen at the mention of other girls and the ball of jealousy I felt rears it’s ugly head at the reminder of him and that other girl immediately after we’d done what we did. It’s not like it was planned, and I didn’t expect him to commit or something, but a little tact to at least wait until I wasn’t witnessing just how transactional it was to him. I must frown because he knocks his leg against mine again, but this time doesn’t move it away.
I clear my throat before I answer. “I’ve had a busy week, Leo’s been riding me hard.” I can feel him stiffen beside me, but I’m not really sure why.
“Yeah?” His voice is low and sounds a little strained as he says the word.
“Yep. The rest of the day is a complete right-off when we’re done. I swear my brain melts straight out of my ears.” When he doesn’t say anything I open my eyes to look at him. He’s staring at me with a small frown on his face, he looks angry but like he’s trying to hide it. I frown right back at him.
“What?”
He shrugs a shoulder in what I suppose is meant to look indifferent but it’s stiff. “Guess I thought you would have waited longer than a day to start fucking my friend that’s all.”
I scrunch my nose up at him. What the fuck is he talking about? “I’m not fucking Leo, and you’re not one to talk, I came out of the bathroom, and you were draped all over that girl. You could have waited five minutes for me to leave, asshole.” It’s an exaggeration but I don’t have it in mind to care right now.
He snaps, turning his body and caging his arms over either side of me. I stare up at him, his face shrouded in shadows at the sunlight pours in behind him. He looks confused and his nostrils flare a little as I continue to stare at him. After a moment he closes his eyes and huffs out a breath. “I wasn’t getting with anyone. She was the drummer of the band and hergirlfriendjust proposed. I bought you a celebratory drink. And you just told me Leo has beenridingyou all week. Don’t bullshit me, darling.”
My cheeks heat and that little green burning ball in my chest vanishes immediately, but it’s him using my words back to me that has my eyes widening. Jesus Christ. “In the library, idiot. Not me! Leo and I have been studying in the library every day this week and he’s overloaded my senses. Brain! Not senses.” For the love of all that is holy please strike me down, so I don’t have to live with the aftermath of this moment.
“Mm, he’s relentless when he puts his mind to something.” Nash flicks his eyes over to me, pursuing me up and down. “He’ll never stop until he gets what he wants.” I don’t fully understand what he means by that and decide to shrug instead. If his wants are for me to get an A, he’s going to be disappointed, although if I got a B, I’d be totally stoked.
He pulls back from me until he’s sitting with feet on the ground, his arms folded across his knees. “Anyway, I was looking for you. I thought I might find you out here.”
“Why?”
