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The ride was quiet by the time Axel pulled up to the front of my dorm. I was now dressed and glanced over at him as a sense of dread settled in my stomach, making me feel nauseous, but I couldn’t take the dead silence anymore. “What’s wrong?”
He leaned his arm on the steering wheel and rubbed his forehead. “Goodnight, Natalie.” He wasn’t going to kiss me or take me up to my room like all the other times before. What did I do? How did he change personalities so quickly?
“Are you angry with me?”
“Why would I be angry with you?”
“If it’s about Trey… I was trying to deescalate the situation—”
“It’s not about fucking Trey!” I jumped as each word reverberated inside the car. He rolled his mouth together and kept his eyes straight ahead. Running a hand down his shirt, he smoothed it out. “Go up to your room.”
“Talk to me, Axel. What’s wrong? Something’s bothering you.”
“Look, I’m going to be busy for the next several weeks, and then I’m flying out to Vegas for the draft.” He sounded so impersonal, as if I didn’t already know the draft was coming up. We’d spoken about it. Not to mention, I’d helped him pick out the outfit he wanted to wear to the event.
He’d asked me to go to Las Vegas with him at the end of the month, but I couldn’t since I’d already scheduled my cadaveric dissection exam for class that day and couldn’t reschedule. He threatened my life if I wasn’t available to take his call when he did find out which team drafted him. I’d promised I would.
But now he was acting like I was a stranger, an inconvenience.
“I already know this.”
“Then you need to know I won’t be available.”
I clutched my hands together, digging my nails into my palms. It was as though I was sitting beside a completely different person. “What is it you’re trying to say?”
“The semester’s almost over, and my commitments are about to change.”
The writing was on the wall. Staring at his stiff profile, I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Why don’t you tell me what you really mean?” My eyes burned with unshed tears, and I tried to control the waver in my voice before I lost it. “You could at least tell me the truth. At least be honest with me and look at me when you speak.”
“Honesty.” His lips curled wryly as he faced me. His eyes were dark, without a hint of feeling. “It’s a little late for honesty, don’t you think?”
My pulse thrummed in my ears, and I felt a sense of trepidation.Honesty. No cheating.Are you my girl?
He leaned over the console and retrieved my phone from the back seat, dropping it into my lap. “You’re quite popular tonight because your phone has been blowing up all evening.”
My hands shook as I held my phone, and realization set in. My cell was on the console earlier. He must’ve retrieved it and placed it there. Did he see the text from Kiran? He must have. Otherwise, how could his demeanor have changed so quickly? It was the only rational answer. He was hurt. He thought I deceived him. “I can explain.” I held back on giving Kiran a definitive answer because nothing felt right about it, and he would never make my heart race like Axel did. Regardless of whether my relationship with Axel was real or not. Kiran and I would only be doing it to please our families.
“Explain what?” he asked mildly.
“You saw the text from Kiran?”
He nodded once. “I saw it.”
“It was a misunderstanding. I haven’t decided anything.” I pinched the bridge of my nose blinking away the burn of tears. “We’ve been trying to deflect the pressure coming from our parents.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He swirled his finger between us. “This was only temporary, right? We both knew this project would eventually run its course.”
I shook my head in silent denial, and Axel’s cruel, devastating face blurred before my eyes. “No. I’m sorry.” I reached over to touch him. Desperate for him to understand. It was only a big misunderstanding. “I should have told you, but I swear I haven’t agreed to anything. I won’t agree to it. I don’t…” My voice caught as I blinked slowly. “I lov—” Words started to fall out that I never thought I would say.
“Natalie,” he cut me off, catching my hand before I could touch his cheek. “You’re causing a scene,” he said slowly, shaking his head. His throat bobbed, and his jaw clenched. “I don’t do scenes.”
I froze as if he’d slapped me.I don’t do scenes. The same words he’d said to Jeanette at the formal, and my hand slipped through his fingers, landing on the console in shock.
Shuddering, I fought to hold in my tears and reached for the handle of the door, too afraid to say anything more because I’d already sounded weak and pathetic, and he’d just demonstrated that I was no one any more special than any other girl he’d fucked. In the end, he’d drawn me into his world with ease and discarded me just as easily. I was fooling myself to think it would last, and the only person I could blame was myself. I was a complete fool.
I gave him one last look, hoping this was some kind of prank, but the desolation surrounding me confirmed it wasn’t.
“So, this is it?”
