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She wasn’t sure why she was getting so down on herself. She wasn’t normally like this. Jasper had affected her more than she’d anticipated. Her act of rebellion giving her a small taste of how the other half lived. It’d been over a week since she’d spent time with him, and their final had been one of the earlier ones on campus, so she hadn’t even seen him in class. Yet, every night she thought of him as she fell asleep.
“Hey, Callahan, how are you?”
She stopped short, glancing up for the first time since she left the dining hall. “Riley. Hi.I’m good, thanks.” She liked Riley. Hehad a calming presence about him, and he hadkind eyes and hair that almost matched hers. Plus, he was so in love with Blake it’d warmed her heart to see them together. “How are you?”
“I’m great, I—”He stopped speaking, his head tilting to the side, reminding her of a dog when they heard an odd noise.
She glanced behind her, then to the side, wondering what had caught his attention. “Uh, are you okay?” He ignored her, his eyes narrowing to the point of almost closing. Her gaze darted around, trying to understand what was causing his odd behavior. “Riley?” She waved her hand in front of his face. “Are you okay?”
He blinked a few times like he was coming out of a trance. “Yep.” His smile seemed entirely forced as he popped the“P”on his reply. “And you? You okay? You good?”
She laughed nervously. They’dalready gone over the fact that she was good. “I am, yeah.” She answered him again because really, what else was she to do? Ask him if he’d lost his mind?
“Finals are intense, feeling tired?” He pointed to the iced coffee in her hands. “Is that straight black coffee on ice? That’s a lot of caffeine, huh?”
“Uh, yes, it is.” She’d been up late reading, and avoiding packing the last of her belongings. “You know, I should go.I have a big to-do list to complete before I head home this weekend.” She pursed her lips as he leaned toward her, his eyes narrowed once again in concentration. “Tell Blake I said to have a good summer.” She went to step past him, but he blocked her way, moving even closer to her.
She felt trapped and a little uneasy. They were in the middle of campus. Therewere plenty of people around she could call out to, which she might have to do sinceRiley was behaving so strangely.He kept going into that odd trance-like stare, and then snapping himself out of it. She glanced down at his wrist to see if he was wearing some sort of medical alert bracelet. Nope.
“Callahan, hey, packing, am I right? I saved it all for the last minute and I needed caffeine too.” She felt instant relief when one of her dorm neighbors stopped next to them. She motioned between her and Riley. “Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Callahan waved away her neighbor’s concern. “This is Riley, he’s Blake’s boyfriend. She’sthe pretty blonde in ourlitclass.”
Riley straightened, once again seeming to rejoin reality, and smiled kindly at them both. “It was nice to see you again, Callahan.” He sighed, shaking his head as he chewed at his lower lip. “Take care of yourself?”
She nodded, waving as he stepped past her and made his way across the quad.
She was glad that they’d been interrupted.Rileyhad beenacting completely out of character.
Ifshe’dgrown closer with Blake, shewould’vemessaged her to make sure he was feeling okay. As it was, she hadn’t seen or spoken to Blake since the last time she’d been at their house.
The morning after her sleepover with Jasper.
Chapter Eleven
Jasper
“Hey, man, you got a minute?”
Jasper closed his laptop when Riley walked in and perched on the edge of his messy unmade bed. He’d gotten done FaceTiming Linc,Maddi,and Allison. He missed the hell out of the rest of his pack. Allison was growing so fast, already crawling and pulling up on furniture. Linc and the other coaches ended the season as division champs, again. Now it was time to start recruiting,handpicking the badassball playerswho wouldreceive scholarships to St. Leasing forthenextschoolyear. A part of him longed to be there with them, watching the submitted game tapes and making a list of names on the whiteboard in Dom’s office. A bigger part of him was happy to be where he was, with his best friend, being a normal college freshman. After the time he spent living with Jace, he refused take his freedom in Greenly for granted.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Jasper narrowed his eyes, studying his packmate. “You have that serious look on your face, like this is about to be some kind of after-school special.”
Riley winced. “You’re not far off.”
“Huh?”
“Fuck, man, I really don’t even know how to start this conversation.” Riley’s hands were linked behind his head, his gaze on the ceiling, aheavysigh leaving his lips. “Did you, uh, wrap it up when you were with Callahan?”
Jasper let out a chuckle. “Of course I wrapped it up.I always wrap it up.” That was something that was drilled into shifters from a young age. Always use protection. Rawdoggin’ was for mates only. It was probably the only sacred thing he actually believed in at this point. “Did you really come in here to talk about birth control with me?”
“Speaking of birth control, was uh, is Callahan on the pill?”
“I highly doubt it, bro.” She didn’t seem like the type of girl who felt the need to take a pill every day when she had sex once every three or four years. Jasper pitched forward and pulled open his nightstand drawer, holding up the giant box of condoms he kept there. “I didn’t ask though, because I make sure I’m careful all on my own. What gives?”
Riley bit at his lower lip so hard it turned white. “Did you pull out?”
“Dude, what is with all these questions? What are you getting at here?” Jasper crossed his arms over his gray t-shirt, leaning back in his desk chair. “I was careful. It’sliterally the only thing in life I take seriously.”
