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“Big of you.”
He studies me. “Finn wasn’t sure where you ended up last night.”
“Yeah, I crashed. Crazy night.”
“Crashed here?” he asks, glancing at the stairs I just descended.
“I should get going.”
I pass Brooks, headed in the direction I think the front door is.
“She deserves better than you.”
My steps slow until I glance back at him. “You don’t know anything. About her. About me. And it’s none of your fucking business.”
God, I’m sick of saying that.
Maybe I don’t deserve Cassia. But Iwanther.Needher.Loveher.
“I know she deserves better than a guy who spends the night at a sorority house.”
Brooks has balls, I’ll give him that. Most guys would be shrinking under the glare I’m aiming his way. He’s wearing the same superior expression Harrison used to always aim my way.
I know I fuck up more than my fair share and that this is a particularly terrible example.
But Brooks doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know anything about my mom or why I ended up here. He doesn’t know Cassia, and he sure didn’t write down his feelings for her in a ragged notebook for years or comfort her when Lily died.
Instead of saying any of that, I head for the front door, slamming it shut behind me.
Wishing this was how I left—that I’d left—last night.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CASSIA
I’m sorting through the textbooks I picked up from the campus bookstore this morning when I hear the doorbell ring. I’m probably the definition of a nerd, because preparing for the first day of classes tomorrow has me excited instead of apprehensive. For so long, vet school has felt far away. A finish line that never drew any closer, no matter how fast I walked.
It finally feels like I’m making some progress. Like I’m close.
I add my Genetics textbook to the stack on my desk, stand, stretch, and then leave my bedroom to answer the door.
My roommate, Nova, is on Richmond’s soccer team and so has already been back on campus for a couple of weeks. With the exception of my room, our apartment is well-settled. The open layout of the living room and kitchen is homey and organized.
I open the door, expecting it to be Nova forgetting her key.
It’s not.
I stare at Sydney, stunned. She’s come to see me—and Holden—on campus before, but those were always announced visits.
“Hi,” I greet, when she doesn’t speak first.
“Hi,” Sydney replies. She glances away, toward the apartment next door. Her arms are wrapped around her waist and her face is pale despite the heat.
Dread expands in my chest, my mind spinning with the only logical conclusion of why she’s shown up here without so much as a text. “Come in.”
She follows me into the kitchen.
“Want anything to eat? Or drink?” I ask, playing hostess.
