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He steps closer, scanning my expression more closely. “Are you okay?” he asks quietly.
Clearly, I really freaked him out yesterday.
Guess he knows how I felt, seeing him come home bloody and intoxicated most Friday nights. We weren’t dating. I wasn’t supposed to care. But I did.
“I’m better,” I tell him. “I’m planning to call my mom tonight. Let her know I’ll be back this weekend and get some answers about what Regan knows and…” I exhale. “Just get answers.”
“Miss Nolan, I hope my lecture isn’t interrupting your conversation.”
I glance at the desk to see the professor has arrived.
“Sorry, Professor Cassidy.”
Holden steps even closer and kisses me.
“Tell them it’s huge,” he whispers, confirming it wasn’t a coincidencethisis the class he showed up for.
My face must look like a tomato. I avoid attention; Holden attracts it.
I shove him, but I’m smiling as I start up the stairs toward where Christine is sitting.
“Sorry, Professor,” Holden says, at normal volume. “I just had to talk to mygirlfriendreal quick.”
I don’t miss the way he emphasizes girlfriend. I don’t think anyone else in the class does either.
But it’s worth experiencing all the eyes on me, seeing the wide ones of the two girls who were talking about him just before I slip into my seat.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
HOLDEN
My phone buzzes with a call from an unknown number right as I reach the main doors of the sports center. My steps slow and my stomach twists as I accept the call.
Wondering if it’s the one I’ve been waiting for.
“Hello?”
“Holden, it’s Dr. Meyers. Is this an okay time for you to talk?”
“Yeah, now’s good.”
My heartbeat quickens to a dizzying pace as I walk over to the stone wall that’s part of the decorative entrance to the sports center. Lean against it, barely registering the scrape of the stones against the thin barrier of my basketball shorts.
“I’m sorry, but our testing indicates you are not a viable match to…”
Blood rushes in my ears, the rest of his words nothing but a nonsensical blur.
I’m expecting the relief. I was just handed theget out of jail freecard. There’s nothing I can do for her. I can play my senior season. No choice can be made.
What I’m not expecting?
The disappointment.
Part of me wanted to do it. To save her life.
So I wasn’t an orphan.
So I didn’t have to bury another parent.
