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He wants more and I’m terrified to find out how much more I’m willing to give.
When Friday rolls around and Cara’s still nowhere to be found, I finally grab hold of her roommate outside one of the academic buildings. The radio silence grates on me and I’m panicked about my friend disappearing into thin air.
“What do you mean, she’s away?”
The girl rolls her eyes and if she had gum, I swear she’d snap it. “Like I told you, she got called away on a family emergency and won’t be back.”
“But—” My head spins as I try to process her words. She’d really leave and not tell me?
“Rent’s all paid until end of the year. Cara’s rich. Maybe Daddy took care of it or maybe that hot boyfriend of hers did. Don’t know, don’t care.” The girl shrugs. “Anyway, I’ve got to run. I need to pack for spring break, and I really don’t have time for you to mourn the loss of a friend who didn’t even have the decency to let you know she was leaving. Maybe it’s time to get over your little girl crush.”
I glare at her, heat racing like wildfire through my veins.
But it’s nothing compared to how mortified I’d have been over a week ago. Not that a girl crush is embarrassing, but this girl’s attitude, like I’m just some pathetic afterthought, stings like hell.
But now? Not so much. Now I’m just pissed off.
Mercer managed to put all mortifications in theirrightful place.
Wanting to kiss and be touched by a bully of a man who made me call him Sir, said horrible things to me, bossed and pushed me about, is the epitome of humiliation.
And I liked it. This chick, not so much.
“You’re a real bitch,” I hiss. “You’d better hope she’s okay because if I find out she reached out to you and you did nothing, there will be hell to pay.”
She rolls her eyes again and mutters a reply before walking away.
I let out a deep sigh. It’s stained with worry, but there’s not much else I can do. I can’t even deliver on my threat. I don’t know Cara’s boyfriend—I didn’t even know she had one, just some hot older guy she said she was banging when he was in town—and I don’t know anything about her family. Cara’s a big girl, in her mid-twenties getting her PhD in journalism. She’s older, wilder, known to take off here and there. It shouldn’t bother me, but an inkling in my gut tells me it’s more than just her simply taking off.
“It’s too close to spring break,” I muse out loud near the chemistry lab.
“Not close enough,” says a voice behind me.
I smile at the sound of my friend Lachlan’s voice and turn around. He captures me in a big hug. We’ve known each other since grade school, and I’ve been so busy with school this past week that I haven’t had time to even call or text.
“Tell me about it. I am so ready for a week off.” I twirl a strand of hair around my finger. “Hey, have you seen my friend Cara?”
“The hottie?” He shakes his head. “Nah, not like she’d give me the time of day if I did. You working this weekend?”
“Sunday.”
“Good, then you’re free tonight. Come out with me.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. Neon Wrench is playing at Pinball’s.”
He grins at me like I know who the hell Neon Wrench is. Then he leans in close. “And Pinball’s has free pizza.”
Going out really isn’t my thing. I’ve always been kind of a homebody, not exactly the social butterfly type. Jaxson was more the guy who loved to run in different circles, the charmer whom everyone wanted to be seen with. Elise was always focused on her tennis career, and I was groomed to be the good girl, studious and focused, definitely not the party girl. Instead of going out, I always kept to myself.
But the dive on the Lower East Side is cheap and fun, and a nice step away from all the crowded bars near NYU that crawl with underclass people.
Since I’m caught up with my schoolwork and have nothing to do tonight but sit around and wait for my phone to ring, maybe going out to see Neon Toolbox, or whatever the band is called, will be good for me.
“Okay, I’m in.”
“I’ll pick you up at eight.” Lachlan grins. “I promise it’ll be worth it.”
