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“And you should mind your own business.”
“You two know each other?” I ask uncertainly, gesturing between them with my doughnut.
“Mm-hmm,” she murmurs. “Killian has spent his fair share of time at the Zeta house.”
Oh. Yikes.
I’m not obtuse; I knew Killian likely had hookups before we met, but I had hoped not with anyone I know. I’m only peripherally familiar with Annabel, but I still have to see her twice a week, and I don’t want it to be awkward.
Before I have to wonder for more than a moment, Killian says, “And Annabel spent more than her fair share of time on her knees for a friend of mine and still couldn’t keep him interested.”
She narrows her eyes at his jab. “Once a cheater, always a cheater. I should have known better.”
Killian hooks an arm around my waist to guide me away. “I’ll tell Andrei you said hi.”
I wait until we’re on the other side of the room to ask, “Is that the friend you mentioned who has an undeserved bad reputation?”
“I didn’t say his reputation wasn’t deserved, just that he’s not a cheater,” he says, smirking faintly. “But yes.”
“I’ll have to meet him so I can put a face to the stories.”
Killian nods faintly, glancing back in Annabel’s direction. “Maybe one of these days.”
___
As expected, Killian isn’t really into the seminar. He watches with me when she first starts talking, but after twelve minutes, his attention shifts to his phone. I don’t blame him. I knew this seminar was going to be way outside his field of interest, but I still think it’s sweet he wanted to be here with me.
We decide to grab an early dinner in the dining hall while we’re on campus, that way we can do some studying and then have more Frito pie later if we’re hungry.
Killian is mostly quiet while I chatter excitedly about space stuff. I know he’s not into astrophysics so I don’t expect much engagement, but he humors me.
I can’t help feeling something is off, though. At the dining hall, it could be that he’s just humoring me and listening to me talk about stuff that doesn’t interest him, but by the time we return home, I expect to fall back into our usual rhythm.
We don’t.
He seems distracted, and he’s checking his phone more often than usual.
It’s the first time since we met he has raised any alarms, and while I don’t distrust him even a little bit, memories from the past resurface and threaten the peace I’ve had being here with him the past couple of nights.
It even distracts me from studying when we’re curled up on the couch together tackling our respective workloads.
“Is everything okay?” I finally ask him once my frustration has mounted to an intolerable level.
Maybe if he just tells me all is well, I’ll believe him, and this weird feeling will go away.
He glances up from his laptop and nods. “Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I don’t know. I have this anxious feeling and I don’t know why.” I glance down at my open books, then back over at him. “You know when you can’t get your mind to focus, so you have to keep rereading the same passages again and again? I’m having a lot of that tonight.”
His dark brow flickers with displeasure, but the expression is fleeting. Then Killian closes his laptop and stands.
At first, I’m not sure why, but then he comes over and closes my textbook.
“What are you doing?” I ask, looking up at him.
He grabs my hands and pulls me to my feet. “Helping you clear your mind.”
He doesn’t let go of my hand when I stand, and I follow him at first, curious to see what he has in mind. But as we near the bedroom, I think I have an idea, so I start to resist. “Oh, no. I don’t have time for this kind of mind-clearing. I have so much studying to do.”
