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The way the officers had talked when she met them by their car, she hadn't thought it could be anyone else but what were the odds?
Apparently really fucking good.
"Oh, my God. You look like shit." And even better odds she found him before someone else found him dead.
"Thanks?" His voice, once silky in her ears now cracked and wheezed like he'd swallowed steel wool.
"Did none of your brothers stay to take care of you?" she asked when she noticed how still and dark the rest of the house was.
What a bunch of jerks. Stephanie really dodged a bullet with that Jake guy. And Amber had obviously been way off on Evan being the only asshole of the bunch.
"Jake offered but I told him to go without me."
Oh.
Sorry, Jake.
"Well, have you been to the doctor? I can take you—"
"Already went. It's just a virus. He said I'd get over it in a few days."
Katie wondered if the sting of rejection or the sickness made all his responses sound clipped and distant.
At least he didn't have the campus plague. She'd been exposed to it over and over in the dorms and not gotten it thanks to her Alcatraz-like immune system. Even though that wasn't what he had, she had done a pretty good job checking in on her residents when they were sick. It would take a little time away from her work but she could look in on him now and again. Or maybe…
Isaac's chest rattled with a cough so violent Katie feared his lungs would end up in his lap.
That's when she took in the mess surrounding him.
From the looks of it, he'd been living on the couch for a couple of days. Tissues and cough drop wrappers filled the trash can on the floor next to him. Junk food wrappers and one empty jug of orange juice littered the coffee table around a few books and a bottle of cough syrup. The way he was going, he'd be lucky to get better by the end of the month, let alone the end of the week.
"Did you call campus security?" he asked.
"I was driving by on the way back to my dorm and saw the light on. Your house was supposed to be empty. I thought maybe someone had broken in or was squatting or something."
"Remind me never to do a B and E with you." His scoff quickly turned into another coughing fit.
When it didn't stop after a few seconds like the last one, Katie hurried over and grabbed the cup off the coffee table.
Empty.
She ran into the kitchen and filled a clean glass with water. When she came back to the living room to hand it to him, he'd gotten the cough under control but his face twisted as he rubbed his throat.
Katie's heart tore in two. She couldn't leave him like this. But would he want her to stay?
Did he have a choice?
She could have given him her phone number and promised to come over if he needed anything. But that wasn't good enough. He was in no shape to be left alone. If the roles had been reversed, she would have wanted him—someone to stay with her. And it would take less time to help him if she didn't have to come from her dorm when he called.
She handed him the glass of water. "Muscles—"
"Isaac," he said taking it from her.
He gulped and winced. Then sipped slowly.
The way he'd said his name—more of a demand than an offering. Did he not want her using the nickname anymore? It had seemed sort of special—intimate. She didn't deserve special treatment after everything she'd done.
Katie gulped the lump forming in her throat as she held back tears.
