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I move over to sling my arm around Danielle’s shoulders. “You brought this on yourself, wingwoman.”
She chuckles. “I guess I did.”
She can tease me all she wants about Tessa. I don’t mind. It only means Tessa’s here with me, safe and sound.
A bubble of uneasiness crops up in the pit of my stomach at the thought of her safety and what’ll happen with Joel tomorrow. The guy’s not going to run away, tail tucked between his legs. Not if he went so far as to steal her phone and send me those texts. My instincts never lead me wrong in the ring, and they’re screaming at me now that something’s on the horizon.
The only thing is, I don’t know what.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
TESSA
“All right, that’s it,”I announce to Austin. “You’re officially finished with the study.”
He gets up from his seat, pushing the sleeves of his henley up his forearms. “It was the best study I’ve ever been a part of.”
“You mean the only one.”
He flashes me a smile, my heart warming. “That, too.”
I move out from behind my desk and hug him, gathering strength. “I have to talk to Joel now.”
“Are you positive you don’t want me to go with you? I want to make sure you’re safe.”
I hug him tighter. It’s still a little strange to have someone else this concerned for me when I’m used to handling everything on my own. “I already told you. I think he’ll respond better if it’s only me there. I don’t want him on edge from the get-go assuming we’re ganging up on him.”
“Okay. I’ll be waiting in the lobby when you’re finished, then. Good luck.”
He kisses me, my heart fluttering at the way he pours all his love into the kiss.
“Love you,” I whisper, pressing my forehead to his.
“Love you, too.”
I take a second to pull myself together after he leaves, then head to the room next door. Joel is packing his bag, smiling as he looks up and notices me.
“Hey, you never texted me back.”
I blink, thrown off for a moment before I remember that he had texted asking if I wanted to hang out Thursday night. I’d been so upset over Austin canceling our date, though, I’d forgotten all about it. No wonder he’d asked that after sabotaging my plans.
“You know, my phone’s been acting weird lately.”
“Oh, no problem. We can get together tonight.”
A snort escapes me, despite everything. Is he delusional? “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about my phone. Austin got some texts from me that I definitely didn’t send.”
He freezes in the middle of picking up his backpack, then sets it back down on the desk. “Uh, okay.”
“Do you know anything about it?”
His gaze darts away briefly. “Why would I?”
Wow, he’s really going to make me spell it out? “I had lost my phone at about the time the messages were sent. And you were the one who found it.”
His lips twist to the side. “What are you suggesting?”
I sigh, tired of beating around the bush. “Did you send those texts to Austin telling him I only want to be friends?”
