have gathered my things to go take a shower when my phone buzzes. My heart leaps as soon as I see Hardin’s name.
Stay with me tonight? the text reads. He hasn’t spoken to me in hours but he wants me to stay with him? Again?
Why? So you can be a jerk to me? I respond. I want to see him, but I’m still annoyed.
I’m on my way, be ready. I roll my eyes at his bossy tone but can’t help but feel excited to see him.
I rush down and take a shower so I don’t have to take one at his frat house again. By the time I finish, I barely have enough time to gather my clothes for tomorrow. I dread taking the bus all the way to Vance, when it’s only a thirty-minute drive, so I renew my resolve to go car shopping again. I am folding my clothes neatly into my bag when Hardin opens the door—without knocking, of course.
“Ready?” he asks and grabs my purse off the dresser. I nod and put my bag over my shoulder and follow him out. We walk to his car in silence, and I find myself repeating a small prayer that the rest of the night doesn’t go this way.
chapter fifty-six
I stare out the passenger window, not wanting to speak first. After a couple of blocks, Hardin turns the radio on and then turns it up too loud. I roll my eyes but try to ignore it—until I can’t. I hate his taste in music and it gives me an instant headache. Without asking, I turn the knob down and Hardin looks over at me.
“What?” I snap.
“Whoa, someone is in a pissy mood,” he says.
“No, I just didn’t want to listen to that, and if anyone is in a bad mood, it is you. You were being rude earlier, then you text me and ask me to stay; I don’t get it.”
“I was pissed because you brought up the wedding. Now that it’s settled that we aren’t going there is no need for me to be pissed.” His tone is calm and sure.
“It is not settled—we didn’t even talk about it.”
“Yes, we did. I told you I’m not going, so drop it, Theresa.”
“Well, you may not be going but I am. And I am going over to your dad’s house to learn to bake with Karen this week,” I tell him.
He clenches his jaw and glares at me. “You’re not going to the wedding, and what—are you and Karen like best friends now? You barely even know her.”
“So what if I barely know her? I barely know you,” I tell him. His face falls, and I feel bad, but it is true.
“Why are you being so difficult?” he says through gritted teeth.
“Because you aren’t going to tell me what to do, Hardin. It’s not happening. If I want to go to the wedding, I will, and I really would like you to come with me. It could be fun—you may even have a nice time. It would mean a lot to your father and Karen, not that you care about that.”
He doesn’t say anything. He lets out a large breath and I stare back out the window. The rest of the ride is spent in silence, both of us too angry to speak. When we pull up to the fraternity house, Hardin grabs my bag out of the backseat and puts it over his shoulder.
“Why are you part of a frat, anyway?” I ask him. I have been wanting to know the answer since I discovered his room the first time.
He takes a deep breath as we walk up the steps. “Because, by the time I agreed to come here, the dorms were full—and I sure as hell wasn’t going to live with my father—so this was one of the few options I had.”
“But why stay in it?”
“Because I don’t want to live with my father, Tessa. Besides, look at this house; it’s nice, and I did get the biggest room.” He smirks a little, and I’m glad to see his anger is dying down.
“I mean, why don’t you live off campus?” I ask him and he shrugs. Maybe he doesn’t want to have to get a job.
I follow him quietly up to his room and wait as he unlocks the door. What is it with him and his obsession over no one going into his room?
“Why won’t you let anyone in your room?” I ask and he rolls his