as fury flashes across his face. “Don’t think you’re too old for me to beat some sense into. I should have known that your mother would fuck this up. She put ideas in your head.” The smile he gives me is bone-chilling. “I see the way you look at me. Like you’re so much better.” An ugly glint enters his eyes. “But you know what? We’re the same, son.”
If I actually thought that was true, I’d shoot myself.
I rise from the booth before glaring down at him. As I do, I feel nothing but anger and resentment. The first, because he’s no longer locked up, and the second, because he’ll never be anything more than a leech trying to suck me dry. “We are nothing alike.” Unable to stomach the sight of him, I walk away.
“What about the money?” he snaps from the booth.
I stop but don’t turn. “You’ll have it by the end of the week.”
It takes thirty steps to reach the exit before I’m shoving through the door and into the fresh autumn air. I inhale a deep breath and hold it captive in my lungs before slowly exhaling. Nausea swirls in the pit of my gut before searching for a way out. Just as I make it to the truck, I puke near the driver’s side door, narrowly missing my shoes. Everything I wolfed down this morning makes an encore appearance. As soon as the contents of my belly are emptied, I swipe the back of my hand across my mouth. Only now do I realize it’s shaking.
My entire body is shaking.
I grab the keys from my front pocket and click the locks before slumping onto the seat and starting up the engine. Barely do I glance around before peeling out of the parking lot and hightailing it back to Western.
32
Demi
I snuggle against Rowan’s chest on the couch in my apartment. His arm is around me, and we’re chilling out, watching Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Zac Efron does something, and a chuckle bursts from my lips. This movie is stupid funny. I’ve probably seen it a dozen times, and it never gets old. When I realize that I’m the only one laughing, I glance at him to see what’s going on. It becomes obvious that Rowan may be physically with me, but his mind is somewhere else. A distant look fills his eyes.
It's one I’ve never seen before.
Instantly forgetting the movie, I reach up and stroke my fingers across his cheek to capture his attention. “Hey, are you all right?”
The strange expression dissolves as the corners of his lips hitch. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, guess I zoned out for a minute.”
“You want to turn off the movie?” I sit up and hunt around for the remote. “We don’t have to watch it.”
He shakes his head. “Nah. It’s all good.”
Even though he’s denying there’s a problem, I get the feeling he’s not being truthful with me, and I hate it. Hate that he might—for some reason—be lying. Rowan has never been anything but honest. The realization doesn’t sit well with me.
Mike and Dave continue with their slapstick comedy, but I can’t get back into it. And I find myself unable to brush aside the suspicions that gnaw at me. “Are you worried about the game tomorrow?”
He jerks his shoulders and shifts on the couch. There’s a slight tightening to his jaw. “Not really. Their defense is crap, so we’ll turn that to our advantage.”
Okay...then what’s the problem?
It can’t be stats. Rowan aced the last exam. Who would have thought a simple game of strip statistics could make such a huge impact?
It goes to show that with the proper motivation, anything is possible.
After five minutes of silence, I grab the remote and click off the television.
Rowan shoots me a questioning look as his brows draw together. “I thought you wanted to finish the movie?”
“I’m not into it.” Anymore. “We can watch it another time.”
“All right.” Interest ignites in his eyes. “Got something else in mind?”
A smile curves my lips as I twist in his arms before crawling onto his lap. “Hopefully it’s something that’ll hold your interest more than the movie.” I run my fingers through his hair before pressing my lips against his. “What do you think?”
“Umm, yeah.” His voice deepens. “I can say with a hundred percent assuredness that this will do the trick.”
“Good.” I run my tongue across his top lip before giving the same attention to the lower one. Rowan has an amazing