down to show bare breasts. Her skin reeks of alcohol.
I look away from her. “Seriously? You’re insane! Who let you in?”
She laughs. “Came back to party with Dillon and snuck in here to check on you. You looked so sad, all injured, and I wanted to make you feel better.”
I hobble to standing. “I wasn’t sad. I was asleep! Get your clothes on and get out.”
“Don’t be like that. I’ve waited forever for this. Come on,” she murmurs, her voice slurring.
I hop forward to the wall and turn on the overhead light. My heart has slowed down a notch, but I’m anxious to get her ass gone. “You don’t just waltz in here and act like it’s okay to get in my bed. If I’d done that to a girl, it would be serious shit. I’m not into you and I never was. I don’t want anything you have to offer.”
I brush my gaze over her and see her face has reddened. “You’re a giant dick. I hope that Chi-O dumps your ass.” She eases out of the bed on the other side, nonchalant about the fact that she’s stark naked.
Fuck me. I shudder and rub my face, dread pooling as I think about explaining this to Charisma.
30
I slam my laptop closed and rub my forehead.
“Get me some cheese,” screeches Vampire Bill from his perch.
I send him a look. Dream on, buddy, my eyes tell him.
He seems to get it and glares back. “Get your skinny ass down the road,” he retorts.
Standing up, I stretch, going over my presentation for tomorrow’s design class. It’s good, and I’m stoked I got it down.
I throw him a glance. “Maybe I will.”
He moves his head back and forth as I consider popping in on Blaze. Checking the clock, I see it’s eleven-thirty, probably too late to stop by unannounced. I think back to today. He looked so lost in that bed, worried and frazzled, and when I told him I loved him…
He didn’t say it back.
He wouldn’t even look at me.
I laid myself out there, and he just pretended I never said those words.
Yet, part of me knows it’s there…right?
Am I being stupid?
Am I one of those girls who hang on forever, loving a guy who can’t really commit?
“I’m going to see him. I need answers,” I tell the bird as I walk to my dresser and grab a pair of white lace underwear then head to the bathroom and take a shower. After putting on yoga pants and a tank top, I snatch a Wildcats jacket out of my closet and shove my arms inside.
Once I get to his dorm, I’m less sure about seeing him.
He’s been so distant. I know he’s worried. I am too.
I knock, but no one answers. Figures. He’s probably asleep, and Dillon is out celebrating.
The door is unlocked and I ease it open, blinking to acclimate my eyes in the dim light. Low music throbs softly from a speaker as I step into the den. Dillon is laid out on the floor, a girl on either side of him. They’re partially clothed, and I avert my eyes and head down the hall to Blaze’s bedroom
The door is open, just a little, the light on, telling me he’s up. He hobbles past the opening, talking to someone, and I pause, listening.
There’s a girl’s voice, but it’s too low to make anything out.
Apprehension, snakelike, crawls over me, starting at my scalp, tingling as it inches over my face, my chest. My feet are moving closer, the air in my lungs scant as I use my fingers to ease the door open and take a step inside.
He hasn’t seen me yet, his focus across the room, but Dani has.
A sly smile curves over her features as she zips up a skirt and wiggles until it’s smoothed down.
He freezes at the smile on her face then turns and sees me.
“Charisma! Jesus! This isn’t what it looks like, I swear!” He hobbles over the two steps it takes to get to me, limping on the ankle. “I woke up and she was in my bed. I told her to get the hell out.”
“I see.” I look away from him to her, and she’s still wearing a smile as she picks up her bra and puts it on, followed by a low-cut cropped sweater. She bends over, grabs a pair of ankle boots, and slips them on her feet. Straightening up, she considers me briefly and weaves on her feet—trashed, I assume, yet