Brazen Girl by Ali Dean Page 0,2

want to be?

“The doctor said you asked for me,” I remind myself as much as I remind her.

Jordan glances behind her to look at me as she reaches for the door handle. “Yeah, is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay. I came straight here after I turned on my phone and got the message.”

“How did your exam go?”

“My exam?” That feels like it happened years ago. “Who cares about my exam, Jordan, it’s you I’m worried about.” I take two steps until I can finally pull her into my chest. “What happened up there, anyway?”

She doesn’t soften in my arms though, she stiffens. “I don’t really want to talk about that, Beck. Can we go home now?”

“My place?”

“Yeah, I’d rather stay with you the rest of the time I’m here.”

That, at least, makes me smile. It’s stupid, but I like hearing her call my place home. Maybe because she’s already starting to feel like mine, and I want to be that for her too.

“I only have one more paper to write and then I’ll be done too. Don’t fly home early.”

“Okay,” she says, letting out a shaky sigh. “My parents will want me to once they hear about this, but I’ll stay. We’ve only got a few days together left anyway.”

She pulls away and opens the door, wiping the smile right off my face.

I know things have been rough between us since the wedding photos. I know Jordan’s been wondering how to handle it as the messages and comments from the internet trolls escalate. But I thought that if anything, we were solid, and that was never in question. I figured if something happened to one of us, the other would be there, no matter what kind of things were being said on social media. But Jordan’s acting weird, weirder than usual.

She did ask for you, dumbass.

And she did just suffer a serious concussion. This isn’t about me or us, I try to remind myself as I catch up to her down the hallway. But I can’t even reach for her hand or put an arm around her now that we’re about to go into the waiting room and outside. We’re still a secret. I thought it would be the public and the damn contract that would make Jordan act aloof toward others, but never toward me. Right now, there’s no denying I’m getting that treatment too. She’s barely aware of me beside her, while I’m using all my willpower not to pull her into my side and kiss the fuck out of her.

Chapter Two

Jordan

The messages I read on Instagram earlier today are ringing in my ears. I know they aren’t true, and I can tell myself they don’t matter, but that doesn’t shut them up. They’re not loud like they were right before I crashed, but they’re constant.

Beck’s presence beside me as we drive back to campus is comforting, but it’s also unsettling. I don’t know if I should feel so safe with him anymore. And when we pull up outside his apartment, the photo razzleydazzles sent flashes in my head. She was here, watching me, when I came to his place the other night. Yeah, she thought I was here for Griffin, but if she’s here now, watching, what will she think? Maybe she’ll accuse of me of cheating on Griffin again. Clearly, I’ve got some sort of stalker, or Griffin has a stalker who’s now targeting me?

“Jordan?” Beck’s voice is so soft and gentle I hardly register it.

“Beck, I think it’s time we go to the police. You were right last week. I should have listened.”

Beck shifts until he’s out of the driver’s seat, crouching in the space between us in his van.

“What happened? Did something happen?”

I can’t quite bring myself to look him in the eye. An unfamiliar feeling soaks into my skin, making me squirm in discomfort. I’m ashamed, but of what I’m not sure. That I didn’t acknowledge the messages were getting to me? That I acted tough, said I could handle it? The truth is, I can’t handle it. I’m not tough. And these people who shouldn’t matter, they’re in my head.

“One of those accounts, the one who has a thing for Griffin? She took a picture of me here on Thursday night, and sent it to me with a warning to stay away.”

“Here? Where?”

I point to the door to his apartment building.

“She’s following you? When did you get the message?”

“I opened it a little before Naomi and Summer picked me up to go