I DARE YOU - Lylah James Page 0,37

much to complain about, since he still made me feel good, but I missed his tender touch, his sweet kisses, his soft words.

I missed him making love to me.

I missed my Maddox.

Dread washed through me as I started overthinking the situation. My head told me he was tired of me. Maddox wasn’t the relationship type, and maybe, he realized this was a mistake. My heart argued with that fact, refusing to believe Maddox would be so careless with my feelings.

Maddox blinked at me, then scowled. “Sorry, I don’t understand shit,” he muttered, shoving his textbook away and slamming his laptop closed.

That was definitely not Maddox. He wasn’t a genius, but he was a smart student and on top of his classes. He worked relentlessly to keep both his football scholarship and his grades up where they needed to be.

“I’d help, but I’m more of a chemistry person,” I teased, nodding toward my own textbook, which was filled with highlighted paragraphs and pages. My yellow highlighter laid next to my laptop.

My heart withered when Maddox barely cracked a smile. His muscular neck corded with tension, and he looked a little… lost. Maybe angry. Something was terribly wrong, and I didn’t know what to do. “What is it?” I asked slowly.

His shoulders went rigid, and his jaw hardened. I could practically hear his grinding molars. His blue eyes, deep as an ocean that I could easily drown in, and I… did, were fixated on mine.

“Is there something you need to tell me?” The knot in my chest began to build, growing tighter and tighter around my lungs.

Talk to me, Baby.

Maddox shook his head. “There’s nothing to tell. I’m just so fucking exhausted and stressed about the upcoming midterms.”

Lies. He was lying…

And when he lied… he didn’t meet my eyes.

“Maddox–”

“Maddox?” I turned to face the voice who cut me off.

Bianca.

What the hell was she doing here? The last time I saw her was at the club six months ago, where she threw a bitch tantrum after Maddox ‘broke-up’ with her. Not that they were ever dating, but she was slightly delusional.

Out of all his conquests, Maddox liked Bianca the most. Or I thought so…

She was the one who lasted the longest, and the only one who got away telling the whole university they were dating, and he never put a stop to it. Until he threw her to the curb after the bitch fit.

I looked for any bitchy signs, but her face was smooth, and she actually looked shocked at the sight of us. So, this wasn’t a planned encounter.

This library on campus was open twenty-four hours, but, late as it was now, there was barely anyone here, except for a few students scattered around each study corner.

I waited for Bianca’s sneers and drama, but she gave us none of that.

It was then I noticed, she looked completely different than her usual appearance. Bianca always looked like she had just walked out of Vogue magazine or she belonged on a billboard.

She had bare-minimum makeup on her face, her curly blonde hair, which was always perfectly styled, was in a messy bun, and she was wearing… a baggy sweater and yoga pants. Bianca looked pale, and it was a weird combination, since she always looked her best.

Her eyes bounced between Maddox and I, before she plastered a fake-ass smile on her face. “Long time no see.” She was definitely not speaking to me. “You look… good. Um, did you get my text?”

Her text? She was texting him…? Bitter jealousy clawed its way to my throat, and my chest burned with it. Was this why he was so distracted the last few days? Like he had something else on his mind and barely… speaking to me.

I knew Maddox had a lot of fuck buddies; although none of them were his girlfriends, they still had him. Whether it was briefly or not.

I had decided to look past it… but I wasn’t okay with them hanging around him or texting him. Maddox had told me he blocked most of them.

Bianca eyed my man, and I didn’t like how she was acting like I wasn’t even there.

I convinced myself I wasn’t a jealous person.

But I felt… bitter and angry. The mere thought of Bianca texting Maddox, even though she knew he was taken and after they ended on such a bad term, had me wanting to claw her eyes out. The little dragon as Maddox liked to say, red and fierce, that lived inside my chest, rattled against