I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,48
feelings about me, there was no way he could’ve just shut them off because someone told him to.
Could he?
Well, I had news for him. If he was going to act like nothing happened between us, so was I. It was the only way to preserve my heart.
The drive back to campus was just as silent as the ride to the shelter. My eyes remained on my phone. A text from Chris popped on the screen. Hey! What are you up to?
Just driving back from volunteering. You?
Bored.
My thumbs fired off a text. Want some company?
His response was immediate. Yes! Wanna come by the frat house?
I glanced to the rearview mirror. Tristan’s eyes were on the road. I sent off my reply. Be there in ten minutes.
I’ll wait outside.
I smiled, knowing this would totally piss off Tristan. Not only was it not pre-planned for security measures, but it showed him that I didn’t need him. If he could shut his feelings down, I was gonna try damn hard to do it too. “Bring me to Sigma Chi,” I said to Tristan without meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror.
“No.”
“You work for me,” I clipped. “And I said I want to go there.”
“I’m not your chauffeur.”
I met his gaze in the mirror. My eyes narrowed, and I hoped the hurt and anger I felt was conveyed through them. “I’ll walk.”
“I’m not escorting you there.”
“Do I look like I need you or your permission?”
His eyes cut away and focused back on the road.
“Briggs can take me. That’s his name, right? The guy you told I was a mistake.”
He said nothing and when we pulled through the front gates of campus and through fraternity row, I wondered if he’d relent. He didn’t.
“Stop the car!” I demanded as we passed Sigma Chi.
“Nope.”
Chris sat out front on the porch waiting for me, not even realizing I was being held captive by a surly bodyguard. “I hate you.”
Tristan didn’t respond, which just pissed me off more.
“You can’t not want me, Tristan, but then stop me from seeing someone who does.”
He still said nothing.
“I need friends. I need people who want to be around me. I need normal in my life. You can’t stop me from having that.”
He pulled to a stop in front of my dorm.
I threw open the door and jumped out, walking in the opposite direction of the entrance. I was not trying to be immature, but he was pushing me by not being honest with me or himself. I’d go to the fraternity. I’d spend time with a guy who wanted to spend time with me. I’d erase Tristan Stone from my brain forever.
I yelped as I was lifted right off my feet.
“Knock this shit out,” Tristan said as he threw me over his shoulder.
“Put me down,” I said through gritted teeth as heads turned as we moved by a group of students standing outside the building.
“No.”
Anger pulsed through me and tears stung my eyes as he carried me to the entrance of the dorm and scanned his card. Why was he doing this? He was the one who needed to knock it off. He wasn’t being fair. He didn’t want me. He didn’t care about my feelings. But now he was going to go all caveman on me. This was messing with my head and my heart. Didn’t he realize that?
“Put me down,” I demanded.
“Will you go up to your room?” he asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
He released a breath before lowering me to my feet.
I righted myself before climbing the stairs to my floor. I walked ahead of him down the hallway and stopped at my door, knowing the drill but hating that I had to spend another second near him.
He entered my room and checked it before walking back out into the hallway. He turned to face me, like he had something to say.
I walked into my room and slammed the door in his face. I moved to my bed and dropped face first onto it. I lay there for a long time, hating that I was trying to make Tristan jealous. Hating that my pillow still smelled like him. Hating him for treating me like I was just a one-night stand. Hating that he told the new bodyguard that what happened was a mistake. I was a mistake.
There was a knock on my door a little while later. I pushed myself up from my bed, cursing myself for wanting it to be Tristan. Wanting him to tell me the truth. I