Next Man Up (Making the Score #2) - Tawdra Kandle Page 0,36

not the wheelchair keeping the girls away. And you don’t have to do penance anymore for . . . anything. I think you’ve served your time.”

His breath quickened, and he turned his head. For a dizzy moment, I thought he was going to kiss me, and I scrambled off the bed so quickly that I nearly tripped. I managed to turn my awkwardness into a dive to find the shoes I’d kicked off earlier, when we’d begun watching St. Elsewhere.

“You’re going?” His voice was hoarse. “Now?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to point out that at least I was giving him the courtesy of saying goodbye before I lit out, but I knew that wouldn’t mean anything to him. So instead, I just nodded.

“I need to get back to my room. I don’t want to be here when Nate comes home. Think of the explanations you’d have to make.” My tone was faintly mocking. “And I really am tired. I want to wake up early to pack tomorrow. I’m leaving for home right after my last exam on Monday.”

“Then I probably won’t see you again.” He used his arms to push himself up, sitting on the bed.

“No, you won’t. Not before summer, anyway.” I picked up my tiny purse from where I’d hung it on the back of his desk chair. “I’ll see you in the fall, I guess. I heard you and Nate are rooming together again?”

He nodded. “We’re a pretty good fit.”

“Okay, then. Gia, Quinn and I are sharing a suite, so I’m sure we’ll run into each other at some point.” I paused, not sure I wanted to meet his eyes. “But you don’t have to be nice to me. We can pretend tonight never happened. It won’t hurt my feelings or any of that shit. I’m very good at forgetting what I have to.”

“Why the hell would I want to pretend? After—” He pressed his lips together. “God, Zelda. I’m not going to forget tonight.”

I couldn’t help laughing, even as Eli glowered at me. “What’s so funny?”

Waving my hand, I shook my head. “Nothing. Sorry, private joke. Whatever, Eli. However you want to handle it. Just don’t make what happened tonight more than it is, okay?”

He frowned. “Can I text you this summer? Call you, even?”

“No.” I was emphatic about that. “I don’t want that. My life at home is separate from my life at school.”

“Okay.” Eli was silent for a few moments. “Then I guess I’ll see you in August.”

“Yep.” I turned to the door, needing to get the hell out of there before I said something I was going to regret. Before I spilled to him the story of how we’d really met, before I bled out the hurt and pain he’d caused me years ago.

Before I confessed the truth.

I drew in a shaky breath, my hand on the doorknob, not daring to look at him again.

“Have a good summer, Eli.”

“Zelda.” He called out to me, and I hesitated again. “Are we going to be friends now? Or will we go back to each of us pretending the other doesn’t exist?”

I didn’t have a good answer to that question. Working hard to keep my voice from cracking, I answered him.

“Time will tell. Goodbye, Eli.”

Chapter Six

Tuck

Most college kids finish their freshman year relieved to leave the dorms, eat some home cooking, sleep late and recover from that first intense year away. At least, that was my perception, based on what I was seeing on social media and overhearing as I left my last exam on campus.

My experience was different, though. My year at Birch had given me more freedom than I’d had in a long time, and although I loved my parents, I was dreading going back to a place where they hovered and worried twenty-four hours a day. I was also determined to maintain at least some modicum of independence; I’d researched bus routes and other transportation options that accommodated wheel chairs, and I’d made Nate, Gia and Quinn promise that they would all keep in touch and come rescue me at least once in a while.

Still, a month into my summer, I was bored, frustrated . . . and yeah, fuck it all, I was lonely. I picked up my phone and texted Nate, but I wasn’t completely surprised when he didn’t answer. He was down at the shore with his parents, Quinn and her mother this week, enjoying the beach at the Russells’ second home in Ocean City. Gia had