On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,24

arched with accusation.

The blood drained from her face and I knew I’d taken it too far. But she drove me fucking crazy. It wasn’t difficult. Calli needed to stay away from the team, and in turn, I would stay away from her.

“It’s funny,” she laughed bitterly, the sound grating down my spine. “Madison said I needed closure. And I think this is finally it.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Why did I feel like she was about to pull the rug out from under me?

I was supposed to be in control here.

Me.

“It means stay the fuck away from me, Zach.” She shouldered past me and disappeared into the night.

Leaving me standing there wondering what the fuck had just happened.

Calli

I was ready to start classes. Eager for the distraction and new focus.

After my last run in with Zach, I’d spent the weekend lying low. I didn’t plan on hiding forever, but I needed to regroup.

That night, the night he’d pulled that faceless guy off me at the bar, I’d stupidly thought that maybe he felt it too. The lingering connection. The unfinished business between us.

But I was wrong.

Zach Messiah was a douchebag.

A douchebag I intended on cutting out of my life for good.

It wasn’t like I had no experience of douchebags, so how hard could it be?

A knock at my door alerted me to Josie’s arrival.

“Hey.” I opened it.

“Ready for the first day of the rest of our lives?”

“Hmm, I guess.” She was so weird sometimes.

“You missed a good time last night.”

Josie had joined some of the other girls in our building for pamper night. But I didn’t do well in large groups of girls.

“Maybe next time.” I gave her a tight smile.

“Have you heard from you know who?” Her brows waggled suggestively. That’s what we were calling Zach now.

“Nope.”

“And you’re okay with that?” She eyed me carefully as I hitched my bag up my shoulder and followed her down the hall.

“Zach is in my past. I want to look to my future.”

“Okay... but will you tell me what happened one day?”

“One day.” I nodded.

But not today or the day after that. It was still too raw, too painful.

Maybe it always would be.

One thing was for certain though, Zach—my Zach—was gone.

It was easier to think of my Zach and this Zach, the cold cruel boy with arrogance in his eyes and hatred in his heart, as two completely different people.

“So Joel was asking about you again,” Josie said, pulling me from my thoughts. “Total double standards if you ask me.”

Panic swelled inside me. “He doesn’t know who I am though, right?”

“I haven’t told him, if that’s what you mean.” Her shoulders lifted in a small shrug. “What’s up with that by the way?”

“I told you... it’s complicated.” Clearly Callum didn’t want his teammates to know about me, and I was happy avoiding all the awkward questions.

I knew it would come out eventually.

Secrets always did.

But for now, I wanted to keep my anonymity. I wanted to keep things simple.

We reached the Arts Department and Josie ground to a halt, turning to me. “I know we’ve only known each other a few days, and I know that I’m Joel’s sister and he’s on the team, but I want you to know you can trust me, Calli. I can keep a secret and I think I’m a pretty good listener. So if you ever need to talk...”

“Thanks, that means a lot. It isn’t that I’m trying to be all secretive, it’s just...” I searched for the right word, but Josie beat me to it.

“Families are complicated.”

“Oh yeah, you don’t need to tell me.” My heart cinched.

“Ready?” She glanced at the building.

“As I’ll ever be.” Butterflies beat wildly in my stomach. This was it… college.

“I’ll be done at one, so we can meet and head to Muds?”

“Sounds good.”

“Good luck.”

“You too.” I watched Josie take off toward her building. She was majoring in psychology. I’d always had my heart set on SU’s BA in photography, but then Mom got sick and everything changed, so I’d changed my major to undeclared. I was taking some arts and literature classes. I didn’t want to put pressure on myself to pick up a camera before I was ready.

If I was ever ready again.

My first class of the semester was Nineteenth Century Literature with Professor Harold. I was particularly looking forward to that class since it studied some of the literary greats. I found the room and slipped inside. It was a small theatre style layout with the rows