he walked quietly beside her, keeping alert to the people and vehicles around them, and every other sight and sound.
On the third floor of Page-Robinson Hall, Alex waited outside the registrar’s office while Lia did whatever she needed to do to drop out of Brown University. He didn’t want to crowd her while she went through all that, and on the third floor of this campus building she was safe with him outside the door.
He watched the people around him and realized he felt some loss himself. He’d lost his chance for college, and having spent this time on the Brown campus, around all these spoiled rich kids, he’d told himself he was better off. But he’d also had opportunity to sit in classes and sort of soak up some education, and there were things about it that were cool. Not the students so much—at least not those Lia had put herself, thus also him, among—but the learning, the books, all that? It was pretty cool. He’d miss pretending to be a student here. He would have liked to really be one.
Lia was out the door more quickly than he’d expected. She was pale and distracted but seemed more or less steady. “That’s it?” he asked. “Anything else to do?” He’d expected the process to be long and annoying, full of bright red bureaucratic tape.
“Yeah, that’s it. I’m no longer a student at Brown University.” She laughed harshly—and then the laugh turned soggy. Lia tried to catch the tears back, but her face sort of collapsed in on itself. She spun away, putting her back to him, and covered her face in her hands as she began to sob.
Oh God. Girl tears. Oh fuck, oh shit.
“Hey, no,” he said and slipped a hand around her arm. “Come here, over here.” There was an empty bench at the end of the hall, where things were quieter.
Crying and trying not to, her hands still over her face, Lia let him tug her to the bench and sit her down. Still holding her arm, he sat beside her.
“It’s okay,” he said, because what else was there to say when a girl was sobbing wetly beside you?
“It’s not!” she cried. “It’s not okay! I just had to quit school because my father’s a mobster! I’m sitting next to my bodyguard, who’s wearing a gun! Nothing about that is okay!”
“Lia!” Alex snapped. “Hush!” His hand had come up, meaning to muzzle her; he curled it into a fist and set it on his thigh as he scanned the corridor and ascertained that her outburst hadn’t drawn notice. Thankfully, she still had her own hands over her face. “You can’t say things like that.”
She dropped her hands and glared wetly at him, her green eyes flashing an accusation. “The truth. I can’t say the truth.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Lee. It is what it is.”
Another harsh, hopeless laugh. “I hate that saying. It’s a tautology and means nothing.”
Alex liked the saying. He thought it meant a lot in a few words. Some things just were, whether you liked it or not. A lot of things, actually. He didn’t challenge her on the point, however.
Lia sighed. She wiped her cheeks, but her eyes were still leaking. “I just … I just want to have a life of my own. It doesn’t even have to be a big life. Just mine.”
Again, he had no clue what to say, so he said, “I know. I’m sorry.”
Apparently, he should have said something else, because a new storm of sobs broke open.
Deciding they’d both be better off if he kept his stupid mouth shut, Alex instead hooked his arm around her shoulders, hoping to offer her comfort that way and please GOD get the waterworks to stop.
She turned at once toward him, making his gesture an embrace. The scent of her wafted around his head.
And suddenly, Alex found himself in a lot of trouble.
He liked Lia. Never in a million years did he intend to do anything about it, she was the don’s daughter for fuck’s sake, but he liked her a lot. She was pretty and sweet, and she tried so hard to be good to people, even when it meant being hard on herself. There was that secret sadness in her, too, which always made him want to reach out to her when he glimpsed it.
And here that sadness was, right out on top. She was in his arms—both arms, a full-on hug, how the hell had