nose.
Clarity crashes down like shattered glass. “It was all about the sex, wasn’t it? I’m just another Sydney. Another Georgia. Another fucking notch on that beam in the tower.”
He glares out the windshield, fists wrapped tight around the steering wheel, and doesn’t even bother telling me that I’m wrong.
Instead, he shrugs.
“Let me out,” I say, quiet at first. Then, louder, “Let me out,” and louder, “Let me the fuck out!”
He doesn’t argue, whipping the car into the Nerd’s parking lot and slamming on the brakes. I feel like I fall out of the passenger side more than anything, stumbling as I reach back to slam the door. Hot tears prick at my eyes, but I won’t let them fall. I’ve already cried over two assholes today.
Not anymore.
“Shit.” My hands shake as I enter the code into Hayden’s security keypad. The light blinks red, signaling that I’ve messed up again. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”
“Hey,” a voice says, “did you forget the code?”
I turn around and see a girl that I recognize from around campus. “Yeah,” I say, shoving my hands in my pockets and stepping aside. “Totally blanked.” It doesn’t help that my hands feel frozen solid. The walk to campus is bad enough even when it isn’t cold as hell.
“It happens to me at least once a semester.” She jabs her fingers into the keypad and the green light blinks, unlocking the door.
“Thanks,” I reply, wondering how my voice can be so calm while my entire world is falling apart, piece by piece. I feel dazed as I walk upstairs to my room and, thankfully, find that the door is already unlocked.
Pushing it open, I see Georgia lying on her bed, smiling at her phone screen. I turn and determinedly face my own bed, toeing my shoes from my sore feet, hoping she hasn’t noticed my splotchy face and sore eyes.
Fucking bastard.
“Oops, gotta go. Bye,” she says, turning it off, sitting up to fold her legs. “Hey. How are the kittens? How was the trip home?”
I blink, suddenly remembering the kittens. I’d totally forgotten about them in the chaos. “The kittens were good when we left this morning. In good hands with their housekeeper, I think.” I toss my bag on the bed. “The trip home?” My voice cracks, giving me away. “Not so great.”
Georgia frowns and I hear the creak of her climbing off her bed. “Oh no. What happened?”
My whole body goes on alert, feeling her closing in, and I hold up my hand, backing away. “I wouldn’t even fucking know where to start.”
Respecting my personal space, she goes back to her bed, watching me sympathetically. “How about from the beginning?”
I sink heavily to my bed. The blanket is still mussed from the last time I was in it. Yesterday morning. Jesus, has it really only been one day? With a deep breath, I meet Georgia’s worried gaze. “We spent the day at Sebastian’s house. Abby had her kittens. We ate dinner. We—we had a good time. It was nice, you know?”
She nods in understanding. “Sounds good.”
“And then, last night we…” I deflate, rubbing a hand down my face. “We had sex.”
Her eyebrows crawl her forehead. “Oh.”
“And it was good. Everything was good. But when I woke up this morning, he was gone.”
She frowns. “What do you mean ‘gone’?”
“Not gone, but like… not in the bed with me. Come to find out, he was downstairs with Heston, who said all this shit about Sydney—and was a complete dick, by the way—and also Sebastian kept introducing me as his ‘friend’, so what the fuck is that all about, right?”
It all comes out in a rush. The more I tell her, the more it feels like some of the weight lifts. I explain how he got so cold and distant, and how I knew he was on edge, and given how my stepfather is such a dick, there was no way Bass wouldn’t get into it with him.
“To be honest,” I confess, remembering Sebastian’s words from earlier, “I think maybe a part of me wanted him to get into it with Doug, you know? To show him that there’s someone out there who’ll stick up for me. Someone that’s scarier than him.” I drop back on my bed, feeling embarrassed to admit it.
But it’s true.
“They got into a fight?” Georgia says, jaw dropped. “And they really kicked you out? For good?”
I nod, not telling Georgia just how deep the problems with Doug go. It might not be fair to Sebastian, letting