I sigh and rub a hand over my face. “I’m sorry, okay? It made me pissed that I had no idea who you were or where you came from, and when I saw you do what you did at the church? Well, I couldn’t help but follow after you,” I murmur and try to appear apologetic. “I just wanted to make sure you got back to campus safely.”
“Oh really?” she asks and leans forward, crowding my space. “You want to know what I think?”
I hum under my breath. “Yeah, what do you think?”
“I think you’re a fucking liar,” she says, her hand finding my chest and slowly trailing it up to my neck. “You don’t like not knowing about me, that’s true. But you’re not sorry. You don’t have it in you to be sorry. This is just the beginning of some silly little game you’ve got planned…”
Guess she’s smart, too.
“But I’m telling you now, you won’t win against me, Cole.” Her hand brushes over my neck, where I know she’ll be able to see the marks she left on me from how close she is. “You think last night was bad? Come near me again and these pretty little marks will only be the beginning.”
At that, the professor starts the lecture. Lana moves back into her own space, seemingly forgetting I’m even here as she focuses on the lecture, whileI’mcompletely focused onher.
I knew it was a long shot, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. I thought it would be the only way to go easy on her, getting her to fall for me only to shatter her heart, but I guess that’s not an option. And I guess taking it easy on her is no longer an option either.
Just as the class is coming to an end, the professor clears her throat in a way that tells us she wants all of our attention.
“Thirty percent of your grade for this semester will be awarded for a partnered project.” She glances around the room as if she’s surveying us before nodding to herself. “The pairs you’re in now seem suitable, so if you can all check your emails at the end of the day, you’ll have more details about your assignment.”
Lana growls under her breath while I grin at her.
“Not a chance, pretty boy. I’m not fuc?—”
“And before any of you ask, there is an even number of students in this class, and I think it works best if you justagree to work with your partners without argument,” the professor adds, cutting Lana off.
I laugh.
“This is gonna be fun,” I singsong before climbing to my feet. “I’ll be in touch, Lana.”
FOUR
COLE
“You’ve been ignoring my emails,” I grunt as I sit down in the chair opposite Lana. Figures I’d find her hiding out in the back of the library, it’s like she hates her own place or something with how much time she spends here.
She sighs, her eyes raking over me. “I was trying to put off having to deal with you.”
“Yeah, well, the assignment is due in two weeks, and I don’t know about you, but I do actually want to pass this class.”
She scoffs. “Ohplease,” she says, drawing the word out. “Why don’t you just get Daddy to buy you a degree and be done with this place?”
I shake my head. She has no goddamn idea what it’s like to be me. She has no idea what my father is like. Yeah, he might not have been physically abusive or anything like that, and I’m sure some people have it a lot worse, but it wasn’t easy growing up with my dad.
“Stop being a dick and let’s just figure this shit out, okay?”
“Fine,” she mutters. “The assignment is in two parts. You do part one, I do part two. Sound simple enough for you?”
I inhale slowly, attempting to keep my composure and not lose my shit on her right here in the quiet confines of the library. “And putting it together? We can’t just hand them in separately.”
“We won’t. We’ll meet up again sometime before it’s due and put them together,” she says with a roll of her eyes.
Jesus Christ, the attitude on this one is astounding.
“You just like acting like a brat, right? What’s your damage? Daddy didn’t love you so now you act out for attention? You hate yourself so much that you have to put that hate on everyone else just to take the burden away from you? Because from where I’m sitting, you’re just purposefully being a dick because you hate the world.”
She snickers quietly and folds her hands together, resting them on the table in front of her.
“I don’t hate the world. I don’t hate myself. Fuck, Cole, I don’t even hateyou.You’re nothing, just like everyone and everything in this place isnothingto me. It’s not that I’m being a dick, it’s just that I’m uninterested in everything around me. You’re boring, Cole. Why would I want to spend time around someone who makes me want to scoop my eyeballs out with a rusty spoon before forcing them down my own throat and making me gag on them?”
