If I don’t handle this just right… “Look, I don’t have a problem with you.” Better to play this off as me being the jealous type, I guess. “I’m interested in her. And yeah, we’ve had some issues.”
He grimaces. “Do you two have history or something?”
“You could say that.” I squint at him. “It’s really none of your business.”
* * *
As I jogup the stairs to the second floor of the dorm, I’ve only got one thing on my mind—whether or not I think Lux said anything to Matty about us. I huff in frustration.Fuck, I’m a dick.I have absolutely zero reason to believe he was lying to me. We’ve been playing ball together for a year now, and a whole lot of trust comes with that.
It’s her I don’t trust. I touch a few fingers to my lip where she’d bitten it earlier and shake my head.Payback’s a bitch, Lux.
* * *
Later that night,after Maddox and I pound several shots, I’m feeling irritable, and nothing seems to be helping. I’m twitchy in a way I don’t quite understand. Maddox is no help once I call a cease to the booze. He’s watching some movie I swear he’s seen several times before. Laughing out loud like it’s the first time he’s seen it. Fucking crazy asshole.
Kellan strolls out of his room, some sort of chalk all over his hands and a few smudges here and there on his face. “What’s up?” He eyes me as he heads for the kitchen, pulling open the cabinet where he keeps his snacks.
“Nothing. Not really, anyway. How was your art studio thing?”
He grins, taking a bite of a Twizzler. “It was fucking awesome.”
“You think you’re going to learn a lot?”
“Nah. More like I’ll have time to do what I want. The prof is pretty laid back. She makes suggestions, but she doesn’t want to ‘cloud our vision’ or some BS like that.”
I raise my brows. “Must be nice.”
He grunts in the affirmative. “How about you?”
“I had a few classes. They were mostly fine.”
“Cool.” He cocks his head to the side as he chomps down on the Twizzler again. “But…” He waits for me to continue, and when I don’t, he shakes his head, knowingly. “You put off the craziest signals, man.”
My eye twitches. Due to the alcohol, most likely. “What kind of signals?”
“Oh, just one that saysI had a shitty dayand a second that saysMy brain is working overtime.” The crazy punk wriggles his brows at me. “Am I right?”
I blow out a hard breath. “Maybe.”
“I’m guessing it’s a Lux thing again.”
I’m quiet for several moments, looking down at my hands. “She’s in my bio class first thing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
“And that’s good or bad?”
“I guess it depends on how you look at it.” I shrug and give him a perplexed look.
“Right.” His gaze lowers to my busted lip, and he nods toward it. “She do that?”
I reach up to touch my swollen lip. “Yep.”
“Thought so.” He smirks and walks back toward his room with a wave. “Good luck with her.”
“Hey, man. You still with me?” I call to his retreating figure.
He doesn’t turn around. “Of course. I’ll be here when you need me.”
A few minutes later, I find myself inside the girls’ suite, standing outside Lux’s room. It’s an easy way to freak her out. It’s not like I plan to steal from her or anything like that. I’m simply here. Watching. And if she happens to wake up, and I scare the shit out of her, that would be a bonus.
