Only now, you have no idea if she’s safe.
I growl and shove the chips aside, suddenly not hungry.
“I don’t know,” Damon says. “Maybe sheisactually out.”
I shoot him a look to cut the shit. “To think that I wasthisclose to telling her I’m in love with her,” I say, holding my fingers a hairsbreadth apart.
Every night when I go to bed, our conversation haunts me?the what-ifs and the alternate possibilities. Had I just gotten those three tiny words out before I saw her bruised arms, would it have changed things? Would she still be ignoring me?
“I just don’t get why she’s this mad,” I grumble, taking a pull on my ice water.
“Um, you mangled her boyfriend’s face,” Jace says.
“After she told you not to,” Damon points out.
“Do I have to remind you that he touched her first?” I ask, scowling at the two of them.Whose side are they fucking on?
Jace raises his hands in surrender. “Not saying I would’ve done anything differently.”
“Are you worried about her safety?” West asks. “Or do you think there’s any chance it truly was a one-time thing?”
My jaw tightens. “You have to really squeeze someone’s arms fucking hard to leave those kinds of marks, and my gut tells me that if he’s hurt her once, he’ll do it again.”
“Dude certainly seems like a control freak,” Damon mutters.
“You’re keeping an eye on her?” I ask, glancing between them.
All four of them nod. “I’ve been checking up on her through Charlotte,” Chris says.
“Same with Avery,” Damon chimes in.
“And Brynn.” Jace grabs the back of his neck, wincing when he adds, “So far, the consensus seems to be she’s busy but happy.”
I try not to show how fucking much those words hurt, but they cut like the sharpest of blades.
Happy.
Without me.
Impossible.
The words can’t be right. After ten years of friendship, this can’t be how it ends. Over another man. Because I defended her. Because I care so fucking much.
My feelings for her are like an anchor in my chest, weighing me down.
Well, I refuse to accept her silence. Refuse to let her go without a fight.
I might be a lot of things—impulsive and foolish and stupid and headstrong—but I’m not a quitter.
The rest of the week passes in a blur of missed opportunities. Every time I try to track Tatum down, she dodges me. After class, at the dorms, even her daily Java runs have seemingly changed, and without football to distract me, I’m going fucking crazy.
By the time Friday night rolls around, even I’m sick of my moping and whining. The guys are avoiding me, and I can’t say I blame them. I’m like a lost dog without her?pathetic and desperate, just ambling through my days, taking whatever scraps of intel the guys give me. So, when I catch wind of a girls’ night, I jump at the opportunity, certain this is my chance to confront her. With any luck Jace, Chris, and Damon did their part and convinced the girls to let us tag along.
The sun has set by the time I head from my apartment two floors down to Chris and Jace’s place. If all goes well, I’ll see Tatum, and with any luck, I’ll make her realize she can’t avoid me forever. She might be mad at me for flying off the handle and confronting Ethan?okay, maybe it wasn’t quite a confrontation and more a surprise assault?but we’re best friends. Our relationship isn’t disposable. No matter how she feels about me or who her boyfriend is, we don’t cut each other out of our lives—ever—and despite my feelings for her, I’d rather have her as a friend thannothing at all.
I knock twice, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, my stomach tied in knots as the door swings open, and Jace stands there, a plate of food in hand.
“About time. We were starting to think you’d bailed,” he says around a bite of General Tso’s chicken.
