“Cutting off my nose to spite my face,” I told him dryly.
“That’s it.”
“You’re very supportive,” I mocked him.
“You like her, she likes you, alot. This will pass, and it’ll work out.” He sat up and swung his legs off the bed. “Whatwon’tpass is we need to win against Alabama, and we need to keep going on theotherthing.”
“I won’t drop the ball on either,” I assured him quietly to his back.
He looked over his shoulder at me and frowned. “She needs this to happen.”
“She does, or you do?” I asked him softly. I already knew the answer.
“Both.” He got off my bed and walked out of my room. I didn’t go after him. My brother didn’t need me chasing him as he chased his own demons.
My phone lit up.
Ava:I am. Are we?
Well, that was the million-dollar question.
Chapter 34: Ava
The week had been surreal. People who had never spoken to me before were nice to me, but I soon realized it wasn’t because of the whole drugged water thing, it was because Quinn Lawrence had come to my apartment on Sunday with a bizarre offer about a therapist, and then on Monday morning, she met me at the coffee shop and proceeded to have coffee with me as she walked me to class. She then sat with Mia and me at lunch, and I hadn’t known how to tell her to go away.
When someone asked her how we were suddenly friends, her smile could have blinded the sun, and I spat out my soda when she told them I was Jett’s girlfriend.
When I asked her what the fuck was wrong with her, she’d grinned in delight and told me the best way to deal with a Santo was to ignore him until he listened.
Quinn Lawrence was mentally unhinged. I was sure of it.
Ash sat beside me in Leitch’s class, and when Leitch had been about to rail my ass because I hadn’t done the reading over the weekend, Ash had reamedhimout. Leitch had been speechless; I’d been struck dumb. Ash was back to being my favorite Santo. Kind of.
In Professor Matson’s class, Jett had sat in the seat beside the guy who usually gave me shit, and the guy had been so nervous he had left the classroom. Jett hadn’t spoken to me or looked at me, but when he left the class, his hand had trailed over the back of my neck once.
Mia was watching my week unfold like she was binge-watching her favorite TV show. I swore that, at one point, she was going to ask me if she could get popcorn.
Of Derrick, there was no mention. It was my first time ever witnessing money at work. I knew there was an investigation because I heard the hint of a rumor about spiked water, butfrom what I could discern, it was an opposing college’s trick to mess with the team. I was in the cafeteria, using my card like I promised the dean and my mom before I sat down to eat my lunch. Quinn was sitting beside me, separating her Skittles by color and counting them out. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I felt the need to ask her.
“What if there were other girls he tried this with? How will anyone ever know?”
She paused in her counting. I noted all odd numbers were in a pile by themselves.
“Trust me, they’ve put out feelers,” she told me without looking up. “It’s not being forgotten.”
“It feels like it,” I muttered.
Quinn raised her head to fix me with that dark stare of hers. “You think the board advocates women being abused?”
“No.” I shook my head as she raised a perfect eyebrow. “No,” I stressed again. “I just thought . . . I don’t know.”
“You’re right, you don’t know, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening.” Quinn bowed her head again as she resumed splitting her Skittles.
“Have you got OCD?” I asked her curiously.
“No. I just like even numbers.”
I was pretty sure that was some kind of OCD, but Quinn kind of scared me, so I said nothing until my mouth worked before my brain. “But you’re friends with the Devils.”
