“Goodbye, Mr. Hollis.”
Before he could say another word, the door shut in his face. He stood there for what felt like hours, staring at the plain wood before finally forcing himself to turn away, to walk back to his dorm.
He made it all the way back to his room before he realized he was still holding the bag of all her things.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kylie
Something was wrong.
Danny wouldn’t tell her what, exactly. If anything, he was deliberately avoiding the issue. The day before, he’d tried to distract her with presents any time she started to talk about Addison and she’d let him, mostly to see how far he would take his charade. Surprisingly far, it turned out, which only made her more determined to figure out what he was hiding.
Unfortunately for her, he was awake already when she woke up in his bed that morning, and he seemed even more determined than before to distract her from talking about their Mommy. It was Sunday, which meant no classes, so no rush to get dressed and down to breakfast.
Other than the fact that she was starving, which she reminded him of for the millionth time in the whining voice she knew he hated. “Danny, let’sgo. I’mhungry.”
“Hold your horses, Ky.”
Annoyance fueled by the underlying fear that something was very, very wrong churned in her stomach. Folding her arms, she glared at him from across the room. “No. My horses are ready for breakfast. I’m leaving.”
“Two minutes and I’ll be ready, I promise.”
“You said that thirty minutes ago, Daniel.”
Pausing in the act of pulling a sweater down over his chiseled abs, he glanced over at her, brows rising with surprise. “What did you just call me?”
“Daniel. That’s what Mommy calls you when she’s annoyed, so that’s what I’m gonna call you when I’m annoyed, too.”
There. In his eyes. A flash ofsomethingshe couldn’t quite pin down, but that had the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach growing.
“Whatever. Let’s go to breakfast.”
Grabbing her hand, he headed out the door, with her jogging to keep up. “We should call Mommy to have breakfast with us.”
“I was thinking maybe you and me could just hang out today.” He flashed a grin over his shoulder. “You know, like we used to. Playing video games, eating junk food all day.”
“We’re notallowedto eat junk food all day, Daniel. And we can’t avoid Mommy forever, you know. We have to face the music some time.”
“I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Any other day, she would have been tempted. “We’re already in big trouble. I don’t wanna make it worse.”
“No junk food, then. Just video games and hanging out.”
Inside the main building, she dug her heels in, forcing him to stop and look at her. “Okay, dude, what’s going on? You’ve been super weird since yesterday. What happened with Addison?”
His gaze flicked to the side and he shrugged. “Nothing happened. Can’t I just want to hang out with my best friend for the day?”
“Sure. After you tell me why you’re being so cagey.”
Before he could answer, though, a familiar flash of red caught her eye and she whipped around, relief flooding her veins. “Mommy!”
Across the lobby, Addison spun around and Kylie ran straight for her, launching herself into her arms. “Are you still very mad, Mommy?”
“Kylie… I’m not… we’re not…”
Strong, familiar hands gently took her arms, pulling her away from Addison, who was looking a bit like she’d seen a ghost. Then her gaze shifted to something behind Kylie and her eyes sparked with fury. “You haven’t told her yet?”
