I heard her giggle as she followed behind me and climbed into the passenger seat of my truck.
It was too early for conversation, so I turned on some music, and even though we didn’t talk, I noted that she sat as far away from me as possible. But unlike the last time I had driven her, I knew it wasn’t because she couldn’t stand me. She was avoiding being near me, like I was avoiding being near her, knowing there was a good chance one of us would give in if we got too close.
“Where do you want me to pull up?” I asked, looking around the impressive campus. I’d driven past it a thousand times, but I’d never driven directly up to the front of the Stanford buildings.
Avery smiled when she saw me taking it all in and pointed to the curb I was coming up to. “Right here, right here.” She had the door cracked open before I even stopped. “Thanks, Liam! I owe you one!”
“Don’t worry about it. I owe you more than a ride to school after you helped us with ‘Hollow Again.’”
A small smile lifted her lips as she glanced back at me, her long brown hair flowing back and forth with her hurried strides.
I heard giggles and whispers to my left and turned my head just in time to greet two girls approaching my truck.
“Do you know who you are?” one of the girls asked, hugging her books to her chest.
Jesus. How did you get into Stanford with a dumbass question like that?
“I do, but unfortunately, I don’t know your two beautiful names.” My response was pure instinct.
Their eyes glowed as they tried to hide their excitement.
“I’m Brit. This is Kate. We saw you a few weeks ago at The Warfield.” The girl with her hands free rested them on my open window.
“You guys were amazing,” the other added.
“Ah, thanks for coming out, ladies. We’re playing there again at the end of the month. You interested in a pair of VIP tickets?”
They both squealed. “Yes! Oh my God!”
I flashed a cocky grin. “All right. Let me get your first and last names to my manager. He’ll put some on hold for you at the door.”
Both girls were clinging to my side as I texted Nikko their information.
“We were just about to go get some coffee. Do you want to join us?” the more eager one asked as she bit her lip.
The way she fluttered her eyelashes and stroked my forearm with her long fingernails, I got the feeling that wasn’t an invitation to get coffee. That was an invitation to gofuck.
I contemplated going for a few seconds as the clouds darkened above me and rain began to sprinkle onto my windshield. The girls waited impatiently, clearly not happy about getting wet. Exhausting myself with two instead of one just might be the key to getting my mind off Avery and satiating my growing hunger. I was about to tell them to hop in my truck when my passenger door slammed shut.
Avery’s head fell back against the seat as she folded her arms tightly around herself. “I was two minutes late. Two minutes! And he locked the fucking door,” she said, too frustrated to care that she’d interrupted my pending lay.
The rain started coming down faster.
“Maybe another time, ladies. I hope to see you at the show.” I winked at Kate and Brit—I had no idea which one was which anymore—and watched as their shoulders sank, and then they ran to shelter, holding books above their heads.
I turned my attention to Avery. “You don’t have another class after this one?”
“Nope. I only have one lecture on Wednesdays, and then I usually study in the library for a couple of hours afterward.”
Imagining Avery in a library, trying to be quiet, somehow turned me on.
“Today was not a good day to miss.” She laughed nervously. “I’ve never skipped a class before. Ever. I mean, does this even count as skipping when I actually showed up to take the class but I was late?” She laughed again. “This is kind of exhilarating.”
I raised my brow. “Thisis all it takes?”
“Hey. It’s either I laugh and think this is fun or I panic and cry.” She threw her book bag by her feet, hiding the growing discomfort.
“I don’t get what the big deal is. It’s one class.”
