Before Weston could reply, his phone started buzzing. He ignored it the first time. I let him pull me closer as he kissed me. As my lips parted, his pocket started vibrating with notifications. When it stopped and instantly started again, I pulled back.
“Sorry,” he said with an annoyed look on his face when he answered, “Kevin, I’m busy.”
Instead of hanging up, the voice on the other line kept Weston’s attention. His arm slowly fell from my mine as he listened. His back stiffened.
“When?” he asked as he turned on the truck.
I touched his shoulder, trying to meet his eyes to wordlessly ask, what was wrong?
“Give me a couple of hours,” he said into the phone. “I’m heading your way now.”
“What happened?” My heart banged against my chest.
“We have to get back on campus,” Weston told me. “It’s Dakota.”
Chapter 37
We parkedin front of the school’s library. Weston barely turned off the car before opening his door. I followed him with an equal sense of urgency. Kevin didn’t want to tell him what happened over the phone. The entire ride over, we both were left to speculate the worst.
“You can wait for me in the lobby,” Weston offered as I fell into step next to him.
I slipped my hand into his. “No. Dakota’s my friend too. I want to make sure he’s okay.”
He gave me a weary smile and hurried to a nearly closing elevator. We slide through the door just in time, frightening two girls already inside.
“What floor?” one of them asked. She grasped onto her companion’s hand, tugging her closer the way Weston often did to me.
“Six,” Weston told her while scanning through a thread on his phone.
The ride felt longer than usually. The girls watched us with suspicion. I picked at a hangnail while wondering if I’d saved my research to the cloud. It’d come in handy to have access to it on my phone right now. Nothing distracted me more than design and research.
Once the elevator doors dinged open, Weston hurried forward. He only looked back at me briefly to make sure I kept up with his stride.
He weaved in and out of the bookshelves. We headed toward the group meeting rooms in the back. It took me a moment to realize we weren’t too far from where we first met up to work on our assignment. The night he offered to go down on me. I looked around in time to spot the now empty desk we shared. That night hadn’t been long ago yet still, it felt like ages.
“Here,” Weston said, reaching for the door of the very last room.
The space felt smaller with four large guys occupying it. As soon as the door opened, they all looked up at Weston and me. Dakota and David sat on opposite sides of the small, circular table. Dakota was the first to look away from us. He peered down at the table and traced the swirls in the wood.
David tilted his chair back with his feet. He held his arms over his chest, looking unamused. Kevin had been pacing. His shoulders relaxed a bit at the sight of Weston. But his mouth stayed firm.
Lawrence stayed on the opposite end of the room near the window. He raised an eyebrow at Weston and then, when he saw me enter the room, he smiled. His eyes scanned my face, undoubtedly looking for my tell. Thankfully, my mouth remained still. I couldn’t tell if my relaxed expression impressed or disappointed him.
“What’s going on?” Weston stayed standing. His eyes raked over each of the guys, willing one of them to speak.
I went over to claim the empty seat next to Dakota. When I sat, he leaned a little closer to me. I tried to make eye contact, but he refused to look up. His fingers still played on the table. I tried to keep my breath steady as I reached for his hand. I half-expected him to pull back and close off like he had in the parking lot. He went stiff when my fingers reached his wrist. I paused. When he didn’t move, I opened my palm for him to grab.
He looked up then. I smiled a little. My hand stayed open, allowing him time to make a choice. He didn’t move closer or away. I kept it there in case he changed his mind.
“Kevin,” Weston said stiffly. “What is it?”
Kevin shook his head and glanced at Dakota. “It’s not my story to tell.”
“We have a Fairfield problem,” Lawrence announced. He pushed off the wall and neared the table. We watched him turn a chair around backwards before sitting. “Those seem to kind of follow us. Well, in this case, you.”
“What’s that mean?” Kevin asked the same time Weston asked, “What are you doing here?”
“The better question is, why weren’t you here?” Lawrence opened his hands and gestured to the table. “I thought we decided how to handle this the other night. And you go MIA. I get you’re in the honeymoon phase, but you have a job to finish.”
