“An hour, tops,” he said. “Just the grocery store and campus.”
I gave another nod. But the unease didn’t go anywhere. It sat between my ribs, dense and immovable. And I couldn’t even point to a source. Jesse was fine. Ulfrik was dead. My parents hadn’t reported me missing. By any reasonable metric, things were okay.
So why did I feel like I was missing something?
“You all right?” Jesse asked.
“Yeah.” I stuffed my hands back in my pockets. “Just tired.”
For a second, I wasn’t sure he’d accept it. Then he moved in and gave me a light kiss. “Take a nap,” he said against my lips. “You won’t even know I’m gone.” He was smiling as he pulled back. “You can dream about me.”
I huffed. “You wish.”
A napdidsound nice, though. Maybe I really was just tired. I’d sleep off whatever weird shit was making me so jumpy. And hopefully, Jesse would return with good news about me finishing my degree.
Everything would work out.
“Be careful,” I told him.
Tenderness moved through his eyes. “Of course.” He turned me toward the stairs and slapped my ass. “Get some sleep, baby. I’ll be back before you know it.”
I went, my ass tingling as I climbed the stairs and flopped in the center of his bed. The sound of the door shutting and the garage door opening drifted through the house. I turned my head into Jesse’s pillow and willed myself to fall asleep.
And I tried to ignore the knot of unease that throbbed in the center of my chest.
Chapter
Nineteen
CALEB
Iwoke with my heart trying to pound from my chest. For a second, I didn’t know where I was. Then my brain caught up to my body.
I lay on Jesse’s side of the bed, clutching his pillow with my knees pulled to my chest like I was ready to cannonball over the edge.
I turned onto my back as I got my bearings. The house was quiet with the kind of absolute stillness that told me Jesse hadn’t returned. Outside the bedroom window, the light was the heavy, bloated glow of early evening.
Fuck. How long had I slept?
I sat up, and the sheet stuck to my sweaty back. More sweat dampened my hairline. My heart continued its wild gallop.
And the unease was back—or maybe it had never left. I scrubbed a hand over my face, trying to shake the remnants of whatever nightmare had jolted me awake. The details were already fading, leaving only the lingering dread.
Where the hell was Jesse? I needed my phone.
Except I didn’t have it, of course. It was still defrosting on the jogging trail behind the college.
An image landed in my head without warning. The trail appeared, snow-covered and quiet in the amber light of dusk. Nathan Brooks and Aiden Cross walked down it side by side.
Except it wasn’t the jogging trail anymore. It was the path to Jesse’s patio.
The snow had vanished, the pavers dry and clean. The guys’ shoes scuffed against the stone. Fading sunlight turned Aiden’s red hair to fire.
I gave my head a single, hard shake. “Fucked up dream,” I muttered, sliding from the bed.
Nathan and Cross didn’t know where Jesse lived. They didn’t know anything about him. I’d slept too long, and my anxiety-riddled brain had supplied me with the nightmare fuel of Nathan and Cross rolling up to Jesse’s house like they were paying a social call.
I needed to find a phone and call Jesse. Grabbing a sweatshirt from the stack of clothes I’d piled on a chair next to my duffel bag, I yanked it over my head as I went to the door.
