He holds his hand out and I can’t very well tell him no, so I pass Luca’s bag over, wishing I were the one returning it.
“I appreciate it, Mr. Washington. Have a great weekend.”
“You too, Professor. Oh hey, me and Zander have more play footage. If you can?—”
“Drop by anytime next week. I’ll be happy to help.”
“You’re the best, Professor!” he yells, making me smile slightly. “Enjoy your weekend, bro.”
He leaves before I can tell him I am, in fact, twenty years older than him. Closer to a father than a bro.
A heavy weight settling in my chest, I walk back to my office. I have no more classes this evening, so I plan to call it a day. I rarely leave early, but today I don’t feel like being around anyone. Not with Luca gone and angry with me.
When I step back into the building, my head down, a rough shoulder bumps mine. I glance up, coming face-to-face with Hilman. He pats my arm in a sleazy way, making me feel like I need a shower as soon as I get home.
“Gotta watch we’re you’re going there, Levine.” That smarmy smile etched across his face sends a wave of anger through me. “Almost knocked you down.”
“That’ll be the day,” I sneer, pushing past him to grab my belongings.
Hopefully Luca will call me when he gets wherever he’s going. I just want to make sure he’s okay, thatwe’reokay.
If we’re not, I’m not sure what I’ll do.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
LUCA
Luca: I promise, everything is fine.
I stareat the text message for a good ten minutes before erasing it.
Luca: Someone threatened me. I’m taking care of it.
I delete that one before I accidentally hit send, because I really don’t want him to worry about it.
Luca: I love you, I promise it’s going to be fine. I miss you.
I stare at that one for a long time, my fingers unwilling to delete those three words that I haven’t said to Maddox yet. Myhead snaps up when the kitchen door opens and my grandma comes out with a plate piled high with food. When I got here yesterday, she fed me dinner and put me straight to bed without questioning it. I slept all morning and into the afternoon…
When I woke up, the entire house smelled like baking and chocolate.
That’s her go-to when she knows I’m stressed. Food. Even better, it’s all sweets. Cookies, a brownie… At the very corner is a sandwich, like she’s at least tried to be responsible. I bypass it and stuff a chocolate chip cookie into my mouth since Zandy isn’t here to steal it.
She waits until I’m done chewing before sitting down across from me and tilting her head. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong now?”
It’s good that she waited until I was finished, or I probably would have choked on my cookie. I finally look up at her and aim for an innocent expression.
“Who said there’s anything wrong?”
The squeak in my voice does a pretty miserable job of hiding the truth, and the way she looks at me over her glasses like she used to when I’d tell her that “No one bothered me at school, I just have allergies.”
Busted.
“Is it that Professor you called me about before?”
Whoever says grandparents can’t be your parents is full of it, because my grandma has those mom senses down. I haven’t said anything—I didn’t do anything but show up and ask if I could stay for the weekend…
