Her eyes snapped. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?”
“At least one more,” I said, but it didn’t land like I wanted it to. My voice was too flat, too monotone.
Normally, I smirked. Teased. Poked at her on purpose just to see the tiny spark of fire she tried so hard to hide.
But I didn’t have the energy.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked, voice lower now.
Heat crawled up my neck.
“Nothing.”
“You look like you lost a fight with a financial aid office.”
I flinched before I could stop myself.
Her eyes widened again. “You did,” she breathed. “Ledger?—”
“It’s none of your business,” I snapped.
Her eyebrows pulled together, not in offense but concern.Realconcern.
It rattled me so hard, I stepped back.
She stood slowly, one hand braced on the edge of the table. “Ledger, what happened?”
“Drop it.”
“Are you—” Her voice cracked for a second, barely audible. “Are you okay?”
The question hit me like a punch. Because she shouldn’t care. And I shouldn’t want her to. And yet …
Everything inside me felt stretched too thin, like one wrong word would split me open.
I shook my head. “I don’t … want to do this with you.”
A beat of silence.
Then her expression hardened. Not mean, not sharp, more like determined.
“Too bad,” she said quietly. “Because something’s wrong. And you’re not pretending well.”
My jaw clenched. My pulse kicked. I should’ve walked away. I should’ve ended this before she got any closer to the truth.
But I didn’t move.
And she didn’t blink.
Something churned low in my stomach—annoyance, exhaustion … something hotter I refused to name.
Gosh, she drove me crazy.
Roxie Montgomery was the last person on the planet I wanted to talk to about this. About anything. She lived in a world I’d never been part of. Polished, confident, papered over with degrees and internships and a future she’d never have to question. She’d never worried about housing stipends or food budgets or how to keep a dream alive when the money ran out. She wouldn’t understand. She couldn’t.
Despite that?—
My eyes always found her.
