Page 24

He opens his hand. In his palm is the key to my dorm. “You dropped this.”

And now I feel like a total idiot, more than I did before.

“Thanks.” I take the key from him.

He raises his brows then jogs off without saying anything else.

I collect the air pod and wander over to a nearby tree. “I am turning into a total basket case.”

On a positive note, I ran three miles in seventeen minutes and forty five seconds. Not bad at all.

I attempt to focus on that as I do some stretches. It’s pushing toward nighttime, and I still have to jog back to the campus, so I’ll have to make it quick.

I slip off my beanie, set it on the ground, then press my hand against a tree trunk, only to wince from the pain of the scuffs. My other hand isn’t too bad so I switch and bend my leg to stretch out. I’m holding the pose when my gaze strays to a group of guys jogging through the entrance of the park.

They’re from the football team, and there’s a ton so they draw attention. Wylder is amongst them. I hate that I notice him but he’s hard to miss. His hair is pulled back in a bun and he’s sporting a tank top and athletic shorts. He’s chatting with one of his friends as they start jogging toward a grassy section located not too far from where I’m standing. They stop in that area and start to stretch.

I watch him as he plops down onto the grass and stretches out his legs. He’s tall and his legs are long and lean. His arms are too, but ink curls across his flesh in various shades of black. I’m not close enough that I can tell what his tattoos are, but he has an entire sleeve on one arm⁠—

His baby blues suddenly skate my way.

I divert my gaze quickly. What the hell was I just doing staring at him? Who gives a shit what his tattoos are? I don’t know what my problem is. So what if he talked to me for like five minutes in class and told me he noticed my eye color? It was such a cheesy line… Sort of. And he doesn’t need to be on my radar nor do I need to be on his.

I concentrate on stretching, switching legs. The song playing in my ears switches to the next and that’s when I feel someone move up beside me. I know who it is before even looking, but I look anyway.

Wylder is standing beside me. He has this sort of unsure smile on his face, like he’s uncertain if he should be approaching me. I’m feeling the exact same way as I remove one of my air pods

I pull out my air pods, tuck them in the pocket of my hoodie, and then look at him with what I’m sure is confusion.

“What’s up?” I ask, turning to face him.

He scratches at his elbow with hesitancy, like he can’t quite figure out why he came over her.

“I just wanted to come over and say hi,” he finally says, crossing his arms.

“Um… okay… hi.” I start to rotate back toward the tree to continue on with my stretches.

“So do you run sometimes?” he asks, drawing my attention back to him.

I have to struggle not to let an amused smile touch my lips. I run sometimes? “Yeah, sometimes.”

Perplexed amusement flickers in his eyes, probably because of my tone. “I’m not quite sure how you’re doing it, but that little amused smile makes me wonder if you’re teasing me about something right now.”

“Now why would I do that?” I’m definitely teasing him now.

“Because I think you find my confusion a bit amusing.” He gives a short, considering pause. “And maybe a little bit endearing.” Hope sparkles in his tone.

“I think that might be wishful thinking on your part.”

“Maybe. I was kind of hoping you’d just let me have it.”

I tap my finger against my lip. “Now why would I do that? It’s way too easy.”

He bites back a smile. “True. I guess I’ll just have to work harder.”

“For me to compliment you?” I question.

He nods and grins. “Yeah.”