Page 9

Rolling my eyes, I start for the door again. I’m annoyed—he’s annoying. Okay, well, that’s how I’m trying to feel. Really, I feel off my game and I don’t like it at all.

“Hey, wait up for a second,” he calls out as I’m pushing out the door.

Sighing, I rotate around to face him. “Dude, I know you’re probably not used to this, so here’s a lesson. When a woman walks away from you, it’s generally because she wants to walk away from you.”

He shakes his head with an amused smile.

I don’t like the look at all. Most guys do not like my smartass mouth, and I like it that way. It’s a defense mechanism I built after the end of my sophomore year when everything went to shit in my life. I made a promise back to them after spending a month in bed crying that I would never, ever let myself get into the same situation again, the one where I would be at risk for getting shattered by a guy.

“You know that’s stereotyping me again,” he says, crossing his arms.

I take a sip of my coffee. “Am I wrong?”

He chews on his bottom lip. “Okay, you’re not wrong about this one.”

I lean against the glass door to push it open. “See, sometimes you can stereotype.”

“Maybe,” he agrees as the door opens and a breeze gusts in. “However, I really did want to talk to you about something.”

I pause as I’m stepping outside, confusion sweeping through me. “What?”

“About your friend.” He fiddles with the drawstring on his hoodie. “I wanted to see if she was okay. Last night had to be rough on her.”

I am studying him closely, curious if he’s being genuine. He looks the part, but I don’t know… He’s friends with the guy who crushed the hell out of Zayla’s heart.

“Are you being serious?” I wonder.

He nods. “Of course I’m being serious. I might hang out with Ollie sometimes, but what happened last night was completely messed up.”

“It was.” I’m still unsure if he’s being genuine. That probably makes me come off as a suspicious psycho, but I can’t help it.

I learned the hard way that while a guy can seem like a dream come true, a monster can be thriving underneath their pretty smiles and flawlessly put together words.

“I know,” he agrees. “Is she okay?”

I waver, unsure what to tell him. The truth is she isn’t, but I highly doubt Zayla would be okay with me telling him that.

“She’s okay. A little bit hungover, which is why I got this for her.” I hold up the other coffee. “But thanks for asking about her.” Before he can say anything else, I step outside, calling over my shoulder, “I’ll see you around I guess.”

I hurry off down the sidewalk before he can say anything else to me. I’ve spent the entire year not interacting with him and I plan on keeping things that way. Because for starters, why do I need to talk to him? We’re not friends. Secondly, I’m not even sure why he’s being so persistent about chatting with me when he’s never paid me any attention before. And lastly, being seen with a guy like Wylder means my lowkey status would go bye-bye.

It does leave me wondering what on earth his deal is, though? Is he really just a nice guy or is it an act? Does he want something from me? Or Zayla? If so, what?

God, I’m a suspicious shit, aren’t I? But I can’t help it. It’s engrained into every space in my memory that comes from the tragedy that struck the first day of summer that very year.

Six months. That’s all it took for me to go from a trusting, fun, nice person, do the suspicions, doesn’t-give-a-shit-about-anything one that exists now.

Six months. That’s it. That’s all it took for him to ruin my life and hers.

And everything changed after that. I no longer trust anyone really. It can be both a good thing and an awful one, depending on how I look at it. It keeps me safe, but Zayla might be right—I am lonely.

I’m pondering that thought as I cross the street. When I reach the other side, my phone makes a buzzing sound from inside my pocket. It’s a weird sort of sound I don’t think I’ve ever heard before. Confused, I stop by a table in the park that lines the road, put the coffees down on it, and fish my phone out from my pocket.

It’s a message from the university's emergency notification system. I remember clicking the approval box when I was signing papers to attend her that allowed the school to send me messages through the system but this is the first time I’ve received one.

I read through it then a heavy weight lands on my chest. A woman has gone missing. According to the brief message, her name is Ivy, she’s a freshman, and she was last seen at a party last night. There’s also a note that she’s not officially been listed as a missing person.

So then why did they send out the text?