“Yeah well, Erin couldn’t make it today, and you do know your apartment is on my way home, right? You just never invite me over anymore.” She makes a face at me, scrunching up her nose and sticking out her tongue.
It takes the sting off her words. And she’s right. I hang my head. “Sorry.”
“You know, all that talk about boys... I never meant to pressure you.” She grips my hand hard and sincerity shines in her blue eyes. “Often—okay, most of the time—I open my big mouth and spew whatever’s on my mind. I know this is all too much, the new place, the college... I’ve been here all my life and I have trouble imagining how hard it must be. And I want to be there for you.”
I smile, grateful. “I’m sorry I’m such a pain in the butt. I’ll try to be more sociable.”
“That’s my girl. I’ll go make us some hot cocoa.”
I watch her go, and glance involuntarily at the door through which Ash vanished once more. The whole evening feels surreal. I wonder if I’ve dreamed it, but my foot throbs and I can still smell Ash, the light musk of his skin, the citrusy scent of his shampoo. He’d been here. He’d really been here.
And he left, because...
A terrible suspicion sneaks into my head. What if he overheard what Tessa said about me hating him? Tessa said it teasingly, but how would Ash know that?
The thought bothers me as Tessa returns with the steaming mugs and takes her seat beside me.
“So spill,” she chirps. “What happened to your ankle and how did Ash find you?”
I hesitate. It’s all still fresh and raw and his departure stings. “I will. But I have an essay to write. If you could just bring me my books and my laptop here on the sofa, then I won’t have to turn my assignment in late.”
Tessa pouts. “Audrey Celine Morrison, are you serious? Now that I’m here and you’re stranded, you think I’ll let you off the hook? I need details, woman, about the encounter with hot and troublesome. Come on.”
Hot. Yeah, the boy’s hot, and he’s trouble all right, I can’t deny it any longer. “Okay, fine.”
So I tell Tessa what happened on campus. She goes from grinning to horrified, her eyes round like coins. “Crap, Audrey. I’m buying you a pepper spray first thing tomorrow. Did you let campus security know about the attack?”
I shake my head. It didn’t even cross my mind.
“Do that. And don’t you ever walk through the campus alone at night.”
I swear I won’t. I’d be too scared to do so after tonight anyway. There won’t always be someone—Ash—to save me.
I keep seeing how he dealt with my attackers, the power in his body, the controlled coiling and uncoiling of muscles, the smooth movements. The way he clutched me to his chest afterward.
Stop it. I struggle to focus on other matters.
“You should call him,” Tessa says, and it takes me a moment to figure out who she means.
“Ash?”
“Who else, dummy?”
I shake my head but I’m considering it. Whatever made him leave without a word, I should make sure he knows... What? That I don’t hate him?
I don’t, do I?
I never have, in fact. I was hurt by his rejection and then horrified that his dad was the one to destroy my life. Because I care for Ash.
Wow. Talk about a wake up call.
“Send me his number,” I say. “I may call him.”
She actually squeals and fishes her cell out of her tiny purse. “Coming your way right now.”
“I said I may call him. May. Calm down.”
She slides her fingertips on the touch screen of her phone, sending me the number. My phone beeps inside my bag as it receives the message. “Just talk to him, all right? I think...”