Ritual - Palm South University

Why hadn’t Brandon mentioned her to me?

Then again, why would he?

I’ve been off work for three weeks. I’ve repeatedly told him not to talk about work around me because it was my break, my time off, my vacation.

Now, I’m back.

And apparently, there’s a new girl in town.

Sophie waves him off, blushing — and I swear to God, my fists curl at my sides at the sight of those stupid red cheeks.

“You’re too kind, Mr. Church,” she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she peeks up at him through her lashes.

Yes, peeks up at him, like a shy little girl.

“I’ll get these reports on your desk by the end of the day,” she says, patting the binder in her hands. Then, she turns to me, and there’s a glint of something in her eyes when she smiles. “It was so nice to meet you, Ashlei. I look forward to working together.”

I smile, too. “Yes, you too, Sophie.”

With one last little wave of her fingers, she’s gone, and Brandon pulls me into his arms for a kiss that distracts me long enough to forget why my chest was tight in the first place.

Why did I just feel threatened by a freaking intern?

I shake my head at myself, wrapping my arms around Brandon’s neck with a sigh. “Hi,” I say.

“Hey, you. How’s the first day back going?”

“It’s busy,” I admit. “Took all morning just to catch up on emails and get my calendar in order. I’m about to walk into my first meeting, but I wanted to see you first.”

“I’m glad you stopped by,” he says, releasing me and putting a work-appropriate distance between us. “We still on for dinner tonight?”

“You bet your sweet ass, we are.”

He chuckles. “Good luck at your first meeting, babe.”

My heart flutters at the pet name, and he leans in to kiss my cheek before rounding his desk to get back to work. I’m almost to the door of his office when I turn again, watching him, something pulling at a string tied around my chest.

He stops typing, looking at me with a frown. “Everything okay?”

There’s a question looming inside that aching chest of mine, but I can’t quite figure out what it is. All I do know is that it was born from jealousy.

And that that jealousy is unfounded.

So, I force a breath and smile, shaking my head. “Just taking one last look at my hot boyfriend.”

Brandon rolls his eyes, balling up a piece of notebook paper on his desk and throwing it at me. I catch it and toss it up in the air before pretending to slam-dunk it in the waste bin by his door.

“See you tonight, cheese ball.”

“Tonight,” I echo.

And I ignore what’s left of that burning question as I make my way down the hall to my meeting.MY BEST FRIEND IS out of orbit.

I’ve been suspicious of it since the summer, when he all but ignored me. And once we got back to school for fall semester, I knew it was true. He’s too quiet, too broody, too shut off. He’s not cracking jokes or cracking beers, and both are tell-tale signs that he’s not okay.

Which is exactly why I’m flopped on the bean bag in Clinton’s room while his legs hang off his bed above me, both of our eyes fixed on his television screen. We’re both silent, save for the clicking of buttons as we play some stupid video game that I only marginally understand.

But that silence is about to be broken, because I’m tired of pretending like everything is fine.

“So,” I say as our characters traipse through the mystical woods of another world in search of our next mission. “How are classes going so far?”

Clinton grunts in lieu of an answer.

“That good, huh?”

No answer.

“You been spending a lot of time with Becca?”

Again, he doesn’t answer, and when I glance at him, he just shrugs.

“How’s Baby Bear?” I ask, referring to his little brother.

“Seems good.”

I sigh, pausing the game before I pop up off the bean bag and sit on the bed next to him. He scowls at the screen, trying to restart the game on his own controller, but since I’m the one who paused it, the play remains frozen.

“Bear, can we stop? Please?”

“Stop playing?”

I narrow my eyes. “Yes. The video game and whatever game it is you’ve been playing since last semester.” I relax my glare on a sigh, reaching over to squeeze his forearm — which is so buff from all his working out that I can barely squeeze it at all. “Something is going on. Talk to me.”

Bear drops his shoulder and the controller at that, a long exhale leaving his giant chest as he scrubs his hands over his face. When his hands fall, he stares at the paused television screen, opening his mouth before he closes it again.