Campus Player

A haughty look enters her eyes as she sniffs. “Well, I’m not most girls.”

True that.

“I’ll be honest, after we ran into him at that party, I kind of wondered if there might be a little something-something going on between you two. You had that whole I-hate-you-but-I-secretly-want-to-sleep-with-you vibe going on.” Although now that I think about it, Brayden wasn’t acting that way. He was needling her, trying his best to solicit a reaction. Kind of like an elementary school boy would do to a girl he liked.

She makes a choking noise deep in her throat. “I have way too much self-respect to ever get tangled up with such a manwhore, and quite frankly, after the whole Ethan situation, I’m taking a timeout from the dating game. I need to get my head on straight.”

In a surprising plot twist, Sydney and Ethan haven’t mended their broken relationship. It’s been a little more than two weeks. This is the longest they’ve ever gone without getting back together again.

“That’s probably a smart decision.”

She chews her lower lip before reluctantly admitting, “I saw him the other day walking to class with another girl.”

Ouch. It doesn’t matter if she’s the one who pulled the plug on the relationship, seeing your ex with another person still stings.

“I’m sorry, Syd,” I say gently. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

Sadness flashes in her eyes as she shakes her head. “No. The thing is, it hurt to see him but not nearly as much as I assumed it would. It didn’t make me want to call him up and get back together again.” She pauses, as if thinking about what she’s admitted before her gaze refocuses on me. “That’s got to mean something, right?”

“I think it means you made the right decision where Ethan is concerned.”

“Yeah.” A small sigh escapes from her. “I think you’re probably right. For a while, we were really good together. And then we weren’t. Now that I’m looking back, I think we hung on for too long. We should have broken up a while ago.” She jerks her shoulders as if unsure what the correct answer is. “But it was comfortable, you know? It was easy.”

Easy?

That’s not the term I would use to describe their relationship.

When I give her a get-the-hell-out-of-town look, her lips twitch, and a few chuckles escape. “All right, maybe not easy, but you know what I mean. No matter what, Ethan’s a good guy, and I always knew what to expect from him.”

“He’s definitely a good guy,” I agree.

“Just not for me,” she tacks on almost regretfully.

I nod, understanding the mix of emotions she’s experiencing.

“The plan is to focus on school and soccer for the time being. The last thing I need is a man fucking up the works.”

“Sounds smart. We can do it together.”

“The celibate sisters,” she adds with a grin. “I like it. We’ll get T-shirts.” Sydney slips her phone out of her pocket and glances at it before the lightheartedness she’d managed to find drains away. “All right, I’ve got to go meet up with WU’s very own manwhore.”

“See you later,” I call after her as she grabs her bag and heads to the door. “Try not to kill him.”

“I’m not making any promises!” she shouts before disappearing into the hallway. Less than a minute later, there’s a knock.

I jump from the couch and pad into the tiny entryway before opening the door. “Back already? What did you—”

My voice dies a quick death when I realize it’s not my roommate. Instead, I find Rowan standing on the other side of the threshold. The sight of him has me hugging the door frame a little closer to my body.

“Hi.” He shoves his hands into the pockets of his khakis. There’s a ball cap pulled low over his eyes, and even though there’s a definite chill to the air, he’s wearing a black T-shirt that hugs his biceps.

In other words, he looks amazing. The magnetic attraction that always hums beneath the surface when we’re together explodes to life with a vengeance. It’s so tempting to reach out and pull him to me. Instead of giving in to the urge, I squeeze the door a little harder.

“Hey.” My heart slams painfully against my ribcage. I’ve seen him in class and caught glimpses of him around campus, but we haven’t been this close in a while. When he remains silent, I clear my throat and attempt to turn off the tangle of emotions slyly wrapping their way around me. “What are you doing here?”

“I was hoping we could talk.”

An image of Annica hanging all over him flashes through my head. A pit of nausea blooms at the bottom of my belly, and I force myself to straighten my shoulders. “After more than a week of silence, I don’t think we have anything to discuss.”