Ruin (Ruin 1)

His hands were on my shoulders. Slowly, he turned me to face him and handed the map and my packet to me. “There you go. Remember what I said, no walking alone at night and smile wide.”

“I’ll try.”

“Don’t try.” His grip tightened on the packet. “Be smart. Walk in pairs. Use the buddy system. Don’t drink things that smell funny—”

“And don’t go into guy’s rooms alone, even if he is an RA.”

His smile fell. “Touché.”

I jerked my packet free from his hands and walked out.

“Use the elevator!” he called after me.

So that was how he did it. Bastard. I looked up. Sure enough there was a sign that pointed to the elevator. I went to press the down button and refused to look back, even though I knew his door was open and he was still staring at me.

Chapter Four

Embarrass myself in front of the hottest guy on the planet? Check.

Kiersten

“Where were you?” Lisa sounded outraged at my absence as she threw up her hands in surrender. “I looked everywhere! And Gabe couldn’t find you either!”

“Gabe?” I walked into the room.

Lisa pointed to the couch. “Gabe.”

“I’m Gabe.” A guy with dark hair that fell to his chin lifted his hand into the air in a wave. He had a nose ring and so many tattoos lining his arms that I thought I was going to have a seizure from all the moving parts.

“Hey.” I waved back. “Nice to meet you. And how was Gabe looking for me if he doesn’t know who I am?”

“Facebook.” Lisa shrugged. “I stalked you, pulled up your picture, pushed it into his face and—”

“Yelled,” Gabe interrupted. “She yelled. A bit of an exaggerator that one. She had it in her mind that you got kidnapped.”

“Sort of did,” I grumbled.

“What!” Lisa shrieked.

“Are you on drugs?” I leaned in to examine her eyes.

“Coffee,” Gabe offered. “She’s had enough to kill a person.”

“Who took you!” Lisa grabbed my arms.

“Me,” a voice said from the door. Aw crap, did he have a tracking device on me or something?

Lisa’s mouth dropped open. It looked like she was going to pass out. Even Gabe looked stunned. Okay, right, Weston was hot, but not hot enough to render both sexes speechless.

I turned on my heel. “What do you want?”

“Ooh, touchy. I like.” He gave a sloppy grin. “You left your purse.” He handed me my black Dooney and Burke. “I didn’t look through it, just so you know.”

Well, I hadn’t even thought about that possibility. My pills were in there. He’d probably label me a freak if he saw them. What kind of person needed meds to deal with her life? I did. I just wish I didn’t have to take them.

“Uh, thanks.” I tried dismissing him. Instead he looked around the room, his eyes seeming to focus on every single detail from the paint to the carpet, and then finally, he stepped back out into the hallway. “Oh!” He held up his hand. “I almost forgot.”

Weston pulled a sharpie from his pocket and snatched my hand before I was able to put it back into my pocket. With swift movements he wrote a phone number onto my palm and blew across it until it dried.