Inseparable

“Like what?” I pressed.

“I went to the same high school as him. He was in a year above me. When I was in my freshman year, his sister went missing. As in abducted. She was only, like, six or seven or something,” Gem shook her head, “He went crazy after that. Went from being a nice guy to always in trouble, always picking fights.”

“Wow,” I breathed. My heart went out to him. At least I’d had closure with Abby. He never would have had that with his sister. I didn’t blame him for losing the plot. Losing a loved one was a big thing to have to go through, especially when you're only a kid.

“There’s more,” Gem added, “So by senior year in high school, he was under control. Focused. A completely different person. Come freshman year at Fairhaven, he is one of the top boxers in the country for his age, popular…then one day, he quits,” Gem shrugged her shoulders as if she still trying to understand herself.

“Nobody sees him for like months, now suddenly, he’s back, but he is pretty much a recluse. Keeps completely to himself. Never goes out. He used to have women hanging off him. Now, you never see him with anyone.”

Gem’s description pretty much matched what Kella had told me to the tee. Definitely plenty of reason to stay away from this guy, no matter how attractive I thought he was. Abby’s words repeated themselves in the back of my mind, and strange as it was, if my dead sister thought he was okay, then maybe I should give him a chance.

Maybe I’d keep that thought to myself though.

After a somewhat boring class, I waited until the whole hall had emptied out. Or more to the point, I waited until Dane had left. I spied him out of the corner of my eye as walked towards the exit, the sight of him had my heart rate increasing. What the hell was wrong with me?

Lily, behave

He was almost out the door when he turned around and began walking in my direction. What was he doing? I quickly kicked my crutches under the seat next to me. The good thing about these seats was I could hide my leg quite well by crossing my good leg over the other and moving them slightly back under my seat.

“Hey,” Dane stood in the row behind me, leaning against the chair next to me, his voice as smooth and as sexy as I remembered, “I just realized I never introduced myself the other day, but you already know my name, right?” He said, grinning. My face flamed. I was going to kill Gem.

“Yes, I overhead the admin lady say your name the other day,” I fibbed.

“Right,” He said slowly, his smile widening, “So, if you already knew my name, you must have been talking to your friend about me,” He waited for me to answer, his eyebrows raised. He had me, and he knew it.

“I may have been telling my friend about the guy that barreled into me,” I admitted frostily.

“Barreled into you?” He laughed, “I stepped back, and you didn’t move!” He exclaimed laughing. That was true, but I couldn’t admit that to him.

“Don’t you have another class to get to?” I asked, so badly wanting this conversation to be over.

He laughed, “I do actually,” He said, straightening up, “So, you know my name and all that. Do I get to know yours?” He asked.

“Lily,” I finally answered, deciding there was no harm in him knowing my name.

“Well Lily, I had better be going,” He turned to walk away, then turned back suddenly, “Lily, do you want to grab a coffee with me later?”

“I can’t,” I said, swallowing hard, “I’m meeting someone.” It wasn’t a complete lie, I was supposed to meet Kella. Besides, I still didn’t want him to see my foot. Dane nodded, my rejection not appearing to faze him in the slightest.

“See you next time, Lily,” He said, flashing me a smile as he left the hall.

I waited ten minutes before I moved, nearly falling off my chair trying to retrieve my crutches. The last thing I needed in my life right now was a guy. Especially a guy with more baggage than me. I hobbled out the door, toward the cafeteria where I was meeting Kella.

Chapter Four

“Lil!”

I followed the sound of the voice and spotted Kella sitting at a table with a cute guy. I smiled as I made my way over. After looking at the line for food, I’d decided to go hungry, and maybe raid the vending machine instead.

“Hey,” I said breathlessly, putting aside my crutches and sinking into a seat. My foot ached, as did my arms.

“What happened?” The guy asked, alarmed.

“I, uh, tripped over,” I lied. I glared at Kella as a snort escaped from her mouth. She smiled back innocently.

“How was sociology?” She asked, reaching for a chip, nodding for me to help myself. I gratefully took a few; my stomach had begun making loud noises that were getting hard to cover up.

“Good. I made a friend,” I said, covering my mouth while I chewed. I eyed her friend again. He was cute. Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes. From the way Kella’s armed was positioned under I was pretty sure she had her hand in his lap.