"Okay."
She doesn't leave, instead just watches me walk into my class.
The seats are almost full as I scan my eyes around the room, hoping like hell my eyes don’t find him.
Spotting an empty seat about halfway back, I hitch my purse up higher and make my way there as the professor begins introducing himself and what today's class will entail.
I can't have taken more than ten steps before a tingle of awareness races down my spine.
He's watching me.
As discreetly as I can, I look around the room trying to find him, but I'm unsuccessful. All I find are eager students listening to whatever is being said at the front of the class.
My blood is still whooshing in my ears long after I sit down and get my books out. I try my best to focus and get my head around what this semester has in store for me in this class but all I can see are his blue eyes as he stared at me in the hallway.
He looked exactly as he did that night. Like he left and wasn't affected by what happened between us.
Why should he? It's not like we saw each other or even spoke after that night.
The second he heard the sirens in the distance, he bolted, leaving me there in the dark forest, damn near glued into that muddy puddle he'd fucked me in.
I was a mess. If only I knew that it was a sign of what was to come, it might not have felt so bad.
Hindsight is a great thing because if I had known what was going down in Skye's house then I might have swallowed down my pride and walked back inside to find my sister.
But I didn't. I fixed my dress the best I could, got in my car, and made my way home, confident that Harley would be safe with Kyle and the others. She doesn't need babying, we're all Harrow Creek kids and we know how to look after ourselves.
But if I had known…
I try to swallow down the messy ball of emotion that clogs my throat.
I have so many regrets from that night. There are so many things that shouldn't have happened and what went down between Kane and me was only one of them.
Harley ended up in the hospital being questioned by police and Kyle ended up in juvie.
No doubt he blames all of that on me along with the already very long line of crimes he thinks I'm guilty of.
I let out a shaky sigh as images from my past play out in my head like a freaking movie.
It's two hours later when our professor brings the class to a close after explaining our first assignment but I haven’t heard a word of it. I breathe a small sigh of relief when he tells us that notes will be online shortly because I have no clue as to what's happened this morning.
Everyone around me begins packing up their things and making their way toward the exit but I find myself frozen to the spot.
Still, my skin prickles with awareness telling me that he's still here.
Why can't he just leave with everyone else, forget I exist and continue on with his life.
Out of nowhere West and Brax's comment from this morning hits me.
"New guy turned up and caused havoc."
Holy shit, Luca.
He hates Kane almost as much as I do. Something I never discouraged during my time in Rosewood, although I never confessed to the feeling being mutual. I made a point of being busy every time the Bears and the Harriers had a game and I never once mentioned my connection to him aside from us being at school together. Neither of them ever asked either, not that I'd have told them the truth if they had. I'd run away from my high school bully and that was the end of it. I was just glad that the Bears ruined the Harriers every time they played. It made everything feel a little better in my head.
But now… now he's here and if he's on the team.
Fuck.
This is not good.
No.
This is really, really fucking bad.
5
Kane
I find myself a seat at the very back of the auditorium and sink into the shadows as more students pour in behind me, filling the seats around me.
The room around me spins and blurs into nothing as I try to get my head around what just happened out in the hall.
She's here.
Scarlett Hunter is at MKU and looking like she's about to attend class.
But she goes to Columbia. Or at least, she did.
I haven’t seen or heard from her since that night. But my brother is dating her little sister. How didn't I know this?
Probably the same reason why they don't know you're attending, asshole, a little voice pipes up in my head.
I never meant to hide college from Kyle, from anyone really. But the thought of saying it out loud and then it all falling through at the last minute terrified me. Everything I've done these past few years has all been to get here, to provide my brother and me with a better life but to get here, I've relied on others coming through on promises they could quite easily break. The risk was too high and I didn't want to get Kyle's hopes up. He already thinks he had a hand in ruining my life when he went down that night.
If I'd told him then I might have gotten the heads up I needed about her being here. Or word would have got back to her that I would be and she'd have changed her mind.
I let out a sigh as I think about the woman who’s consumed so many of my thoughts over the years. There were so many differences between that woman outside this room and the one at that party eighteen months ago.
When I first clocked her at the other end of the hall, I didn't even think it was her, just my mind playing games with me.
But the closer I got, I knew, my body knew.
Her face was thinner, her cheeks hollow and her complexion pale. Her body was so much thinner than it was the night I had my hands on her and my immediate reaction was concern. Something has clearly happened to her, but then I remembered everything she's done to me, all the ways she hurt me, and the anger decimated the concern and raced to the surface.
I clench my fists over and over, trying to expel some of the pent-up anger but it does little to help. I need to get up, to move to go and punch something—or someone. Luca fucking Dunn is top of that list after the drama he caused with Coach this morning, accusing him of breaking the NCAA rules by letting me in as he has. That really ticked Coach off because everyone knows that Coach Butler never does anything against the regulations. It just shows how much trust he has in Coach. I expected him to question me, but I didn't think he'd be quite that angry about my arrival.
It was hard not to smile as we all heard Luca shouting his frustrations at his leader and threatening to go to the athletic director about the decision.
His reaction was everything—and more—than I expected. And now, running into Letty. Well, today couldn't actually get much better.
I shift in my chair, still fighting to keep a lid on things as our professor begins his lecture. I've got my pen poised and ready to start at least one class the way I'd like when the side door opens and a familiar figure steps into the auditorium.
Most are too focused on Professor Nelson to notice the late arrival, although he gives her a hard stare as she makes her way into the room.
Unlike out in the hall, she's got her head held high and her shoulders squared.
I barely manage to contain my laughter at her attempt to look in control.
Clearly, she's forgotten that around me, she has zero control.
I watch her every move, wishing like hell I could easily get up and make my way to sit near her, anything just to torment her a little.