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Expulsion? Hardin can’t get expelled from school! Oh my God, this is a mess.
“He’s my son,” Ken says quietly, and I take a sly step closer to them.
“I know he is, but assaulting a professor and damaging school property isn’t something we can just brush aside,” the man says.
Damn Hardin and his temper. “This is a disaster,” I tell Landon, and he nods sullenly.
I want to throw myself on the floor and cry, or better yet, I want to stomp over to Hardin’s cell and punch him in his face. Neither of those things will help.
“Maybe you should talk to Zed about not pressing charges?” Landon suggests.
“Hardin will freak out if I go anywhere near him.” Not that I should even listen to him, since he doesn’t listen to me.
“I know,” Landon replies, “but I don’t know what else to suggest at this point.”
“I guess you’re right.” I look back at Ken, then down the hall, to where Hardin is.
Hardin is my first priority, but I do feel awful for what he did to Zed, who I hope is going to be okay. Maybe if I go talk to him he’ll decide not to press charges, which would at least eliminate one problem.
“Where is he? Do you know?” I ask Landon.
“I think I overheard them say he’s at Grandview Hospital.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll go there first.”
“Do you need a ride back to your car?”
“Shit. I didn’t drive.”
Landon digs his hand into his pocket and hands me his keys. “Here. Just drive carefully.”
I smile at my best friend. “Thanks.”
I have no idea what I would do without him, but since he’s leaving soon, I guess I’ll have to find out. The thought saddens me but I push it back; I can’t think about Landon’s leaving right now.
“I’ll go talk to Hardin and let him know what’s going on.”
“Thank you again.” I wrap my arms around Landon’s neck in a tight hug.
Just as I reach the door Hardin’s voice booms down the hall. “Tessa! Don’t you fucking dare go find him!” he screams. I ignore him and open the double doors.
“I mean it, Tessa! Come back in here!”
The cold air drowns out his loud voice as I walk outside. How dare he tell me what to do like that? Who does he think he is? He’s made a huge mess because he can’t control his temper and jealousy. I’m trying to help clean up this mess. He’s lucky I didn’t slap him for breaking his promise to me. God, he’s so frustrating.
WHEN I ARRIVE at Grandview, the woman at the nurse’s station doesn’t want to give me any information on Zed. She won’t confirm if he’s here now or tell me if he’s been here at all.
“He’s my boyfriend and I really need to see him,” I tell the young bottle blonde.
She obnoxiously pops her chewing gum and twirls a lock of her hair between her fingers. “He’s your boyfriend? The kid with all the tattoos?” She laughs, obviously not believing me.
“Yes. He is.” My tone is clipped, nearly threatening, and I’m surprised at how intimidating I actually manage to sound.
It must work, because she shrugs and says, “Go down the hall and make a right. First door on the left,” before wandering off.
Well, that wasn’t too hard. I should be more forceful more often. I do as she told me and approach the first door on the left. It’s closed, so I knock lightly before entering. I hope she told me the right room.
Zed is sitting on the edge of a hospital bed. He’s shirtless, wearing only jeans and socks. His face.
“Oh my God!” I can’t help but blurt out as I take in his appearance.
His nose is broken; I already knew that, but it looks so bad. It’s so swollen and both his eyes are black. His chest is covered in bandages; the set of stars inked just below his collarbones is the only thing not covered in bandages or cuts.
“Are you okay?” I walk over to the bed. I hope he’s not angry with me for coming here, to the hospital; this is my fault, after all.
“Not really,” Zed says timidly. He lets out a deep breath and ruffles his hair before opening his eyes. He pats the bed next to him and I walk over to sit beside him.
“I’m so sorry for this. Will you tell me what happened?”
Zed’s caramel eyes meet mine and he nods. “I was in the lab—not the one I showed you, but our plant tissue lab—and he came in there and started telling me to stay away from you.”
“Then what?”
“I told him he doesn’t own you and he slammed my head against a metal bar.” I flinch at his words, looking at his nose.
“Did you tell him you slept with me?” I ask, unsure whether I believe this or not.
“Yeah. I did. I’m really sorry for saying that, but you have to understand he was attacking me, and I knew that was the only way to get to him. I feel like such an asshole for saying it. I’m really sorry, Tessa.”
“He promised me that he’d stay away from you if I did, too,” I tell him.
“Well, looks like he broke another promise, didn’t he?” he says pointedly.
I stay quiet for a minute and try to put the fight together in my head. I’m angry at Zed for telling Hardin we slept together, but I’m glad he admitted it and apologized. I don’t know which of these boys to be more angry with. It’s hard to be angry at Zed as he sits here with so many injuries that I basically caused, and despite all of that he’s still being so kind to me.