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“You mean, he’s a student here?” Logan asked. “But he looks like he’s ten years old.”

“Looks ten. Acts eight.” Bailey sighed. “He’s sixteen and some boy genius or something like that, except the kid’s cracked if you asked me. He spies on everyone from under the front stairs, and if you try to talk nicely to him, he always ends up insulting your intelligence. Paige is the only person who can get him to behave slightly normal.”

“Who else here thinks he’s exactly like Plato off Rebel Without a Cause?” Tess asked, raising her own hand.

“Off what?” Bailey arched her strange look.

“Rebel Without a Cause. You know, that old classic movie with James Dean.”

“Yeah. Who here has actually seen Rebel Without a Cause?”

This time, no one put a hand in the air.

“Well, the day we find him on the top of a roof, waving a gun at everyone, don’t you come running to me and say I told you so, because…because I told you so.”

After sharing a look with Logan, Bailey cracked off a laugh. “Oh my God, you are so drunk you said that all wrong.”

Tess frowned. “I did?”

Looping her arm around Tess’s shoulder, Bailey chuckled again. “Yeah, you did. Come on, lush. Let’s get you inside.” Gesturing at Logan, she said, “Thanks for the ride, Dave, or Logan, or whoever you are.”

He watched them head in and then glanced around the now-deserted yard. He definitely couldn’t claim it had been a boring evening. Looking up at Grammar Hall, he wondered which room Paige was in now. He pictured her tucking the strange kid college student into his crib and telling him some kind of bedtime story.

This nurturing side of her was a new development. The lady certainly came in many layers, and he’d seen his fair share of them tonight alone. Jokester, warrior, temptress, nurturer.

What was worse, all of them intrigued him.

As he returned to the DD-mobile, he shook his head, his mind wandering back to that costume she’d worn.

Reggie Oates had to be the biggest idiot on earth. He’d had the most gorgeous girl in all Granton by his side tonight and he’d blown it. Logan knew he should feel bad that her date had bombed, but he just couldn’t summon the oomph. Whistling quietly to himself, he climbed into the car.

If he’d been honored enough to go to a party with her, he certainly would have paid attention to her.

Hell, he felt honored just getting to drive her home. His lips twitched with pleasure because not only had she been around him and not hated on him, but she’d actually smiled, teased him, and thanked him for the ride. Things were definitely looking up.

If he’d never learned her alcoholic father had physically scarred her, tonight might actually have ended up a being spectacular.

Chapter Sixteen

OCTOBER WORKED ITS WAY into November, and the weather grew colder as the days grew shorter.

Reggie stopped flirting with Paige in Geography. Either he must’ve known he’d lost her after the Halloween flop, or he’d lost interest himself. Whatever the case, he now sat by a stunning Latina near the back of the class and made her giggle all hour while Presni tried to give his dry lectures.

Despite all that, she wasn’t depressed. Her B in Chemistry rose to an A. And Einstein’s tormentors gave up on him altogether, finding fresh prey in another dorm building.

Mariah met a guy she liked enough that she actually entered a monogamous relationship, and her rare visits to the dorm room stopped altogether after she packed all her clothes and moved in with Gavin.

Bailey became determined to find Mariah’s castoff cowboy. She dragged Tess and Paige outside every free evening they had together so they could walk the campus, scouting for him.

And all the while, Paige looked for Logan Xander. She didn’t spot him once. Her obsession had gotten almost as bad as Bailey’s. She scanned for even a glimpse of him everywhere she went, and it wasn’t to hide from him either. There was just something about the hard-working, protective, strong-willed, tortured loner that drew her, like they were kindred spirits, though that couldn’t be possible. They were supposed to be complete opposites.

When Thanksgiving break rolled around, she packed a few days’ worth of clothes into her beaten down old car and limped it five hours back to Creighton County.

Though she still talked to Kayla over the phone, she’d spoken to her father only a handful of times all semester to check in on him. But every time she had called, he’d seemed too inconvenienced to hear from her. She’d finally stopped altogether and didn’t even bother to let him know when she’d get home for the holiday.

The house was quiet when she slipped in the back door late Tuesday night after she’d driven straight from her last class.

Too quiet. It reminded her of the day she’d come home and found her mom lying in a pool of her own blood.