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“Thanks, Rosie.” Kamryn tried to hide the ire in her tone, but she wasn’t sure she managed it. She shook their hands quickly after handing over the shots and then held hers. Did she reallywant to take it? She was already drunk, and she was going to have to call for a ride back to the school before she tried not to let the students who were in the dormitory in on the fact that she was drunk. She really should have thought this through better.

“Kam was just telling us about her new girlfriend. She’s here, right?” Rosie sneered again, her nose wrinkling and her upper lip rising. “Or does she even exist?”

“She exists,” Kamryn said, doubling down on her lie. She was going to die when the truth came out, and she’d never live it down in her circle of friends. Luckily Greer and Andra would probably laugh about it later when it wasn’t so fresh and stressful.

“Then where is she?”

Kamryn laughed, shaking her head. She was never one who was very good at lying. It had been her downfall throughout her entire life. Lauren, however, was very good at lying and keeping secrets. Kamryn looked up, her gaze meeting none other than Elia Sharpe’s cool blue eyes. Elia didn’t look very happy. Her cheeks were hollowed, her lips pursed, and she was walking very purposely in their direction.

There had been rumors all those years ago about Elia Sharpe being a lesbian, but they’d never been confirmed. Coming back to the school, Kamryn had known they’d been true. She was wiser now, and more aware of things going on around her. At least, she liked to think that sometimes.

Elia was four steps away.

Surely Elia would save her this time. She’d saved Kamryn many times over the years, and that moment of kindness when she’d offered an orientation kept coming back to Kamryn’s mind asthatbeing the true Elia Sharpe.

Tipping her head back, Kamryn swallowed the last shot in two gulps before tossing the cup in the trash. She walked directly up to Elia, clasping a hand on her arm to stop her forwardmotion and leaned into her ear. Her heart hammered so loudly she swore the entire town could hear it.

Elia would save her.

That was the only thought than ran through her crazy, alcohol-riddled mind. Kamryn paused when she sucked in a breath, getting a deep scent of Elia’s subtle shampoo, the coconut that wafted off her and straight into Kamryn’s belly. This wouldn’t mean anything. Elia hated her. And Kamryn was beyond trying to get Elia to like her. She didn’t need it. She was only going to be at Windermere for this first semester and then she would have to head on to find a new job somewhere.

“Please just go with it,” Kamryn whispered, her lips brushing the soft skin of Elia’s earlobe.

It was everything she hoped for in five simple words. Backing away slowly, before she could lose her gumption and face the lie that she’d told—or rather face Rosie and the lie at the same time—Kamryn moved in again.

“I’m not—”

Kamryn kissed her. She moved in, pressing their mouths together and cutting off the objection or the confusion that she knew Elia was about to have. She kept her grip on Elia’s wrist strong, but she moved her other hand up and threaded her fingers into Elia’s hair, tangling the strands and holding onto her even tighter.

When Kamryn expected Elia to pull away, she didn’t. She parted her lips, opening for more. Kamryn closed her eyes, tilting backward and pulling Elia with her and deeper into the kiss. There was no way a straight woman would kiss another woman like this—there was something queer going on here, and Kamryn had confirmed it. Although that hadn’t been her intention.

All she’d wanted was for Elia to save her.

To save her from the embarrassment of standing in front of the ex she swore she was still in love with, but also the ex’s new girlfriend, who was just a snotty brat with a mean streak ten miles wide. Kamryn shivered, stepping closer to Elia and deeper into her embrace as Elia’s hands came up and surrounded her, held her there.

Their tongues touched and tangled. It was tentative at first, but then Elia let out a gentle and sweet moan that Kamryn was never going to forget. No music from the band or chatter from the crowd would ever cover that up.

Elia gasped and pulled away, still holding onto Kamryn.

Save me…

But Kamryn was pretty damn sure that she didn’t say that out loud.

“So you’re her new girlfriend.” Rosie’s voice grated on Kamryn’s nerves, and Kamryn tensed. There were people surrounding them. Lauren was here. She’d just witnessed—fuck, what had Kamryn done? She was such an idiot.

Elia turned away from Kamryn, the confusion she’d had on her face masked in an instant. Although her look hardened shortly after. Kamryn followed Elia’s gaze to where it landed on Lauren. Shit.

“Dr. Sharpe,” Lauren said, pursing her lips and shaking her head. “I didn’t expect this.”

“I didn’t expect to see you here either,” Elia answered, those cool tones filling her voice again.

Kamryn wanted to crawl into a hole and never emerge now. She wanted to crawl away, hide, pretend nothing of tonight had happened.

“What’s it been? Twenty years?”

“Almost—in the spring. I was planning on going to the reunion.” Lauren sounded amused now.

“You two know each other?” Rosie asked.