Page 38 of Atone

“Patience, slow down.” I jog to catch up with her.

“Sorry.” She shakes her head, frazzled.

“What’s going on? Talk to me.” I grab her hand and walk beside her. “Why are you in such a rush?”

She rolls her shoulders back, trying to school her expression. “My parents are probably just messing with my head.”

“What did they say to you?”

“That Alex left Montgomery.” She laughs, entirely unamused. “It’s ridiculous, right?”

It’s many things, but I don’t know if ridiculous is one of them. Still, I nod in agreement.

“Like he’d leave Montgomery just to come back here.” Patience waves her arms to the fraternity looming ahead of us.

“They said he was at Sigma House?”

“They’re lying,” she grits out, but there’s little to her tone that makes me think she believes her own words.

Every fiber in my being wants her parents to be wrong because, as much as I’ve wanted to see him these past few weeks, if he’s here, then it proves Marco right.

How well do I really know him?

That thought lingers as we step through the door. And Patience is no longer the only one on edge.

The party rages on like it always does. Somehow wilder, given it’s the end of the school year.

We search the first few rooms without finding Alex, and I hope it means that Patience is right. Her parents are messing with her. But when we reach the back of Sigma House and step into a room that’s rarely used, hope pops like a balloon.

Patience’s steps falter in time with mine, and we both freeze in front of a couch.

“Alex?” Her voice cracks when she stops in front of him.

Her mouth hangs open, and I, for once, relate to how Patience is feeling because there he sits in the middle of a Sigma Sin party like it’s no big deal—Alex Lancaster.

The man who shut the door in my face three weeks ago and probably hasn’t thought about me since.

Irritation is a living, breathing thing inside me as his gaze lifts.

“Are you kidding me?” Patience rolls her shoulders back. “When Mom told me you were back here, I didn’t want to believe it. How could you?”

There’s a current of heartbreak in that simple question.

How could he be here?

How could he go back to them?

How could he not tell her?

Alex’s expression doesn’t falter. The cold, disinterested glaze he’s perfected reveals no emotion. Any remnants of that fire in his eyes have cooled, and I can’t help wondering if it was all my imagination playing tricks on me.

When he doesn’t answer, she takes a step back. “I can’t believe you would do this.”

I try to grab her arm as she starts to pull away, but already, her walls are flying up. The bricks that hide her from the world cement in her stare.

“Patience, listen to hi?—”

“No.” She cuts me off, and it’s probably for the best when I can’t explain why he’s here either. “I’m done with this place. He deserves whatever he gets if he’s going to stay in here. I can’t believe I was by his side, thinking things had changed.”