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‘What do you mean, you don’t have one?’

Her eyes are darting around like she’s really scared of me. Her breathing is coming in fits and starts. Her hands are off the crutches and trembling. What’s wrong with her? I know she’s angry from the other night, but she seems terrified.

I step away from her immediately.

Fuck, I hate this. Why did I have to go and fuck everything up when she was just starting to let her guard down around me? When I think of what I said to her, how I acted on top of the fact that she touched me and that’s such a big deal for her... God, I’m such an asshole. I don’t deserve a decent girl and I’m sure as hell not good enough for Daisy to even look at me. But she did, until I showed her how fucked up and evil I am.

Over the past four days, it’s like I don’t exist to her. The fact that Mav is in her room all the time, and I’ve even heard them laughing together, makes the way she’s being with me like a punch to the gut. He sleeps in there and she won’t even say a word to me. When she looks at me, it’s like she doesn’t even see me.

I run a hand through my hair, my eyes not leaving her.

‘Daisy,’ I plead. ‘I’m sorry for what I said the other night. I was an asshole.’

‘I understand,’ she says, not moving and still not looking at me.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’

She’s looking at the floor. Her expression is blank.

‘You’re not fine.’

‘Could you switch off the cameras at a certain time? All the cameras in the house?’

She changes the subject so quickly, I wonder if I missed something.

‘Yeah,’ I say absently, wondering where this is going. ‘I could. I don’t know why I would though.’

She frowns a little. ‘Could anyone else besides you?’

I shrug. ‘Yeah. I mean it’s closed-circuit, but yeah.’

She stares at me blankly.

At least she’s looking at me.

‘Everything is kept on private servers outside of the property. Someone could theoretically break in and look at our cameras, even turn them off and on if they wanted to. But they’d have to know what they were doing. I have this place locked down pretty well.’

‘But it is possible?’

‘Of course.’

I stare into her face, trying to glean something, but she’s a closed book when she wants to be, and right now she really wants to be. I’m getting nothing from her. ‘Why are you asking me this, though? Has something happened?’

She shakes her head. ‘No reason. I need to get to class.’

My eyes narrow. She’s keeping secrets. As soon as I get back later, I’ll run a full diagnostic on the system, I decide. Just in case we need to be worried. After Halloween and the fact that Marcus and the other two are still living in the house, I’m not taking any chances.

‘It’s cold outside,’ I say, hoping that some regular conversation will put us back into normal territory.

She shrugs. ‘I’ll be all right. I barely feel it.’

I glance down the corridor.

‘Do you have your phone?’

She nods.

‘Okay. I’ll need to carry you down.’

She lets out a breath as she looks in the same direction that I am.

‘Fine,’ she mutters after a moment.

She swings herself down the hall to the top of the stairs, tensing as she holds her crutches in one hand and looks back at me expectantly.

With a deep breath, I follow and, when I get to her, I lift her carefully into my arms, trying not to focus on the way her body feels against mine, how much I wish I hadn’t fucked everything up like I always do.

I descend slowly with her and put her down at the bottom. She doesn’t look at me as I open the front door for her, and we leave the house. If she wonders why I’m going with her, she doesn’t voice it and neither of us says anything as we walk down the driveway.

The trip onto campus doesn’t take long since the science building is so close, but I notice that Daisy is shivering after only a few minutes. She’s trying to hide the fact that she’s freezing, but I notice.

How can she not even own a coat? Doesn’t it get cold in the UK? Wouldn’t she have brought at least a necessity like that with her?

I make sure she gets to class, gritting my teeth when she just goes inside like I’m not even there. I deserve her anger, but this punishment she’s giving me, it’s like I’m invisible. I’d rather she was mad at me the way I’ve seen her mad at Shade. I want that fire, not whatever this is.

After messaging the others to let them know she’s in class safely, I walk to the Quad slowly, searching the Web for what I’m looking for and seeing the perfect item after a few minutes.

I can’t help my small smile as I put my phone away, greeting a couple of the guys from the wrestling team in Grinder as I go in. I was only grabbing a coffee, but I decide to take a seat after I get my drink and shoot the shit for a while.

‘Practice is tonight at seven thirty,’ Baker says as I sit down. ‘Coach has something going on before, he said.’

Deluchay sniggers. ‘Fucking that chick from the library probably. I saw him with her at the diner in town holding hands and shit.’

The other two chuckle. ‘She’s hot though. Librarians are hot.’

There’s muttered ascent from the table and then no one says anything for a moment.

‘Hey, whatever happened with that girl?’ McCauly, another guy from the team pipes up in the conversation lull, not looking up from his phone.

I barely look at him. I haven’t spoken to McCauly much. He made the team last year, and as far as I can tell, wrestling is the only skill he has. There’s not much going on upstairs.

‘What girl?’ one of the other guys asks.

‘That one Jolie was trying to get us to mess with.’

My ears prick up and I’m suddenly paying a lot more attention to this conversation. Are they talking about Daisy?

What the fuck?

I stay calm, pretending I hardly care enough to listen and praying the idiot keeps talking. I tap on my phone and stifle a yawn.

‘I haven’t seen her in a few days. Maybe she wised up and left the school before the student body ran her out?’

When no one speaks again for a few seconds, I glance up to urge things along.

‘Who?’ I ask with a frown, still looking at my phone and pretending I don’t know anything about what’s going on.

‘Some girl who decided to come to school here,’ Baker mutters. ‘There’s rumors everywhere. She killed a kid in middle school and went to jail, or something. Heard they let her out early.’

‘It’s probably all just bullshit,’ Deluchay mutters. ‘You know how those sorority girls love to stir shit up. What did Jolie want us to do, anyway?’

‘Scare her. Rough her up a little. Make her leave.’

‘Jesus.’ Deluchay rolls his eyes and smirks. ‘That bitch is on another level of crazy. I mean, can you imagine if the wrestling team was to, like, stalk some girl around campus to beat the shit out of her over some rumors? Fucking nuts.’

Baker and McCauly glance at each other. The former clears his throat and Deluchay looks up, eyes widening. ‘You didn’t actually do anything, right?’

They look uncomfortable and I hold my breath, waiting to learn what these motherfuckers did to Daisy and when because they did something . My heart is pounding uncomfortably in my chest.

Wouldn’t she have told us if someone was bothering her?

Why would she have? The whole frat was bothering her because of us .

‘Well, uh, we were with a couple of the girls,’ McCauly murmurs. ‘Me, Baker, and Kirkland and we saw her. She was out by the field, where those trees are. I told Kirkland it was a bad idea.’

‘What the fuck did you guys do?’ Deluchay mutters, looking from one to the other.

‘Us? Nothing! But…’ he winces. ‘Kirkland pushed her down a couple times. One of the girls filmed it. He told her to leave. He wanted to do more, but she said she knew...’ His eyes widen and he glances at me as if only just realizing I’m there.

‘Knew who?’ I ask casually, my eyes boring into my teammate.

The expressions that move across his face would entertain me any other time, but not today, not with this.

‘I remember when this happened,’ I mutter. ‘Her knees were all fucked up. Her hands, too.’

‘You actually know her?’ Baker asks, his voice trembling a little.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I know her.’

I stand up, watching them closely.

The truth is, I don’t know what I’m going to do to them. Yet .

‘Where’s Jolie?’ I mutter.

‘I saw her going into the sandwich place to get lunch twenty minutes ago,’ Deluchay says smoothly.

‘See you at practice,’ I mutter.

I get to the door and look behind me. They’re all silent, watching me leave.

‘In case you dumb fucks don’t get it,’ I say over my shoulder, ‘she’s mine. You stay the hell away from her and pray I’m in a better mood by the time seven-thirty rolls around.’ I let them see my sneer. ‘Don’t ruin the surprise for Kirkland.’

I’m across the Quad and searching faces for Jolie ten seconds later. I see her walking with some of the other bitches and smile at her, giving her a wave.

She grins back almost slyly, probably thinking that the dirty pics she sent of herself the other day have drawn me back to her. The truth is I deleted them without even looking so I’m just assuming that’s what they were. Knowing her, I’m right though.

‘Hey,’ she says. ‘Long time no see!’

We saw each other at the Halloween party, remember? You wanted to suck my dick, and I turned you down because I’d rather have Daisy’s lips around me.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at her. Instead, I give her a token smirk while I pretend to stare at her chest.

Daisy’s tits are nicer.

‘Wanna come to the library?’ I ask, drawing close. ‘I know how much you love that corner in Nonfiction.’

And Mav says I’m not charming.

She giggles and slaps my chest. ‘I’m not just your booty call,’ she says reproachfully.

Sweetheart, you aren’t even that.

‘I know,’ I say, ‘but I’ve missed you. We don’t have to do anything. Just talk.’

God, my words make me want to vomit.

But she eats it up like I knew she would and practically hauls me down the walkway and into the library building. We get to Nonfiction, and I pull Jolie between my preferred stacks, the same ones Daisy saw me getting one of Jolie’s blowies in a few weeks ago, actually. She even starts to fall to her knees and unzips me.

But I take her by the throat before she can do any more than that. She looks up at me curiously, still not getting it until I squeeze, and her panicked eyes find mine.

I pull her to me, making sure she can barely breathe.

‘Go near Daisy again, incite violence against her, and I’ll kill you, Jolie. Understand?’

She gags, nodding her head as much as my hand will allow.

‘Words, Jolie,’ I snarl impatiently.

‘Yes, I understand,’ she rasps.

‘Good.’

I let her go and she practically collapses to the floor, breathing hard and coughing.

I turn to go but swing back. ‘Oh, I almost forgot. You and that harpy, Laurie, aren’t allowed in the KIP house anymore. Not ever.’

‘But she’s dating Marcus,’ Jolie rasps.

I snort. ‘Match made in Hell. They deserve each other.’

‘Are you crazy?’ Jolie snarls, pulling herself up.

‘Probably.’

‘I’m telling campus security what you did. Your scholarship is history, asshole!’

My laugh surprises even me. ‘C’mon, Jolie. You aren’t that dumb. You know what I do, who I do it for.’

‘Th-those are just rumors,’ she stammers.

‘No. They aren’t. Speak to your brother if you don’t believe me.’ I wink at her. ‘He’ll set you straight. Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll do it for you. Now, give me your phone.’

She gives it to me with a shaking hand and I use her face to unlock it. I flip through the videos and find the one of Daisy. I don’t watch it here though, mostly because I’m afraid I might lose my shit and choke this bitch here and now. Even I’ll never get away with that.

‘Did you send this to anyone else?’

She stares at my mulishly.

‘Did you?’ I slam her back against the bookshelf, sending some thick volumes thudding to the floor on the other side.

‘No!’ she hisses.

I send it to myself so I can check McCauly and Baker’s story, and then I delete it from her phone.

I push away and leave her in the stacks without another word, whistling as I stroll out the library doors. I glance at my watch and find I’ve got just enough time to get back for Daisy. I’ll see if she wants to grab a coffee, spend a little quality time with me, so I can start fixing what I broke.

I return to the science building and wait by the doors to the lecture hall for Daisy to come out. I’m only there for a few seconds before they bang open and everyone files out. I see her beyond them, still sitting in her seat with her crutches propped up on the one next to her. She’s talking to Bennet, that hipster fuck who mean girl-ed our girl. He’s got a pretentiously booted foot up on the armrest of the seat in front of Daisy, leaning over her a little, eyeing her like a snack. She seems oblivious though, chatting pleasantly. She nods and stands. The fucker passes her the crutches and makes a show of ensuring they’re positioned right. Like she can’t do it herself. She’s not going to like that.

I snort when her mouth turns downward and her eyes narrow. Almost imperceptible to the untrained eye, but I notice. I was right. She’s definitely annoyed at the twat with the topknot.

She leaves the hall and comes straight to me when she sees me, almost as if she wants Bennet to know she’s with me.

I give the asshole a shit-eating grin and step closer to Daisy under the guise of sliding her laptop bag from her shoulder onto mine, since he didn’t bother to help her carry it.

He snorts.

‘I didn’t know you knew Blake, Daisy,’ he says.

‘Oh,’ Daisy looks up at him and smiles. ‘Yeah, uh, we work together. In the lab.’

‘In the lab? I thought Marcus was the assistant.’

‘You didn’t hear?’ I drawl. ‘Marcus is out. Daisy is in.’

‘Must have missed the memo.’ His eyes narrow at me. ‘Weird. I thought Applegate had me next in line for that spot.’

His eyes fall to Daisy, moving over her in a way that makes my blood boil.

I shrug. ‘Things change.’

‘They certainly do. Well,’ he backs off and smiles at Daisy, ‘I’ll see you in the library for our first meeting soon.’

Daisy waves goodbye to him cheerfully, having no clue that he’s pissed that she’s been given the lab spot over him.

‘Why are you meeting him?’ I ask, trying to sound casual.

‘Partner project,’ she says, looking away from me.

I sigh.

So, we’re back to that again. Great. At least she isn’t looking like she thinks I’m about to slit her throat anymore, though.

‘Want to get a coffee?’ I ask.

Her eyes bounce back to me. ‘Together?’

I nod. ‘I’ll take you over to Grinder for an hour and then we can go back to the house or the lab for a while if you want.’

I’m surprised when she nods.

I walk with her back to the Quad and open the door of the coffee shop for her. The wrestling team is gone, and I glance behind me, hoping they’re close by and have seen me walking with Daisy. I want them all to understand clearly that she’s off-limits.

Daisy gives the place a quick once-over, probably trying to find her friend, Lu, but she isn’t here. She does wave at a couple of the other employees behind the counter, though, and sits down carefully in the chair I pull out for her.

I order her a latte and a decaf one for myself, too, and bring them to the table, sitting across from her.

‘Thanks,’ she murmurs, her eyes not meeting mine at all.

Shit, this is even worse than I thought. What can I do to fix this if she’ll barely speak to me?