Page 92 of Palm South University: Season 2

“It’s not just a title. If it were, you wouldn’t be fighting it as much as you are.”

He’s right. I know he’s right. Somewhere, deep inside my gut, I feel my own soul screaming at me to tell him yes. But I can’t.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

He sighs, snatching his keys off the small table just outside his bedroom door. “I don’t have to, you already know the answer.” With that, he crosses the apartment and swings open the front door. His hand gripping the knob, he lifts his eyes to mine again, the space between us deafening. “So?”

My heart races so fast I have to balance my palms on the bed to keep myself upright. I’m not ready to be his girlfriend. I can’t be his girlfriend. It’s too much, it’s too fast, it’s too uncertain. I want what we have now, but he’s saying that’s not an option any longer. Why? What changed? My head is spinning, the room following suit. When my wild eyes find his again, I know I don’t have to answer his question, either.

He bites his bottom lip, eyes falling to the floor as one, short laugh echoes through the apartment. Jarrett shakes his head swiftly and turns, calling out behind him. “Lock up before you leave.”

He doesn’t slam the door. He doesn’t need to. It’s there, sitting naked in the sheets still warm from sex, that I realize I’ve been fooling myself all along. Jarrett and I have always wanted different things. How stupid could I have been to think we could just avoid our questions simply because we already knew the answers?

I almost call out for him but stop myself, thinking better of it. Instead, I whisper to myself.

“He loves me?”

A smile touches my lips before reality chases it away. Jarrett loves me, but he’s asking me to love him back. He’s asking me to give more than we agreed on. We made a deal last semester, and that was working for me. I thought it was working for him. And now, because I won’t be his girlfriend, I can’t have him at all.

My stomach lurches and I sit up, planting my bare feet on the floor, letting the sheet fall to the side. I need a clear mind today and I know I’m not going to get it. I’m meeting with Ashlei in an hour to finalize our plan for Xavier, and yet now, there’s only one thought in my head.

Can I really let Jarrett Locke walk out of my life?