Page 22 of Reasons We Break

And if Nick wasthatcutthroat then...their brief friendship doesn’t matter. He won’t hesitate to put a bullet between Rajan’s eyes at all.

Rajan wipes the sweat off his brow. Holy hell. Is this how sober people feel all the time? High-strung and scattered, like the world could fall on their heads at any moment? The smoke floating over from his coworkers has never been so tempting. If he were justrelaxedenough, maybe he’d be able to think through a solution.

Or maybe somebody would narc on him and he’d go to jail over a joint. Nick would probably die laughing.

Trevor yells up at him. “Kid! You gonna spend all night up there?”

He looks up. The sun is lower in the sky. Somehow, he spent all day working. He didn’t even take a break. Time passes fast on a deadline.

He slides down his ladder, and when he gets to the bottom, a girl’s voice sounds from behind him.

“Rajan Randhawa, is that you?”

The voice is familiar, and when he turns, so is the face. A gorgeous Indian girl with long straight hair, a wicked smile, and a fashion sense for weather at least ten degrees warmer than this. She draws closer, and his coworkers give her second looks. Chandani Sharma has that effect.

Although she’s one of those popular girls who probably hit her peak in high school, she’s not actually a total bitch. He knows this because Simran’s cool with her. And if Simran is, so is he. Even if she used to buy weed from Zach Singer instead of him. “Chandani, I thought you’d be on a runway by now.”

“And I thought you’d be in prison.”

He flashes her a grin. “I think your guess was closer than mine.”

She doesn’t ask for an explanation. She’s too busy looking him over—eyes skating over his orange hoodie, his dusty cargo pants with caulking on the knees, his work boots, and then back up. “Are you...a construction worker?”

“Roofer. You go to UBCO?” She nods. Figures. Everybody he knew in high school has gone on to bigger and better things. “What doyoustudy?”

“Wish I knew. Then I wouldn’t have flunked that exam I just took.” Chandani flips her hair. “Selling anything fun these days?”

She’s standing a little too close, but he doesn’t move away. He’s starting to get some interesting signals. “I don’t do that anymore.”

“That’s too bad.” Chandani casually brushes dust off his shoulder. He can practically feel the other roofers’ eyes on them. “Guess I have to find some healthy coping strategies now.”

“Let me know if you do. I wanna try smoking them in a pipe.” Chandani snickers, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. His curiosity overpowers him. “What doyouneed coping strategies for?”

She shrugs. “Do you ever feel like you’re in over your head?”

Twenty-three hours left. “Nah. I’m a chill dude.”

She leans against the ladder. “Lately I’ve realized I don’t know what I’m doing here. At university. It feels like everyone knows except me.”

It’s unsettling, how much he’s relating suddenly to Chandani Sharma. “Maybe university just isn’t your thing.”

“What else would I do? Work in construction?” She snorts. “Is that your life’s calling?”

“Is flunking out of schoolyourlife’s calling?”

She glares. “You’re such an asshole.” Rajan grins and turns to go, but her voice stops him. “You’re off now, right? Wanna hang out?”

He turns back. He’s got a meeting with Kat in, like, two hours, but...“Why?”

She sighs. “God, boys are so brainless. Do you wanna have sex or not?”

Subtlety’s never been Chandani’s strong suit. But he wanted to be sure. And, well, he has a feeling she needs a distraction just as much as he does.

He faces her fully. “You know, I went to juvie.” Chandani says nothing. “For drug trafficking. Weapons possession. And...murder.”

He waits for her alarm, for her to step away, to make excuses and leave. But Chandani’s expression doesn’t change. “So? I already knew all this.”

He stares. “You...don’t care?”