Page 37 of Surviving Slater

"I don't want him to go but he'll be leaving soon."

I felt a little shaken. So much was changing so quickly and I didn't have much time to take it all in. I was going to miss them both.

"I'm happy to be moving in with Sin but I'm going to miss you and Matt."

"Aww, me too. We'll have to arrange girls' nights out."

Life was moving and changing. Somehow I was feeling left behind.

"You got time to help me pack?" she asked, looking more excited than I'd seen her in a while.

"Sure."

And with that any thoughts of Slater and our arrangement was on hold.

I spent most of Saturday helping Taylor pack her things. That evening I heard Taylor taking a call from her brother.

"Don't, Connor," I heard her say. "This isn't a mistake, and no, I'm not rushing into things."

I didn't have to hear his side of the conversation to know he was trying to talk her out of her decision to move in with Sin. To anyone who didn't really know them or the events over the past few weeks, they would agree it was too much too soon. But Taylor had nearly died, and I had seen how it had nearly destroyed Sin.

When something like that happens you realize how fragile life is and not to take things for granted. That was why they weren't wasting time.

I closed a box before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Here," Taylor said, "he wants to talk to you."

I took her phone.

"Hi, Connor," I said, feeling slightly nervous at what he wanted to talk to me about. He was a force to be reckoned with. He'd been intimidating the first time I'd met him, but our shared time together when Taylor had been kidnapped had allowed us to form a friendship. Although, at times it felt like that entitled him to tell me what to do.

"Hi, Jordan," he said. "Taylor tells me you have concerns about staying in the apartment?"

"It's just that I don't want you to keep renting the apartment just for me. I can move back into the dorm." My hands tightened around the phone.

"You'll do no such thing. I want you to stay in the apartment."

"Can I at least pay you something toward the rent?" I didn't have much, but I didn't want to be seen as sponging off him longer than I already had.

"Absolutely not. The dorm isn't safe. You're safer in the apartment. Consider it a way of lessening my stress levels. I won't worry so much if I know you're staying there."

It was just like him to feel the need to protect me like he always wanted to do with Taylor.

"I'm not your responsibility," I tried to remind him. Despite everything that had happened it didn't make him my family or anything like that.

"Don't, Jordan," he said in a resigned tone. "Just do as I ask."

There were only a couple moments of silence before I relented. "Fine."

The apartment was nicer than the dorm so I let it go. It wouldn't be indefinite and when the time came I would move back into the dorm. Connor would just have to accept it.

"How are things?" he asked.

There was no way I was going to tell him about Slater. He, along with the rest of my friends, had seen the hurt he'd inflicted once before.

"Good. And you?"

"Busy."