Page 23

Tobie

My phone vibrates across the table and slams to the floor.

I jerk upright, blinking owlishly around me, struggling to believe I fell asleep at all after Reid nearly exploded my brain with his talk of pussy worship.

I was so tired today that after class, I told myself I’d lie down for an hour, but I’m so fuzzy-headed and confused, I definitely slept for much longer than that.

I’m lying back down when a violent vibration compels me to reach down the side of my bed and deal with my phone before I’m tempted to lob it out the window.

I grab my glasses and slip them on to read the message.

Even with glasses, it doesn’t make sense.

Caleb

You have no classes today?

So?

Is he just asking? Or is he telling me to drop whatever I’m doing?

I stare at the phone, not sure how to respond.

Me

No.

I wince. It sounds so cold. Should I have said something else? Maybe thrown an emoji in there?

Caleb

There’s a downtown park I used to go to.

I check my face to make sure I’m wearing my glasses. I am. So why is none of this making sense?

Is Caleb asking me out on a date?

And why would it be downtown? Isn’t the whole point of this fake relationship to be seen by Marc on campus?

Me

Is there a party there so Marc can hear about it?

Caleb

No. This is something else.

I don’t know what to do.

If Max were around, I’d ask her opinion, but she’ll be out running, training, or in class. In the mornings, she likes to go for an easy run to kick off her day. In the evenings, she goes for a gentle run to wind down. I had no idea there were so many different runs before I met her.

After chewing my lip for a second, I type out my response.

Me

Okay. What time?

Three seconds later, there’s a knock at my door.

I angle my face toward it.

After the thing with the vibrating egg that I shoved in a bedside drawer, looking Caleb Boucher in the face will not be easy. I told myself he couldn’t have heard me climax, but he kept staring at me during practice. He wouldn’t have been staring if he hadn’t heard something, right?

“Yeah?” I call out, my voice husky from sleep.

“It’s Caleb.”

I lay in bed, clutching my phone.

I can’t face him. What if he knows what I did? I haven’t dared ask Javier if he told anyone about the vibrating egg, but what if Caleb knows I have it?

“Did you fall back to sleep?” he calls out. My door creaks slightly, as if he’s leaning against it.

“Um. No.”

The silence stretches out.

“Are you coming?” he shouts, knocking on the door.

“Why?”

He’s silent for a beat. “Why?” he echoes.

“Yeah.”

A door snicks. Then another. Not mine. They sound like it’s farther down the hallway.

He sighs. “Open up, Myers. I’m in serious danger of coming to harm out here.”

Curious, I put my phone down and go open the door.

Caleb is standing right outside, carrying his gym bag, wearing black jeans, a gray Henley, and sneakers. And my hallway is more crowded than it usually is at this time.

He gives me a quick once-over, though his eyes linger on my face. “You look tired.”

I take a step back and let him in. “I had a nap.”

“A Hashimoto’s thing?” he asks as I close the door.

I blink at him, surprised he remembered. “Yeah, actually.”

Fatigue, when it hits, can be a bitch.

“Do you need more sleep? I can leave.”

“I’m fine now. What was going on out there?”

He shrugs. “Not sure. I’d like to think no one was getting ready to jump me, but…”

He says it straight-faced, but I detect a hint of amusement in his dry tone.

His eyes settle on the book Max filled with hot pink tabs of sexual things she thought Javier might want to do to me.

Dammit. I cannot believe I forgot to hide that thing.

Just as I’m ready with an invented reason to walk over there and block his vision, or even better, fling the thing out of my window, he looks at me.

“They were definitely getting ready to do something to you. It might have even been a Gulliver’s situation,” I say on my way to my closet to dress for this trip to the park.

“What does that involve?”

“Tying you down. You know the book Gulliver’s Travels with the guy on a big adventure and all the little people who trip him, tie him down, and walk all over him?”

When he doesn’t respond, I close my eyes and massage my forehead.

What the hell are you rambling on about, Tobie?

I almost don’t want to pull my head out of my closet. But when I do, Caleb is standing beside my door, hands stuffed in his pocket, and a hint of a smile lifting his lips. “You like to read?”

“Yeah.”

“I vaguely remember it from high school. I forgot most of what I learned as soon as I knew I didn’t need it for exams, but you still remember?”

Never in a million years did I think I’d be talking books with Caleb. “I do. It’s one of my favorites.”

I grab a dress at random—one of the new ones. It’s not a dress I would have picked out for myself, but Clarissa has introduced me to color in a way I never thought I’d be comfortable.

Caleb glances at the blue floral midi dress in my hand and shakes his head. “No need to dress up.”

“But isn’t the whole point of this?—”

“Not this.” He looks away, raking his hand through his dirty blond hair. “Coach thinks I need a day off. Actually, they all do. Coach, Doc, the trainer… everyone. So it’s just a walk in the park. No need to wear anything special.”

Ah. Coach kicked him out of the arena the other day, so he must be bored.

“But if anyone sees me…”

He shrugs, gesturing into my closet and saying gruffly, “Wear whatever, Myers. And a coat. It’s cold out there.”

“Okay,” I agree. “I’ll just put on some of the makeup that?—”

“No need,” he interrupts in the same gruff tone as he reaches for the door handle. “You’re prettier without it.”

He opens the door and steps out before I can respond.

Still not looking at me, he adds, “I’ll wait downstairs for you, so no one ties me down Gulliver style.”

And he closes the door behind him.

I stand there, holding the dress, smiling faintly.

For a grumpy guy who would have preferred to be on the ice or at the gym than taking me out for a walk, he sure does know how to say the right things.

Then I shake my head and focus on getting ready.

Since I’m not about to go out in sweats, I grab a pair of the high-waist, wide-leg jeans that Clarissa said were more flattering for my body shape. I team it with a thick gray sweater, a pair of brown ankle boots, and my coat.

Then I brush out my hair and braid it.

Caleb is waiting for me downstairs, hands stuffed in his pockets, staring out through a large window beside the lobby entrance.

I don’t say a word, but he turns and looks right at me.

Again, he runs his eyes over me and nods once. “You ready?”

I smile. “Yeah.”

Max blows in through the front door, all fresh-faced, clad in black leggings and a matching top with hot pink sneakers, radiating perfect health vibes.

She freezes for a split second, and her mouth parts in a silent oh. “Hey.” Her eyes flick from me to Caleb and back again.

He nods at her. “Max.”

She nods back. “Caleb.”

Wait. They know each other?

I’m about to ask how when Max says in a much louder voice than necessary, “Oh, I heard you guys were dating.”

Everyone who wasn’t already eyeing us from their seats in the downstairs common room snaps their heads toward us.

“Yes,” Caleb says with a firmness I wasn’t expecting. “We are.”

I wait for Max to leave.

She doesn’t leave.

She stands there with a strange smile curling her lips and eyes as innocent as a newborn baby.

I start sweating when I remember what she was like with her YOLO and sleep with them if you have an opportunity.

Why does it feel like she’s getting ready to carve out an opportunity and drag me through it?

“She deserves to be treated right,” she says, surprising me.

Caleb, too, from his slow blink. “Excuse me?”

“Her ex was a jackass.” Max points a finger at his face, which is kind of rude. “Hurt her, and I will castrate you.”

Oh. The pointing was rude, but having my back is sweet.

Thanks, Max.

Then she spins on her heel, and saunters away.

“Your friend is intense,” Caleb says with a strange note in his voice.

“Yeah. Should we go before she comes back?”

He holds the door open for me. “Let’s.”