“So do you want to—“ she started to say before she saw that the room wasn’t empty.
Stryker and Katie were nak*d and from what I could tell before Charlotte yanked me out of the room and slammed the door, mid-sex.
“Shit fuck,” she said, tugging me down the hallway toward the stairs. “I cannot believe her. I thought she was getting back on track, but she’s just back to her old ways.”
We had almost reached the stairs when someone ran down the hall after us, pulling a shirt over his head. I’d never seen Stryker so frantic.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would be back. We would have taken it to my place, but things got heated, one thing led to another.” While he’d been talking, Katie had also emerged, but she wasn’t as eager to confront us.
Charlotte glared at both of them. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m sorry, Charlotte,” Stryker said.
“I’ll get to you,” she said, pointing at him and turning to face Katie, who slunk down the hall like she was facing the guillotine. She’d hastily grabbed a fuzzy pink robe and everything was barely covered. I averted my eyes.
“Katie, what are you doing? You just got out from under Zack’s influence and now you’re throwing yourself at another guy? No offence.”
“None taken.” Stryker seemed to be calm and collected about this whole thing. I didn’t think I would be in the same situation.
Katie re-tied her robe with authority. “What I do is none of your business, Lottie. You’re not my mother.”
Charlotte stepped closer to Katie and I stayed back with Stryker. “No, I’m your friend. Your friend who loves you and is concerned about you and wants the best for you. I’m not saying this isn’t good for you to get over Zack, but I don’t think this is the way to do it. You need to take some time for yourself, to figure out what you want.”
Katie shook her head, and I saw tears starting to build.
“I think that’s my cue to slink away,” Stryker said, trying to get past us to bolt for the stairs.
“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy,” Charlotte said, facing him. “She has been through a lot and if you so much as make her cry one tear of unhappiness, I will remove your spine. Got it?”
Stryker nodded.
“Well, now that we’ve got that settled, Zan and I are going to his room and I’ll be there all night. So, um, carry on.” She waved her hands in the direction of her room.
With that she tugged me toward the stairs and down to my room.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Lottie
“I should have seen that coming,” I said as I closed Zan’s door. My visions of a hot steamy hook-up with him were pushed to the side for a moment.
He sat down on his bed and I climbed under his arm. “I should have told you that I did.”
“When?”
“The night of the party. He gave her his cape, and I saw the way he looked at her.”
“How did he look at her?”
He touched my cheek. “How I look at you.”
“How do you know how you look at me?”
“I could feel it.”
Weirdly, I knew what he meant.
“I guess I should have been paying attention.”
He smiled slowly. “You know what they say. The easiest way to get over someone is to get under someone else, and right now I’d like to be under you, L.” He tossed me down on the bed, and for a little while neither of us did any thinking.
I didn’t get a chance to actually talk to Katie until the next afternoon after I got back from class. Zan decided to have a banjo session with Stryker, which I saw as a thinly-veiled attempt to get me to talk to her. I just didn’t let him know that I knew.
“I’m sorry,” she said the second I walked in. “I shouldn’t have brought him here. It just sort of…happened. I have no idea what I was thinking. I mean, he’s…”
The expression on her face made me burst out laughing.
“It’s okay, Katie. I understand what you mean about the sex ‘just happening’. It’s ‘happened’ to me quite a few times.” I shivered with the memories of those times.
Focus.
She took a breath. “It was totally weird. He came back to get his cape and we just started talking. I’m not attracted to him, but the next thing I knew we were nak*d. I’ve been freaking out ever since, and I haven’t had anyone to talk to about it with.”
“You can talk to me about it,” I said, sitting on her bed.
“I think this whole Zack thing is screwing with my head. Or else someone has swapped my common sense for lust.”
“Was it good?”
The way she bit her lip told me it was.
“I’ve never…” she trailed off and shook her head, laughing softly. “It’s never been like that before. But I can’t do that again. You were right. I have to clear my head and not be with anyone for a while.”
“He’s a good guy, Katie.”
“I don’t even know him. That’s the crazy part.” She fell backward onto her pillows. “It doesn’t make any sense. Him and me.”
“Or maybe it makes so much sense that you can’t even see it.”
She started laughing. “That doesn’t make any sense, Lot.”
“Or maybe it makes so much sense that—”
She hit me with a pillow.
“So are you still ignoring Zack?” I said once the pillow attack was over.
“Yes. Somehow. He won’t stop leaving me messages, and sending me stuff.” She gestured under her bed, and I found a stack of boxes and bags.
“I’d really like to burn it, but some of the stuff is really nice. So I’ll hold onto it until enough time has passed, and then I’ll keep it and forget that it came from him.”
“You sure that’s going to work?” I said, pulling out a velvet box that contained a charm bracelet.
“I’m going to make it work.” I put the box back and shoved it away again. “I am.”
I wanted to tell her good luck with that, but I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t going to rain on her parade.
***
“So I heard that your roommate hooked up with my brother,” Trish said Thursday night at work. I’d increased my hours so I could save up for a car since I was beyond tired of stealing Will’s truck, and he was tired of lending it to me.
“Yeeaaahhh, about that.”
“I’m reserving judgment,” she said, tossing a bolt of fabric she’d just cut into the basket of bolts to be put back on the shelves.
“Seriously?” I gave her a look.
“No, I am completely not okay with this. I’m just keeping my mouth shut about it. Honestly, Lot, I don’t know what to think. I’m sort of trying to do the math on that one. She’s the complete opposite of every other girl he’s ever been interested in. It just doesn’t make sense.”
That seemed to be the prevailing sentiment when we all talked about it behind Katie and Stryker’s backs.
“I’m still going with alien abduction,” Will said at dinner. Katie was ‘studying’ which no one believed.
“I think it could work,” Zan said. He’d been all for the relationship from the beginning.
“I think so too,” I said, smiling and reaching for his hand under the table.
“Me too,” Audrey said, giving Will a look. “Sometimes things that don’t make sense end up making the most sense.”
“Right?” I said. “That was exactly what I told Katie.”
“I think you’re all delusional,” Will said. After a moment of silence, he sighed and rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. It could happen. You don’t have to all gang up on me.”
“We’re not ganging up on you,” I said. “Okay, fine. We’re ganging up on you. Join the, um, Stratie team.”
“Stratie? Really?” Will said.
“It’s cute, L,” Zan said, giving my fingers a squeeze.
“Insufferable you are,” Will mumbled.
“Stop being a wet blanket, Will,” Audrey said, bumping him with her shoulder. “That look doesn’t work for you.”
He gaped at her for a moment and then mumbled something else no one could make out.
“All aboard the Stratie train,” he said, as if it caused him physical pain.
We all made loud train noises until everyone in the dining commons glared at us to stop.
“You talked to your brother lately?” Will said after we’d all had a good laugh about it.
“He’s not my biggest fan either. I’m keeping my eye on him though. He’s getting desperate, and that’s not good. He hasn’t gotten drunk yet, but that will come. I know his patterns.” His fingers circled the back of my hand, drawing random letters.
“You should get him kicked out of school if he does get drunk. Problem solved,” Will said.
“It’s not that easy,” Zan said, and he did this thing where his face got all tight. I hated that face. It made me sad.
“Let’s not talk about it,” Audrey said, getting up and going to empty her tray, effectively closing the subject. I gave her a little grateful smile that she returned.
“Are you worried he’s going to snap?” I said to Zan as we walked back to the dorm.
“I’m more worried he’s going to get drunk and do himself some damage than anything else,” Zan said. “Hey, you don’t need to worry about him. I don’t like seeing that on your pretty face anymore.” He kissed my forehead where I knew it was puckering.
“You make me so happy,” I said, taking both his hands.
“You make me believe in love.” He kissed the backs of my hands.
“Well, that’s all that I can ask for.”
Zan
Charlotte had homework, and doing it together was far too distracting, so she went to her room to study alone. When I got to my door, there was someone in front of it.
“What can I help you with, Zack?” Being so happy with Charlotte had given me a short fuse when it came to Zack. I was so f**king done with him.
“You can tell me where my girl is. I need to talk to her, and I know you hang out with her.” He turned around and even I had to admit he looked like shit. He must not have slept in days, and judging by his smell and his clothes, he’d been living at the gym.
“I’m not doing this anymore, Zack. I told you. We’re done. I’m done making excuses for you, and having your back and feeling like I owe you anything. I’ve finally stopped blaming you for landing me in Carter and for everything that happened to Lexie, but that’s the best I can do.”
He glared at me and took a step forward. “What the f**k are you talking about? I think you’ve been reading too much of that crap poetry and hanging out with Hottie.”
I took another step toward him. I’d always backed down from fighting with him before. Not anymore.
“Don’t you dare talk to me about her. You have no right to talk about her, now or ever.”