Page 122 of Out of Bounds

"Let go of me!"

"Don’t make a scene!"

The photographers jumped up and rushed to pull us apart. Someone had their hands on my shoulders. The moment I was free, I stumbled backward. Henry wasn’t much better off.

"Fuck you," I snarled. "Fuck you and you’re stupid fucking jailbait jokes!"

The anger was so easy to hold on to but the moment I walked out of the door, it was just pure, overwhelming misery. Cleo kept one of the university cars in the parking lot and I asked the driver to take me back to campus but all I wanted was to see Ryan drive up. The only person I needed to talk to was punting stupid cowhide balls across some white lines in Oklahoma of all places.

Realistically…that was probably the worst thing I could’ve done during the dinner. My big dream was to work for Henry Miller’s animation studio and I just slam-dunked that dream into the garbage.

Did I do the right thing?

I didn’t know and I didn’t want to deal with it.

I could’ve walked back to my own apartment but some of my roommates were there. What could I say to them? Zariah was a screenwriting major, the rest were art people. They wouldn’t recognize him but they all knewwhoHenry Miller was. It’d be hell to explain and it was so mortifying and so depressing and just awful all around.

Roman Villa wasn’t quiet but everybody was too busy with their own plans to worry about bothering me. I slipped past the desk assistant station and made my way up to Ryan’s floor. I couldn’t get into his dorm but I sat on one of the chairs in the lounge, with my knees up to my chin.

I wouldn’t make it to the watch party.

The whole night was an expertly crafted shit sandwich.

What little light from the outside faded from the big windows. I turned away from it for a long, long time. I didn’t turn back until the elevator doors opened.

The one voice I wanted to hear sounded firm. "Call Cleo again."

"We did, she didn’t pick up," someone replied.

"Then call Miles."

Someone else spoke. "Mr. Cross, she said the car already dropped its passenger."

"When—?"

I pushed up from the chair. What was I supposed to say to him? Now that he washere,I was at a loss for words. I took a deep breath, unable to lodge the lump in my throat, and walked out of the lounge.

“Hey, Ryan,” I croaked.

47

Kassie

Going To Be Painful Later

Ryan glanced over, his curls wet from a shower which he had to have taken once the bus brought him to the training center. There was half a grin on his face, basically a full, beaming smile from him. It must’ve been a good game. But his grin disappeared the moment he registered the look on my face.

He stopped fishing for his keys. "Kassie?"

It took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. "What’s that?"

"Whathappened?”

"No, the thing on your…face…?" I inched between the photographers, stunned. Without even thinking about it, I reached up to touch it.

A shallow purple bruise stretched from his cheekbone to above his eyebrow like an old bar stain on one of my notecards.It was shiny, it was new, and it wasnotsomething June had told me about.

"Whathappenedtoyou?"

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