I felt nothing but determination.

“I’m pretty sure I do,” I whispered between us.

Our breaths were shallow. My gaze fell instantly to his lips, ones I’d pictured pressed to mine against all sense and logic.

I felt his eyes on mine, too.

The air felt charged between us, like something was about to happen, like at any moment a lightning strike would come andcrackthis tension—

With a hand on my chest, Henry pushed me away.

“You’re dismissed.”

He wasn’t even looking at me anymore. “What?”

“I’ll finish this off. I forgot I had something to do.” He walked away, to the other end of the room, the sound of the washing machine the only thing between us.

“That’s it?” I asked, dumbfounded, still cold with shock.

“Goodbye, Andino.”

Gathering my pride, my hurt, and the urge to go to Henry and shake him until he saw reason, I left.

I wasn’t done here. I would not let things end this way.

But I needed some time to regroup and sort my thoughts.

Chapter 13

Antony

Patience was a virtue I’d always thought I had plenty of, but when Henry didn’t show up or message me at all the next day, I started to worry. When two more days went by without a word from him, I knew he just wasn’t going to reach out to me again. It felt just like it had the last time—three years ago, when he dropped contact, when he droppedour friendshiplike it had never happened, and, honestly?

I just couldn’t have it.

At first, I’d felt sad, almost bereft. Then I started feeling angry, because Henry always did this, didn’t he? He always just…escaped. I could already see that he was just going to pretend like nothing had happened the other day, that there hadn’t been crackling tension between us, he was going to make me believe that I’d imagined the way he looked at me…

Once upon a time, I would have accepted this dismissal. Hell, Ihadaccepted it three years ago.

But not anymore.

Present Antony wasn’t going to let things get swept under the rug again and as soon as I decided this, I got ready to justdoit. Face him.

In a hurry, I left two confused best friends in my apartment and hoofed it all the way to Henry’s frat. I probably looked like I was losing it, I wasthisclose to muttering to myself and practicing what I was going to tell him, but I didn’t. I simply made my way through the campus streets, lit with yellow-orange streetlights, and pounded on the frat’s door like they owed me money.

I’d been able to see from outside that there was a party going on, and the guy who opened the door was wearing a paperboard cone hat with bright dots on it, so it must have been someone’s birthday. I felt a hint of guilt and hesitation try to come over me, but I wouldn’t let it. Stepping in, determined, I quickly found Adam, who stared at me with wide eyes when I told him to help me find Henry.

With a slow, shocked nod, he didn’t say anything and guided me through the crowd. I was so worked up that I barely registered the dancing bodies all around me. The space was dimly lit, the unofficial dance-floor area was full to the brim, and the smell of sweat, mixing colognes and cheap beer seemed to stick to my skin.

None of that mattered.

Adam suddenly came to a stop, which made me almost stumble against his wide shoulders, and with an apologetic look, he raised his chin, pointing subtly in front of him.

And there he was.

The Heartbreaker in all his glory.

His long light-chestnut hair looked darker in this light. It was messy, like a rake’s, one dedicated purely to a life of debauchery, a partially unbuttoned short-sleeved shirt showing several inches of mouth-watering chest.