Page 23 of Beneath the Surface

“Yeah,” he said, even if it wasn’t convincing to either of our ears.

“Who messaged us?” I asked, as I turned to look at Grayson. His eyes were locked on mine and Micah’s hands.

“I haven’t checked,” he replied. “Maybe it’s from campus.”

The three of us shared a skeptical look, but we knew better. You’d think it was synchronized the way we all reached for our phones and then looked at each other so we could look together.

Unknown:

1…2…3…4

You are guilty, and I know.

Grayson’s jaw was clenched.

“Where the fuck is Martinez?”

He ran out of his room before Micah and I could stop him. With no other choice, we followed him. Miller was leaving his room when Micah and I came out of Grayson’s. He looked at us, and the asshole smirked.

“Ava, darling,” he purred. “Are you trying to catch up on your hockey roster? In that case, sign me up next.”

My face flamed, not from embarrassment but rage. If I wasn’t too busy trying to stop two idiot boys from killing each other, I might have punched him.

“Shut the fuck up, Miller,” Micah spat, as he rushed down the stairs with me.

“Oh, we’re getting brave, Pierce.”

I raised my hand and flipped him off. At least we knew Miller was none the wiser since that night. I doubt he would be acting the fool if he was in the same boat as us.

Boat—wasn’t that ironic?

When we came outside, Grayson stood in front of his house lawn, as Cruz’s headlights could be seen in the distance as he sped away from campus.

“He left us,” Micah spoke in disbelief.

“Fuck him,” Grayson told him. “We don’t need him.”

I said nothing, allowing Grayson to vent out his frustration. Was I annoyed that Cruz left us? Yes, I was, but I could also understand the need to want to run away.

“We had a shit day today,” I told them. “Let’s just take it all in, and we will regroup tomorrow.”

My car was a couple of parking spaces away from the hockey house since Grayson drove all of us to the races.

“You’re leaving?” Grayson turned around, his gaze penetrating me with a staggering intensity.

Being around him made me forget why I should be away from him in the first place.

“Yeah…I’m fucking tired. I want a hot bath, and then I have to meet at the sorority house early in the morning. So my internal freak-out will have to wait after we have our homecoming committee.”

Micah was looking at me like I had lost the plot. Meanwhile, Grayson looked as if he was trying to fight back a grin. “Priorities,” he mumbled.

Whatever.

If I didn’t show up to the damn house, I was stuck paying a fine, and with all the time I had been spending with Grayson, I knew some of my “sisters” would have it out for me.

Ignoring them, I began to walk toward my car.

“Let me walk you,” Micah shouted after me.

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