Page 23 of Ink & Stardust

“You’re upset because you wanted it to be your bed I ended up in last night.”

My instinct is to curl in on myself. To tell him to go screw himself and run away. But I can’t give him that satisfaction. Because if I do, I’ll be giving him exactly what he wants.

“If you think that, then you’re not nearly as observant as you claim to be.” I stand my ground.

“On the contrary... I see the way you look at me. You can deny it all you want. We both know the truth. You want me,Lyric.”

God help me, I do. Even with him goading me, all I want to do is close the small distance between us and kiss him the way I’ve fantasized about doing more times than I’d ever admit. But that’s all it is, a fantasy. He’s a beautiful man that I’m sure half the damn campus has fantasized about at one point or another. But beauty will only take you so far, and if he thinks I’m the kind of girl he can toy with, he has another think coming.

“What I want is for you to leave me alone.”

He stares at me for another long moment before hefinallysteps back. I draw in a deep breath, like it’s the first one I’ve been able to take.

“She’s learning.” He smiles, stepping past me. “Good girl.” I hear him say as he walks away.

Good girl?

Good girl?

Did he seriously just call me a good girl like I’m a freaking dog or something?

The interaction leaves me more than a little agitated and whole hell of a lot confused.

I don’t get it.

Last night... The way he held my face. The way he looked at me as he was trying to help me breathe through the attack, there’s no way that was the same man. That man was sweet and surprisingly gentle and... caring. But the asshole I just encountered, he was none of those things.

Talk about a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s like he has two warring personalities.

I try to shake off the interaction as I continue to the library, but it sticks with me for way longer than I’d like. I can’t help it. It’s just so...Frustrating.

I attempt to work on my English paper for the better part of two hours, but when I finally call it quits, I’ve got less than a page written.

I don’t know why I let him get to me. It makes no sense. I don’t even know the guy. I can count every interaction we’ve had on one hand, and yet, I’ve let him rattle me in a way only one other person has ever rattled me, and it took him screwing my best friend to do it. Which leads me to the only acceptable conclusion I can come to. I need to stay as far away from Kai Elliot as humanly possible.

“Lyric.”

I’m crossing the courtyard, headed to class, when I hear my name. I turn toward the voice, not realizing it’s Owen until I spot him jogging across the lawn toward me.

I haven’t seen him since the night of the party, which was nearly a week ago, though he has texted me a few times. I’ve been distancing myself from him after what Char told me she saw, so I’ve kept my replies pretty bland and basic, not really giving him much.

“Hi.” The smile I’ve perfected over the last few months slides into place.

“Hey.” He huffs, a little out of breath. “Where you headed?”

“Calculus.” I tilt my head toward the building to my left.

“Oh, fun.” He crinkles his nose.

“Yeah, so fun.”

“I was, uh, hoping I’d run into you at some point. Are we good?” He runs a nervous hand through his blond curls, which is weird because he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who gets nervous.

“Fine. Why?”

“It’s just... Well, I was kind of an ass the night of the party. I invited you and then got black-out drunk and uh... I don’t even remember if you were there or not,” he admits, not able to meet my gaze.

So not only does henotremember seeing me, but he clearly has no recollection of what happened after I left him on the dance floor, which does give me a small sense of relief. It’s bad enough that Kai knows about my panic attacks. I don’t want anyone else to find out if I can help it. Not that he would have known that’s what was happening when he came outside, but still.

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