Page 10 of The Perfect Betrayal

“You’re right. I didn’t.”

"Fair enough," he continued, looking at his shoes more than her, "but I was out sick, and I asked Professor Wallace for the work before class today. I glanced at it, and I'm a little lost. I just figured that someone who was here that day might be able to coach me through the rough parts until I got my bearings."

“Why me?” Hannah asked as she started for the door. He fell into step beside her. She noted that he was a good four inches taller than her, and she was five foot ten. She also noted, despite her best efforts, that he was muscular, with wavy back hair and blue eyes.

“Because you clearly know this stuff,” he replied. “You’ve never given an answer that Wallace didn’t like. She loves your questions. She clearly lovesyou. So I thought, who better to get me up to speed than the girl the professor respects most?”

He’d gotten less nervous as he explained himself and was actually looking her in the eye now. Hannah chose to ignore the fact that those big blue eyes were awfully doe-like and that his sheepish smile oozed charm. She didn’t need any of that.

“What exactly are you asking of me?” she wanted to know as they wandered through the hall to the front door of the building.

“Maybe ten minutes of your time to review this stuff sometime between now and the next class. It’d be better if it was today or tomorrow, so I have time to finish the assignment before class on Friday.”

The guy seemed sincere enough, but Hannah knew better than to make decisions based on how people seemed. She was inclined to help him out, but not until she could do a little checking to make sure he was a regular student and not some psycho-killer in waiting. That ruled out today.

Once they reached the steps outside the building, she pulled out her phone and pretended to study her schedule for the next couple days. It wasn’t necessary. She knew everything on her agenda without looking, but this guy didn’t need to know that.

"I'm full up today," she said, "but I could meet you for ten minutes before lunch tomorrow. I'll be at the Green Room Café next to the Campus Art Gallery at 11:45."

She wanted any meeting to be in a public place with lots of people around. One could never be too careful, a lesson she’d learned the hard way. Besides, that was where she was meeting Finn tomorrow at noon to help him with his baby Psych class. She could kill two birds with that stone.

“That would be great,” he said. “I really appreciate it.”

He was just starting down the stairs when she called after him.

“What’s your name, by the way?”

“You don’t know my name?” he said, surprised.

“Why would I?”

He looked slightly offended, as if he was used to coeds knowing his name without him having to say it. Of course, she kind of did, but that wasn’t something she cared to share.

“I’m Dallas Henry,” he said. “And you’re Ms. Dorsey.”

“How did you know that?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Because that’s how Professor Wallace always refers to you,” he reminded her. “Excellent answer, Ms. Dorsey!”

"Oh, right," she said. "Well, outside of class, I usually go by Hannah."

“Nice to officially meet you,” he said, tipping an imaginary hat before turning and heading down the stairs.

She watched him go, taking note of the fact that his jeans perfectly hugged his muscled lower half. His top half looked pretty good too. When she got the chance, she’d do some online sleuthing to see if he was what he seemed.

That was the type of sleuthing Hannah preferred this days. She was on hiatus from the more formal kind. Somehow, over the course of the school year, she’d gotten roped into helping several students with issues that they didn’t feel comfortable taking to campus police.

She’d helped out her roommate, Lizzie Dempsey, who was being anonymously harassed, as well as a basketball player who was falsely accused of cheating on a test. Most recently, she found a missing fraternity pledge, who’d gotten lost and disoriented after suffering an epileptic seizure during a hazing incident.

But after a dude who falsely claimed that another student was stalking him ended up cornering her in a library study room, she’d been much more cautious about helping out. It helped that her older sister, Jessie, and her husband, Ryan, had both strongly requested that she pause that kind of stuff. She didn’t want to worry them. Besides, while she’d breezed through the fall and winter quarters, this spring one had proven more challenging. She didn’t have time to play campus detective.

She barely had time for the unpaid tutoring she’d agreed to. As she made her way down the stairs, she borderline regretted that not only had she committed to this mini-session with Dallas Henry, but she was also helping Finn. That would be Finn Anderton, the cute but problematic boy she met last fall. After inappropriately accusing him of being her roommate’s harasser, they’d mended fences, become friendly, then friends, and then maybe something more.

But when she’d helped Finn search for the pledge in his fraternity, she’d found him as concerned with protecting the frat’s reputation as finding the kid. Since then, she’d taken a step back, not cutting the guy out entirely, but curtailing any romance potential.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the devil himself. Finn was walking toward her, and he had a frown on his face. She doubted it was because he’d been hard at work on his baby Psych homework.

“What’s up?” she asked when he got close.

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