Page 17 of Redeemed

“I hope you sleep well, Haven.”

Oh.So he isn’t expecting to come in? He was just walking me to my dorm? That’s… sweet.

“Thank you. Um, you too.”

“You gonna be all right?” he asks.

“What do you mean?”

“You seemed pretty scared earlier.”

I bite my lip while I try to come up with an explanation. The truth has to stay a secret, at least until I know he’ll keep it for me.

“It’s just that everything here is pretty new to me. I don’t know who to trust.”

Me standing just inside my dorm and him in the hallway feels like the perfect picture of it. He’s the only person I’ve met on campus, and he’s been nothing but nice, but I still can’t let him in to help me. It’s too risky.

“Well, I can show you around a bit before classes start. I grew up around here, so I know all the best spots in town for studying and hanging out.”

Slowly, I nod, not really registering what he said. All I can focus on is what hedidn’t.When I was forced to start courting Isaiah, he told me I could trust him. He was lying. He knew it, I knew it, and it didn’t take him long to prove it.

Colton isn’t telling me that, though. Even though he’s much younger than Isaiah was when I married him, he seems to know that saying he’s trustworthy is pointless. That can only be proven over time.

“What do you think?” he asks after a long moment of silence.

“I think I’d like that,” I say hesitantly. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing.” He gives me a smile, just the barest tilt of his lips. “I’ll see you around, Haven.”

Lucas

“Thanksforhelpingmemove in.”

I shoot Xander a look that tells him just how stupid of a thing to say that is. We’ve been best friends since before I can remember, and something more than friends since sometime in high school.

We’re both sitting on his newly made bed with our backs against the wall. It feels like we’re in eighth grade again, hanging out in my bedroom for hours on end so I wouldn’t have to be alone. Except here, there’s no father to slap me around and yell at me.

“What else was I gonna do?” I ask. “Abandon you?”

Shrugging, Xander lets his gaze drift to the window. He’s playing with the two chains he always has around his neck. A cross his grandfather gave him dangles from one, even though Xan abandoned the church a couple years ago. The second has a silver compass that I gave him as a graduation present earlier this year.

“I’m sure my roommate would’ve helped,” Xander says. “I mean, if he was here.”

My frown intensifies. “Are you kidding me? I’m not letting some stranger help you when I’m perfectly capable.”

“I dunno, it could’ve been helpful for bonding or something.”

My shoulders tense.“Bonding?”

“I mean, wearegoing to be living together. Gotta get to know the guy somehow. I just hope he’s cool.”

I grit my teeth. Xander shouldn’t be living with anyone butme.If it wasn’t for my little sister, I would’ve moved in with him today. She had a rough summer, and I don’t want her living alone with our step family. And… well, understandably, Xander doesn’t want to deal with them, either.

“If you start ditching me for your roommate, I’m killing him,” I grumble.

Xander laughs, but it’s cut short when he catches a glimpse of my scowl. “Hey. Luc, come on. No one could ever replace you. You know that.”

“Lots of things change when people go to college,” I mumble.

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