Page 130 of Zero Chance

Then, she spun away and took off, storming from the student union.

A tight band of panic wrapped around my chest and squeezed.“Fuck.”

I glanced around, not sure what to do with the load in my arms before I just dropped it on the checkout station next to the register and made the cashier cry out an indignant, “Hey!”

“Keene!”Xander called after me, utterly aghast as I hurried away, following a fleeing Waverly.

“Take care of that, will you?Thanks,” I told my roommate, waving over my shoulder at her as I hurried off.

Outside, I spotted Waverly immediately.Thankfully, she wasn’t actually sprinting this time.But she was marching with a tense stride that revealed just how pissed she was.

“Damn, you sure do like to run from me,” I commented as soon as I caught up to her, tracking every step she made.

She sniffed.“Ever stop to think aboutwhythat might be?”Her voice was hard, and she didn’t slow her pace, which forced me to jog every few steps to remain right behind her.

Relieved that she was at least talking to me, I shrugged.“Probably because I’m an irritating asshole who doesn’t know when to shut his damn mouth.”

She huffed out a bitter sound.“Well, at least you know.”

“True.”Swiping a nervous hand over my hair, I glanced past her and wondered where the hell she was leading us.Whatever.Didn’t matter.“Look.Waves…” I started, my voice trembling uncertainly around her name.

Without warning, she jarred to a halt and spun to face me so fast I had to lift my arms and rise up on my toes to keep from running her over.“Whoa!Wha?—?”

Not giving me time to recover, she slapped a piece of paper against my chest.“There.”

Scrambling to keep it from flying off into the breeze, I latched a hand around the sheet, then frowned with trepidation as I turned it over and flipped it right-side up to read, only to scowl up at Waverly in confusion.“What’s this?”

“My work schedule at the library,” she bit out.“When your mom asked me yesterday where you’ve been, it became obvious you’ve stayed away from her in fear of running into me.Well, there you go.Now, you know when I’ll be gone.So go visit your fucking mother already.”

With that, she whirled away to stalk off again.

I blinked after her, then growled, “Hey.”

When I grabbed her hand, she hissed in annoyance.But at least she turned back to me to mutter, “Oh my God,what?”

I really had no idea what I wanted to say, so I grabbed her face roughly with both hands and hauled her mouth to mine so I could kiss the fuck out of her.

“Mmph,” she muffled through what could’ve possibly started as a protest, but the moment our lips sank against each other, it turned into a whimper of need and she clutched the front of my shirt, keeping me right where I was as she chased my tongue with hers.

My fingers sank into her hair, and she lifted onto her toes to press close to me.

By the time we pulled our mouths apart, my hands were shaking like crazy, my entire body felt rattly, and I was breathing hard enough I had to rest my brow against hers until I could catch my bearings again.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” I confessed, not sure why I was telling her this.I hadn’t even wanted to admit it to myself.But I guess since everything else was pouring out of me today, why not this too?

“You…” She paused to gasp for breath, then licked her lips and looked up at me with those fucking gorgeous brown eyes of hers.“You have a funny way of showing it,” she admitted, seemingly confused.“I could’ve sworn you were purposely avoiding me.”

“I was,” I confirmed.When her face filled with hurt, I added, “Because you’re freaking me the fuck out.”

“I…” She shook her head, not understanding.“How?”

“Because I wanted to be a fucking butterfly,” I tried to explain.“Who flits from flower to flower without a care in the world.Not a damn worm, burrowing into one single apple and wallowing there for the rest of his damn life.Why are you turning me into a fucking worm?”

“I—I—” At first, she seemed worried and panicked as if she felt she’d done something wrong.But then she must’ve realized what I meant, and she suddenly scowled.Shoving at my chest, she growled, “Hey, I’m not turning you intoanything.”

“Then why do I not want to flutter off to the next flower already?”I demanded in disgust.“I just want to burrow myself in…you.”

Her mouth opened at the accusation, and she shook her head, puzzled.“I don’t know!”She muttered.“That’s all your doing, bud.Because I never once asked anything of you.You’re turningyourselfinto a worm, all on your own.”

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