Page 20 of Zero Chance

That had been the first time I’d spoken of Zane since grief counseling.

Picturing his face in my head, I swallowed thickly and wondered if he would’ve felt as lost and alone in college too.Or would he have found his people there?I saw flyers around campus a lot, featuring groups and events that would’ve welcomed him wholeheartedly.If only he’d held off one more year, maybe he would’ve been okay.

Xander squeezed my arm in sympathy, and when I glanced over at her, she gave me a big smile.“Well, tonight you and I are being each other’s missing person.Okay?”

Heaviness filled my chest.

I guess, maybe I wasn’t quite as alone in this world as I thought I was.

I nodded, working through the dryness in my throat and the stinging in my eyes.Suddenly, I was glad she’d picked me out of everyone on HaveU campus to be her friend.I was glad I had her.

“Okay,” I rasped.“Thank you.”

Laughing, she swung open her car door.“Of course.Now let’s do this.”

4

WAVERLY

“Are you sure you want to borrow clothes?”Xander asked as we strolled back to Archer House in the crisp January breeze.“You look super cute in that.”

I wrinkled my nose, not having been accused of lookingcuteonce in my life.

Glancing over, I announced, “Tonight, I think I want to look like someone else completely.Can you do that?”

Her eyes lit with excitement.“Oh yeah.This is going to be so much fun.”Rubbing her hands together, she started to chatter about different outfits she wanted me to try on.And she didn’t seem to notice when I held my breath as I followed her up the front steps, where she swept the door open.

I didn’t know if I was expecting to see him first thing when I stepped over the threshold, or what, but I exhaled in a rush when the front room was empty of people.

It looked more like a college place in here than it had outside.Posters splattered the walls, a lot of them featuring Xander’s cousin, Foster, and other HaveU sports teams.But the one I instantly zeroed in on was the bull riding poster of Keene.

With one hand clutching the bull rope and the other held up above his head, his chin was tucked down toward his chest, and his cowboy hat obscured his face, but I knew it was him.

And then I heard his voice yell, “Hey, Archer!”from the bottom of a set of stairs in the middle of the room, where half of them went down and the other half ascended toward an upper level.

My heart lodged itself in my throat as Xander started for those very steps, but she paused when Oaklynn appeared at the top so she could yell down into the bottom portion.

“Damien’s not here,” she told Keene.“He’s off doing landlord stuff.”

“Well then, yo, Vargas,” he yelled back.

Oaklynn rolled her eyes and set a hand on her hip.“Yo,what?”She looked as if she was in the middle of doing her hair.She had a brush in one hand and one side of her mane looked considerably straighter than the other.

“Can I borrow Arch’s beard trimmer?”

She scoffed.“What am I?Your gofer?”

“Best looking gofer ever,” Keene agreed.But when she only frowned, he cajoled, “Please?”

“Ugh.Fine.”She turned away in a huff.“Hold on.”

As she disappeared into a bedroom, Xander reached the staircase, where she grabbed hold of the railing and peered down into the lower area.“Why don’t you just grow it out?”she asked.“Full-on mountain-man style”

“Would that finally get you to sleep with me?”his voice asked huskily.

Xander grimaced and pulled back.“Not even.And put a shirt on already.”

“I really would,” he taunted.“But I know how much you like it when I don’t.”

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