Page 29 of Zero Chance

“Yeah,” I mumbled dryly.“Anytime.”

As soon as she was gone, and I was left alone on the stairs, I glanced back to the first closed door on the left.

Temptation lured me for a good two seconds before I shook my head and turned back, starting up the steps away from his room.But the moment I reached the landing and lifted my face, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Keene was just exiting the kitchen and entering the front room.Ten to fifteen feet of space separated us when he finally noticed me.

Slowing to a stop, he lifted his eyebrows as if shocked.“Holy legs,” he uttered.

My lungs stopped working.My skin went into hyperactive mode.And I froze, too terrified to even breathe.

But this was it.He was looking at me.His gaze started at my feet and worked its way up my legs to the skirt and top.He hadn’t reached my face to figure out it was me yet, when someone else called his name.

“Hey, Keene.”

And yep, that was it.Game over.

Attention diverted, he turned away to focus on the girl who was strolling up to him.

His lips twitched in pleasure.“Makayla, right?From Patho class?”

“Very good,” she cooed, reaching out to stroke the front of his shirt.“So I heard the mostinterestingthing about you today…”

“Oh yeah?”Keene’s eyes gleamed with interest as he turned more fully toward her and put his back to me.“What was that?”

As she rose up onto her toes to whisper into his ear, my teeth clenched.

Bitch, back off,I wanted to snarl.This fish was mine.

But she was already reeling him in, hook, line, and sinker.

I’d lost before I’d even begun.I’d been too scared to approach him, and now someone else was already claiming the one and only guy I’d wanted to at leasttrywith.

God, life sucked.

When a husky chuckle came from him as he listened to the skank Makayla whisper her sweet nothings in his ear, my eyes began to sting.My body prickled with disappointment, and my heart sank.

I slunk off to the side, determined to disappear into the nearest wall as I continued to watch Keene and Makayla speak in hushed tones.He made a couple of arm movements as if he were giving her directions.She frowned and shook her head once but then seemed to roll her eyes and give in a moment later.

“Okay, fine.But I gotta stop by the bathroom first.”

“Sounds like a plan.”He chuckled and kissed her cheek before slapping her on the ass as she moved past him down the steps.

They’d probably just agreed to meet in his room.

I might throw up.

Or cry.

Maybe have a complete meltdown.

All the while, Keene grinned after Makayla, calling, “Five minutes.Don’t be late.”

She waved over her shoulder at him, and he seemed momentarily proud of himself before he squinted and glanced around the room, searching forsomething.

I stayed hidden behind a tall plant, wondering what he was looking for until he grabbed the arm of some guy passing by.

“Hey, did you just see a girl?”he asked the stranger.“About yea tall.”He lifted his hand to my height.“Dark hair, green top, short skirt, and legs that wouldn’t stop?”

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