Page 30 of More Than Chemical
“Me too.” I forced a smile. “Thanks for the food and the beer.”
“No problem.” He turned and left.
A knife went straight through my heart.
What.
The.
Hell.
It was all I could think as he walked away. Although I knew my night with him couldn’t continue, he’d left me with nothing. Not even a good-night kiss. What misery.
I finished going up the stairs and pulled out my phone to text Priya. I didn’t want to walk in on her and Luke.
I’m home. Can I come in?
PRIYA
Yes
The handle was unlocked, and I stepped inside. There sat Jay, Emma, Priya, and Luke, staring straight at me.
Seriously? All of them? I sighed and shut the door behind me.
Eleven
Caught
“Hey,” I said casually, even though walking into the room was like stepping into a plasma lamp and I was the high-voltage electrode in the center.
Jay lounged in the saucer chair. Priya and Luke were on the edge of her bed. Emma sat in my desk chair, legs crossed.
Priya spoke first. “We’ve been worried sick, Ade. Why didn’t you answer your texts?”
I moseyed over to my closet and hung up my jacket. “Sorry. I didn’t know you’d been pinging me.”
“We were just about to call the campus police.” Emma’s voice was low.
I turned back. None of them had taken their eyes off me. “I told Priya I’d see her later. Now is later, and here I am. I’m not sure why you’re making such a big deal about this.”
“Where were you?” Jay asked.
I stared at him hard. If it were just Priya, Luke, and Emma in the room, I could lie, no problem. Maybe I took a late shift at the bookstore to stock shelves and make some extra pay. Or I could have been meeting with a study group for a project. But with Jay here, I couldn’t lie. The second I started to spin my tale, he’d know. He was perceptive like that. He’d also known me longer than the rest of them.
“I was at Sporty’s.”See, I wanted to say to him.Not a lie.
“How did you get in?” Priya leaned forward.
I still had my gaze pinned on Jay. Because what I was about to say next would tell me everything I needed to know about who was and wasn’t on my side. “I went with Dallas. He knows the bouncer.”
Jay’s eyebrows rose.
“Iknewit.” Emma shot to her feet and balled her fists. “I told you guys she wouldn’t delete his number.” She started circling the room. “Gross, Ade. Really gross.”
“What the hell?” I’d been dying to say that out loud since it had come to mind on the stairs. “You don’t even know him! How can you hate him?”
“We don’t hate him.” Priya shifted her weight on the bed. “We care about you.”
