Page 26 of Still Here Without You

“I’m not sleeping with her. It happened once, and it was at our place.Fuck!”

Taking a deep breath, I calm my nerves and think about my next move. “I’ll head to campus and go from there. Despite you offering no real information, I appreciate you letting me know.”

“Anytime.” He nods, the tension easing between us now that there’s a plan. With a wave he drives away toward home.

Taking off on the bike, I pull into the parking lot closest to the field in record time. Looking up at the modern, out-of-place training facility beside it, I don’t even know where to go. She may not even be here. Even if Dylan came and found me straight away, she’s still got at least twenty minutes lead on me.Fuck! My eyes dart around as I try to figure out where to start. God, where the fuck is her dorm? Why—

“Joel?”

I’m pulled up short and turn to see Delilah walking toward me, rubbing her fingers under her eyes. Relief floods me as I quickly jog toward her, making up the distance between us to pull her into my arms. I feel her sag against me before I ask, “What’s going on? You’re upset.”

“Shit! It’s that obvious?” She steps back, wiping her eyes again.

“Not exactly. Dylan saw you leaving the stadium.”

Delilah deflates in front of me, her chin hitting her chest. “Okay,” she sighs before looking back up at me with a crinkled nose. “And he told you?”

“He was worried.”

Delilah’s lips pull into a half smile. “He’s a catch, that one.”

“And what about me? I raced here to see you,” I say, motioning back toward my bike.

“You’re a bit okay too.” She laughs.

“Good. So what happened?”

She takes a deep breath and looks to the sky. “Everything’s a mess, Joel. But I don’t want to cry here again, so thank you, but—”

“Let’s go somewhere else. I want to talk to you about it,” I cut her off, knowing there’s no way I can walk away—not when she’s upset, and I’ve done nothing about it.

Her eyes snap to mine before she sighs and nods.

“My dorm’s pretty close. We can go there.” She gestures to a building in the distance. “Since I know you won’t take no for an answer.”

I fight a grin at her snark sneaking through. “Sounds perfect. Lead the way.” I motion for her to walk ahead, following behind her.

She looks back over her shoulder and offers me the most beautiful, thankful smile. “You’re a catch too, Joel,” she says with a slight blush coating her cheeks.

“I know.” I wink, enjoying the feeling I get knowing it wasmethat helped to light up her entire face. The smile she has in place is something I’ll never tire of.

Delilah closes the door of her dorm room behind us, leaning her back against it. Her room is small so it doesn’t take long for me to sweep my eyes over it. As soon as I see that we’re alone, I remove my jacket and pull my tee over my head. Delilah’s eyes go to my naked chest first, then move up to my face. She scrunches her features, like she thinks I’m insane, before looking back down at my abs. I don’t say a word as she stares, and when I flex, she bursts out laughing.Mission accomplished.

“Okay, I get it. You’ve cheered me up. Thank you. Now, put your shirt back on.”

I laugh but do as asked before taking a seat on the desk chair and swiveling it around to face her.

“What happened?”

Delilah sighs but doesn’t look as upset as she did before. Must be the power of my body. I don’t tell her that, even though I want to. Now’s not the time.

“The internship is a lot bigger than I anticipated.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

She shakes her head. “Yes and no. For my future, it’s an amazing opportunity. But for my courses and cheer, it’s going to be a setback. I have to defer next semester, which means I’ll be dropped from the cheer squad. Not only do I lose my position for now, but they’ve said there’slittleshot that I’d make the team again when I return. Even if I kept fit and gave the performance of my life in the audition, they say they can’t rely on my commitment, and that’s a big deal.”

“Shit. That’s not what you need right now. You should be celebrating.”

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