Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
I want to ask questions, but I recognize the hurt in her eyes. If she’s anything like me, she won’t want to get into details.
“Do you live in grad student housing?” she asks.
“Nah. I’m that way about five blocks,” I say, nodding to our left.
“Off-campus, then.”
“Yep. I did the whole dorm thing in undergrad, but it was never a good fit for me. I need my space.”
“I felt the same way about the dorms.” She frowns.
Does living with Chuck make her feel smothered?
“How long have you lived with the boyfriend?”
She draws in a shaky breath. “We moved in together at the end of spring semester.”
I hate that this turn in the conversation has taken the joy from her eyes, so I take a step forward. “Let me hear it.”
“What?”
“Your best southern Alabama drawl. I wanna hear you talk like Gram.”
“It’s hotta than the hinges on the gates ah Hell,” she says, running the words together like they’re all sticky. Molasses, indeed.
I feel my face split into a grin so wide it feels foreign. “That’s impressive.”
“If she could hear me now, she’d make me go pull weeds for mocking her.”
The wind blows a strand of her hair across her lips. I brush it behind her ear without thinking, and her breath catches. Her gaze settles on my mouth, and I trail my fingers down the side of her neck.
Slowly, I dip my head, watching her lips part subtly. I can smell her shampoo.
Her hands slide up my chest, and the hunger in her eyes ticks up another notch.
Just as her eyes start to drift closed, she shoves me away. “Stop.” She jumps behind the bench, gripping the back of it like it’s a fucking shield.
I stutter, step back, and press my lips together. They’re still buzzing in anticipation for a kiss that isn’t coming. For a kiss I have no business taking. “Sorry.”
“I just . . .” Her eyes dart toward her building then back to me. “I can’t.”
But you want to. “Why’d you move in with him?”
She looks away and thinks a long time before answering. “It was time for me to move out of the dorms, and he invited me to live with him. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Regrets?” I ask.
She shoots me a look. “I don’t think I should talk to you about this.”
“Why not?”
She wrinkles her nose. “It feels wrong. Like if anyone’s going to know how I feel about living with Chuck, Chuck deserves to know first.”
“I respect that.” Or I would if the man in question were anyone but Chuck. Chuck doesn’t deserve shit. Certainly not this girl. But her reply confirms what’s seemed so obvious all night: she definitely has regrets when it comes to her asshole boyfriend.
She gives me a sad smile. “I’m sorry I walked away from perfectly good pancakes earlier.”
I roll my shoulders back. “I crossed a line. Your relationship is your business.” I force a smile and tilt my head toward Chuck’s building. “Let’s get you home.”
“I do want to pay you back,” she says, hurrying after me. “Come to The Naked Bean tomorrow and ask for Savannah Downing. I’m working four to close.”
“Downing? Like, the family whose name is all over this campus? The old department store?”
She groans. “Unfortunately.”
“Any relation?”
“Yes.” She cuts her eyes to me, weary. “That was a long time ago. There’s a reason you don’t see Downings in shopping malls anymore.”
I laugh softly and slow my steps before the entrance to Chuck’s building. “I’m not after your money, Savvy.”
“Sorry. People just get the wrong idea.”
I nod then glance between the door and her. “You okay to go in there?”
She nods. “You’ll come see me? So I can pay you back?”
I look her over one last time. “We’ll see,” I say, then I walk away.
CHAPTER FIVE
SAVVY
“Where the fuck have you been?” Chuck slurs when I walk in the door. He’s on the couch, gaming remote in hand, looking sullen as hell.
Fantastic. He’s drunk.
“Excuse me?” I’m so sick of the animosity that’s been bubbling between us lately, but I just walked in the door and he’s already pissing me off.
“Sorry, your majesty. Where the heck have you been?”
I roll my eyes. Chuck’s body is a temple—except when it comes to boozing with the bros. Then it’s all about the vodka or sometimes gin. Tonight it was the latter. I can smell him from here. “I told you I was going to that party with Julie.”
I dig my ID out of my bra and toss it and my phone onto the counter before turning toward the bathroom to get ready for bed.
I’m halfway down the dark hall when he grabs me from behind. His hands slide around to my belly, and he pulls me against him. It’s honestly the most physical contact I’ve had in weeks, and despite my recent disillusionment with my boyfriend, I catch myself melting into him. This summer I learned just how lonely it is to live with someone who ignores me. I never felt lonely when I lived alone.