Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Dallas whirled around, her fancy dress fanning at her ankles. “If there’s one thing I miss about college, it’s the all-you-can-eat buffets.”
Food trucks. Tailgates. Lady and Joy.
Fae snorted. “You went to college for, like, a week before you dropped out.”
The Quadrangle. The zoo. The Baylor Line.
“For the best.” Dallas sighed. “My professors wanted me out of there more than I did.”
Dr. Pepper Hour. Naps in The Sub basement.
I tried to pay attention to them, but the pain stabbing my skull catapulted me face-first into a trash can. I threw up the beignets and café au lait from earlier.
The pesky A- on my Strategic Management midterm. The sheer anxiety that accompanied it, followed by the bittersweet knowledge that my parents were no longer in my life to care.
Farrow gathered my hair together and tucked it into the back of my shirt. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”
“We should leave.” Dallas hopped from foot to foot, rubbing my back. “I’m so sorry, Briar. I get too excited sometimes and do things without thinking them through.”
I accepted a wet napkin from Hettie, shaking my head as I swiped it across my lips. “No. I want to stay. I need to.”
Dallas and Fae shared a loaded look, but they didn’t fight me. The five of us waded past hordes of picnic blankets, stretched across a field of grass that ended with a colossal fountain. Jets of water shot thirty feet into the air as we trekked by.
I wandered to a flat, red-bricked building, brushing my fingertips against a sign etched into cement. “I used to study here. Moody Library. There’s a boxed-up garden out back. I would cram for midterms, sprawled on my belly beside the bear statue.”
The girls followed me as I all but sprinted toward Penland, where I’d dormed freshman year.
“Oh, god.” I slapped a hand over my mouth, torn between laughing and crying. “I remember all of it.”
At least, I remembered everything about college. Which meant I also remembered I was definitely not with Ollie during college. We hadn’t even stayed in touch.
A barrage of questions assaulted my brain. Why did we break up? How long did the breakup last? Is that why I chose Baylor over Harvard?
I could’ve asked the girls. Surely, as my best friends, they knew. But my pride – and that gnawing heat on my cheeks that I refused to call embarrassment – didn’t let me broach the topic. Plus, Doctor Cohen had warned me, flat-out, that any lick of shocking news could trigger a severe reaction. We’d flown halfway across the country. Better safe than sorry.
Farrow laced her fingers with mine and Hettie’s, tugging us down the grass-lined path with brisk steps. “The dorms are this way, I think. I downloaded a map on the plane.”
“No need.” I almost squealed. “I remember this, too.”
For the first time since waking up at the hospital, things looked familiar. The building. The gardens. The air. It all felt real.
Well, maybe not everything. Certainly not the stranger that called out my name, chasing after us.
“Briar? Briar Auer?” He pushed his glasses up his nose as he jogged over to us. His sun-kissed hair bounced in the wind in all its white-blond glory. “Is that you?”
“Do I know you?” I nudged Fae with my elbow. “Do I know him?”
She shrugged. “I’m the newest member of Dark Prince Road. I wouldn’t know.”
I cocked my head, trying to place the guy and coming up short. He seemed about my age, maybe young enough to be a very hot professor or perhaps a TA. In the time it took me to conjure an answer, he’d eaten the distance between us, planting a fist on each knee to catch his breath.
I smiled politely at him.
He jabbed a finger in my face. “You’re that bitch.”
My smiled dropped.
Fae edged me behind her, rolled her shoulders back, and crossed her arms. “Say that again.”
On instinct, I scooted around Fae. A feral smile hiked up my face. “If you think I’m a bitch, then I’m certain you deserved it.”
Whoa. Did I say that?
“Deserved it?!” He tossed both hands up. “My fiancée dumped me because of you. I’m on the ninth year of my Ph.D. because I needed to take a few gap years to earn money for tuition after she took all her savings with her.”
Her savings? Now I was certain he deserved it.
Fae advanced toward him, ready to give him a piece of her mind, and I loved her for it.
I rested an arm on her forearm, leading her behind me. I could handle him. For some reason, I knew I could. That I often stood up for myself.
I checked my non-existent watch, tapping my foot on the pavement. “Do we know each other?”
“Yeah. We matched on Raya last year. In West Hollywood.”
That threw me off.
“I was on Raya last year?” I slanted toward the girls, arching a brow as if to say, what the fuck? “Why was I on Raya last year?”