Once outside, the noise wasn’t as bad and the warm breeze smelled better than the inside of that apartment. How many times had I gone to parties I didn’t enjoy with Crawford over the years? I was just now realizing this wasn’t that different. Sure, I knew the inside jokes and the stories so I could at least laugh at those, but I had never felt like I had fit. Being Crawford’s girlfriend had just made me accepted.

“So you’re the coma girl.” The snide comment came from behind me and I turned to see Cat walking up to me. Fantastic. Just who I wanted to deal with.

I wasn’t responding to that. Stooping to her level wasn’t something I was willing to do.

“Crawford sure didn’t seem to miss out on a good time while you were sleeping.”

I had seen enough tonight to know that already.

“He’s going to get bored with this. You. All guys who come to college with their high school sweethearts realize there is something more exciting out there. They want to taste all the options.”

From the sound of things, Crawford probably had tasted some options. I shrugged. “Guess that could go both ways,” I finally responded, surprising myself.

She laughed. “As if. When a girl has a guy like Crawford, they don’t let go easily.”

Sighing, I turned and looked at her. “What do you want?”

She smirked. “Crawford.”

I already knew that. “Then why are you out here bothering me?”

She wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, that was for sure. Her frown signaling her confusion told me she had no idea what I meant.

“He fucked me. Three times in one night. Once in a bathroom at a club.”

That hit my heart hard. It wasn’t jealousy, either. It was … it was betrayal. I had been in a coma and he’d been … he’d been screwing girls in bathrooms at clubs.

I managed not to look like I’d been hit with a brick in the chest. “That says more about you than him,” I replied. Actually, it said a lot about both of them.

“What? That I’m a good fuck?” she asked, laughing.

I stood there a moment deciding if I was even going to respond to this girl before I walked away. My chest had been cracked open and I needed to be alone. Finally, I said, “He’s in there now without me. Stop wasting your time out here and go get what it is you so obviously want. Because you’re not the only one. He’s had girls all over him tonight.”

Then I walked away. I knew how to get back to the dorms, and I needed the fresh air and silence the next four miles would give me.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

SLATE

I WAS EITHER dodging her or trying to catch glimpses of her. I never knew what I wanted from one minute to the next. I didn’t want to see her with Crawford, but then I didn’t want to not see her because I missed her. Why couldn’t I make up my mind?

“Can we go back to your place?” Grace asked as she slid her hand between my legs and cupped my dick.

That had been my plan, but seeing the football players crawling all over the Tinderwoods Apartments meant there was a party there tonight and I knew she would be there. With Crawford. My mind was on her. Always on her.

“Not tonight,” I replied, removing her hand. This wasn’t the first time I’d turned down sex lately. It was becoming a habit. I couldn’t fuck someone and be thinking about Vale the entire time.

But how the hell was I supposed to get over her?

“Why not?” Grace puckered up and leaned in to start nibbling on my ear. I wanted to be able to mindlessly do it like I had before. Take her back to my place, do what she was begging for, and move on. But something had changed in me and I wasn’t able to fix it.

I started to move her off me again when I saw Vale … walking … in the dark … alone. What the hell?

I carelessly shoved Grace off me as I slowed and pulled the Jeep up beside Vale. Jerking the door open, I jumped out and called her name.

She was already looking back at me. Her face was hidden in the shadows.

“What are you doing?” I asked her, closing the distance so I could see her face.

“Walking,” she said simply. I wanted to laugh at her obvious answer, but the hurt look in her eyes sliced through me.

“Where’s Crawford?” I asked, already imagining ways to beat the shit out of him. What guy lets his girl walk home alone in the dark?

“At a party.”

I knew what party. I had passed it a half mile ago. “Is that where you’re coming from?”

“Slate,” Grace called out. I ignored her. Vale didn’t, though. Her eyes went to the girl in my car, then back to me.

“I was just tired and ready to go. You need to get back to your date,” she said, and started to walk away. I reached out and grabbed her hand.

“You’re not walking all the way back to your dorm. It’s not safe. Your fu … boyfriend should have thought about that.” He was going to think about it once I got my hands on him. That was for damn sure.

“He’s not my boyfriend. I don’t think he has been for a very long time.” She tugged at her hand, but I wasn’t letting go. Especially after a comment like that one. If he wasn’t her boyfriend, then what the hell happened?

“What happened, Vale?” I asked.

She tensed, then I saw the tears in her eyes as she quickly looked away from me. “Crawford has been with others … since coming here.”

Was he a dumbass? He had Vale—why would he want anyone else?

“He’s an idiot,” I said, squeezing her hand gently.

She sniffed and reached up to wipe her eyes.

“Slate, let’s go,” Grace called out again. I had forgotten she was even there.

Shit. I glanced back at the Jeep, then at Vale. “I need to take her home, then we can go wherever you want and talk. Or drink. Or break things. Just get in my Jeep, please.”

Vale started to shake her head, and I pulled her close to me and whispered in her ear, “I will leave that Jeep right there and walk the entire way back with you if you don’t. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

She sighed and finally gave me a nod. “Okay.”

I wanted to pull her into my arms and swear to her I’d never let anyone hurt her again. But right now I couldn’t. Because she may not choose me. She was heartbroken over the guy she did love. Just because I loved her didn’t make it enough for both of us.

“Where is she going?” Grace asked as we walked up to the Jeep together. “I’m not getting in the back. She is.”

Vale looked up at me. “Sorry about her” was all I could say.

“I like the back,” Vale replied.

I held her hand as she crawled up into the Jeep and took the backseat.

“Again, why is she with us?” Grace asked, her tone getting more annoying by the second.

“She needs a ride,” I said as I drove back onto the road and toward the sorority house where Grace lived.

“Are you taking me home?” she asked incredulously.

“Yeah.”

She glared back at Vale. “Unbelievable. He’s worse than his reputation. I hope you know that. If he’ll do this to me, he’ll do it to you.”

I didn’t expect Vale to respond, and I wanted to shut Grace up. Even if she had a reason to be pissed. I didn’t have time to worry about that.

“Actually, there’s a side of Slate no one sees because he doesn’t show them. Or they don’t look closely. You went out with him because of his reputation. Maybe you should have tried to see beyond what you thought you knew about him.”