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My brows shoot up. “That should be… interesting.”

“I’m actually really excited! The characters seem so cool.”

“You’re the biggest nerd.”

“And you’re obsessed with me.”

I sigh. “Also true.”

“What are you doing tonight? And where are you?” She looks at the scene behind me. “It looks gorgeous.”

I tap the part of my screen that makes the camera switch from facing me to facing my view and show her around. “I’m just hanging out in this little park on The Hill. The sun is starting to set over the mountains,” I say, showing her the orange glow in the distance. “See it?”

“It’s beautiful.”

“We’ll get up for a sunrise hike when you’re here,” I tell her, putting the camera back on me. “It’s even more breathtaking.”

“You’ll have to peel me out of bed.”

“Oh, I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”

She bites her lip against a smile. “I’m well aware of those particular talents of yours.”

I chuckle, leaning back on the blanket I’m on and propping my phone up against my water bottle so I can relax. “How is Skyler, by the way? I haven’t talked to her since…”

I don’t finish the sentence, but Cassie frowns, a heavy sigh leaving her that tells me all I need to know.

“She’s… I don’t know. Numb, I think. She barely talks about it, about him. She’s just been focusing on the pledges and her last semester as president, talking to the girls who want to run for office, finishing up classes and making her plan for after graduation.” She pauses. “Have you talked to Kip at all?”

“I tried calling him, but no dice. He texted me a few days later apologizing, and just said things were crazy busy in California right now but that he’d get back to me when he could.”

“Ugh! So he’s just living it up,” Cassie says, throwing her hands up. “Just being busy when he’s left Sky back here with a broken heart.”

“Babe,” I say with a smile. “I know you love her, but if I have my facts correct, Kip tried to make things right with her, and Skyler essentially said too little too late.”

“Well, he clearly didn’t try hard enough, then.”

I laugh, but before I can argue the other side of it again, I’m nearly run over by a frantic tornado of hair and arms and legs.

“I need your help.”

I squint up at the silhouette of the girl I ran into on my way to the Student Union last week, frowning in confusion.

“Now. Please. I don’t know what to do. She’s… she’s fucking wasted, and I think…” She swallows, running her hands back through her long hair, her chest heaving. “Please.”

“Who is that?” Cassie asks.

“I’ll call you back,” I tell her, and I end the call, jumping to my feet to grab the girl’s arms. “Okay, it’s alright. Just take a breath here and tell me what’s going on.”

The girl looks so different than she did the first time I ran into her. Her tattoos are covered by a long-sleeve pink cardigan, a matching band in her hair, and she’s wearing long, slim, cream dress pants with small brown kitten heels. Her makeup is subdued and natural, and the combination of it all is what made it so hard for me to recognize her at first.

“I’m an Educational Leadership Consultant for Delta Beta Gamma, and I’ve been here with the girls all summer and they’ve been working so hard. They wanted to have a party at the house today and I… I covered for them and let them and… there’s a girl, a young girl — freshman — she’s… she’s really drunk.” She swallows, her blue eyes wild and animated. “I have her propped up in the bed, but I’m worried she might need to go to the hospital.”

“Let’s go,” I say instantly, and then in a flash, we’re flying up The Hill to the Delta Beta Gamma house.

The party is still raging when we run through, but we bypass all the games and shot taking and dancing, running up the stairs where it’s a little quieter. The girl guides me down a long hall, and then into a bedroom where the girl in question is propped up against the headboard.

Her head is lolled to the side, mouth hanging open, and there’s vomit on her shirt.

I cringe, rushing over to her side and taking her hand in mine before sweeping the hair from her face.

“What’s her name?” I ask.

“Martina.”

I nod, then start saying her name softly, shaking her gently until her eyes peel open like it takes all her strength to do so.

I know that feeling.

“Hey, Martina,” I say as soothingly as I can. “How are we feeling?”

“Mm…okay,” she slurs.

I nod. The fact that she’s responding is a good sign. “Just feeling a little drunk?”

She nods, making a horse sound with her lips before her head lolls back again.


Tags: Kandi Steiner Romance