Duke University, the sender reads.
I flatline for a second, unlock my phone with a slide of my thumb and open the email without checking the subject.
I shriek at the first line.
Dear Aveena,
It is a great pleasure for me to inform you that you have been selected…
My mouth falls open.
Holy shit.
I got it.
I got a scholarship!
I don’t have the chance to fully relish in my hard work paying off before I make out the sound of footsteps in the distance. Someone’s coming.
I clutch the blanket to my chest as if to protect myself from imminent danger. The footsteps grow closer. And closer. Until they halt at the door. I hold my breath, waiting for whoever is on the other side to make their move.
At last, the knob twists open.
And he materializes in the doorway.
Xavier.
He’s shirtless, his black sweats hanging low on his hip and defining the V lines pointing at his crotch. Normally, I’d be drooling over his glorious body and cut abs, but my focus clings to the scar carving into his abdomen instead.
It’s faded but deep.
Curving around his lower stomach.
I’ve never seen Xavier shirtless in the light before. He was shirtless on his Snapchat picture and at the springs, sure, but both times were too dark and conditions for a body scan weren’t exactly optimal.
I remember my mom telling me Xav had been injured in the boating accident that stole Nora Richards’s life, Finn’s mom. I just never realized Xavier had to carry the traumatic memories of watching her die on his skin.
Xav holds a large glass of ice water in one hand, and the biggest painkiller bottle I’ve ever seen in the other. We make eye contact, and his lips twitch into a barely there smile.
“Morning,” he says, his voice raspy.
I can tell he just woke up by his small, tired blue eyes and his untidy brown hair. I’m guessing he rolled out of bed mere minutes before I came to.
I stare at him blankly.
Morning?
Is that all he has to say to me?
Morning?
“Got you some water.” Xavier sets the glass down on the nightstand and takes a seat at the foot of the bed.
I immediately rain down my concerns on him.
“What happened? How long have I been out? Why did you bring me here? What did you—”
“Easy.” Xavier stops me. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”