CHAPTER33
Around eight,Allie asks if I want to go up to the second floor to the club with her and Diego.
“No thanks, I’m actually thinking about heading back, but you two go on ahead. I’ll call an Uber. No big deal.”
“Are you sure?” she asks. “I can give you a ride back.”
“I’ll be fine. Have fun.”
I wave to them and then to Chance. Raven and Jessica have already made their way upstairs, and the football nuts are too wrapped up in their conversation to even look my way.
I leave and start to walk. Not that I plan on walking all the way back to campus. That would take absolutely forever. It feels good to stretch my legs, and I need to get a hold of someone to pick me up. After what happened last time, I’m not using Uber.
But before I can call Robyn, my phone vibrates.
“Zac, hey.”
“Hi, Katie. You were on my mind, so I thought I would check in on you.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet. Actually…” I blow out a breath. “I need a ride.”
“Where to?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I’m not on campus, and I kinda don’t want to go back right away. I… I need to get away for a bit. Try to clear my head. I’ve been rushing around so much between classes and homework and studying and the diner…”
And I’m only going to get busier. I managed to nab myself a copy of the book I need to study to get my permit. I should probably be studying that, but my brain is a bit fried. The chance to get away, to pretend I don’t have a care in the world, would be divine right about now.
“Where are you?” he asks.
I hurry to the street corner and tell him the street names. Twenty minutes later, he swings by.
“Hop on,” he says.
“I shouldn’t have told you about needing to get away,” I say before he can ride off. “I don’t mean to put that on you.”
He turns his head to the side, and I can just see enough of his profile to know he’s smiling. Off he does, and it doesn’t take me long at all to realize he’s not heading back to our school.
Instead, he pulls up to a house, a beautiful, decently sized one.
“Whose place is this?” I ask as I climb off his bike.
“Mine.”
“Yours?” I gape at him and eye the house again. It’s way larger than any one person needs, and I blurt out, “Why don’t you just live here with the others?”
“Because I need my space,” he says simply.
“I can understand that,” I murmur.
“This place, it’s my sanctuary. My aunt kept shoving money my way, so I saved up. I don’t know if she even knows I have this place.”
“Wow.”
“She’s a businesswoman, a very successful one. Works all the time. Flying here, there, and everywhere. She never married, and I doubt she ever will.”
“It sounds like she already is married to her work.”
“I suppose.” Zac makes a face. “That’s not how I want to live my life. I mean, I plan on working and working hard.”