"I live here."
I gaped at him. The whole half naked thing sort of made sense now and I guess so did the tortoise, but it couldn't be. Way too many coincidences. "You're joking, right?"
"No. I've been living here for a while-like a couple of years with my roommate. You know, the fucktard who put poor Raphael outside."
"Hey!" the guy yelled from inside their apartment. "I have a name. It's Señor Fucktard!"
Cam laughed. "Anyway, did you move in over the weekend?"
I found myself nodding.
"Makes sense. I was back home, visiting the fam." He shifted Raphael to his other hand, cradling the squirming thing to his chest. "Well, hell…"
I was gripping the door until my knuckles ached. "That's… um, your tortoise?"
"Yeah." A half grin appeared as he lifted the little guy. "Raphael meet Avery."
Giving the tortoise a little wave, I kind of felt stupid afterward for doing so. It just stuck its head back in its green and brown shell. "That's a very interesting pet."
"And those are very interesting shorts." His gaze dropped. "What are they?" Leaning forward his eyes narrowed, and I stiffened. "Pizza slices?"
Heat swamped my cheeks. "They're ice cream cones."
"Huh. I like them." Straightening, his gaze drifted up me slowly, leaving an unfamiliar wake of heat behind. "A lot."
I immediately let go of the door and crossed my arms over my chest. The corner of his lips tipped up. My eyes narrowed. "Thanks. That means a lot to me."
"It should. They have my seal of approval." He bit down on his lower lip as his lashes lifted. Those eyes pierced mine. "I need to get Raphael back in his little habitat before he pees on my hand, which he's bound to do, and that sucks."
My lips twitched into a small grin. "I can imagine."
"So, you should come over. The guys are about to leave, but I'm sure they'll be around for a little longer. You can meet them." He inched closer and lowered his voice. "They're no way as interesting as I am, but they're not bad."
I glanced over his shoulder, part of me wanting one thing and the other half wanting nothing to do with any of this. That part won out. "Thanks, but I was heading to bed."
"This early?"
"It has to be after midnight."
His grin was spreading. "That's still early."
"Maybe to you."
"Are you sure?" he asked. "I have cookies."
"Cookies?" My brows rose.
"Yeah, and I made them. I'm quite the baker."
For some reason, I couldn't picture that. "You baked cookies?"
"I bake a lot of things, and I'm sure you're dying to know all about those things. But tonight, it was chocolate and walnut cookies. They are the shit if I do say so myself."
"As great as that sounds, I'm going to have to pass."
"Maybe later then?"
"Maybe." Not likely. I stepped back, reaching for the door. "Well, it's good seeing you again, Cameron."
"Cam," he corrected. "And hey, we didn't almost run each other over. Look at us, changing up the pattern."
"That's a good thing." I was back in my apartment and he was still in front of my door. "You should get back before Raphael pees on your hand."
"Would be worth it," he replied.
My brows knitted. "Why?"
He didn't answer that, but he did start backing up. "If you change your mind, I'll be up for a while."
"I'm not going to. Goodnight, Cam."
His eyes widened only a fraction of inch, but his grin slipped into a full smile, and my stomach sort of flopped, because his smile was wow. "See you tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?"
"Astronomy class? Or are you skipping again?"
My cheeks heated all over again. God, I had almost forgotten about running away in front of him like a total idiot. "No," I sighed. "I'll be there."
"Great." He started backing up again. "Goodnight, Avery."
Ducking behind the door, I closed it and then locked it. I swore I heard him chuckle, but I had to be crazy.
I stood there a few moments and then I whipped around and raced back to my bedroom. Diving under the covers, I rolled onto my stomach and shoved my face into a pillow.
Sleep. Just go to sleep.
Cam lived across the hall?
You need to get up early. Go to sleep.
How in the world was that possible? He was everywhere I went.
Go to sleep.
And why did he have a pet turtle and did he seriously name it after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, because that was kind of funny.
Morning's going to come soon.
Did he only wear a shirt during class? Oh my God, he seriously lived across the hall. Jacob was going to flip… and probably move in. That would be fun. I really liked Jacob, but I had a feeling he'd borrow my clothes.
Go the fuck to sleep.
I can't believe the hot dude I ran into and then ran away from lived across the hall. I don't even know why I cared. It didn't matter. I wasn't interested in guys or girls, but he was extraordinarily hot… and kind of funny… and kind of charming.
No. No. No. Stop thinking about him, because it was pointless and hopeless, so go to sleep.
Did I eat all that salad? Man, those cookies sound good right about now.
"Ugh!" I groaned into the pillow.
This crap went on for about an hour before I gave up and threw myself out of bed. Out in the living room, I didn't hear any music or noise coming from Cam's apartment. He was probably sleeping soundly while I was up obsessing over cookies and chicken tenders and ripped stomachs .
Stomping into the extra bedroom that had become more of a library/office, I powered on the laptop and brought up my email. There was one unread email in my inbox from my cousin. I deleted that without even opening it. On the left toolbar, I saw I had a couple of unread emails in my junk folder. Bored out of my mind, I clicked on the link and scanned the prescription drug offers, the "I have money in a foreign account" emails, and the notice that Bath and Bodyworks was having a sale. My eyes narrowed on the subject line of the one email that came in at around eleven last night.
It read AVERY MORGANSTEN and was from an email address I didn't recognize.
Well, that was strange, because my email wasn't set up under my real name, so it would be unlikely that it was a phishing scam. Only my parents and cousin had my email because, even though they had my telephone number, I'd rather have them contact me that way instead of calling, but no one else had it.
My finger hovered over the mouse pad. Unease rose as knots formed in my stomach. Tucking my legs against my chest, I told myself not to open it. To just delete it, but I clicked because I had to. It was like looking at a bad car accident alongside the road. You knew you shouldn't, but you did.
I immediately wished I hadn't. The knots in my stomach tightened and a lump formed in the back of my throat. Sick to my stomach, I pushed away from the desk and slammed the laptop shut. Standing in the middle of the room, I sucked in a deep breath and curled my hands into fists.
It was just three lines.
That was all.
Three lines erased thousands of miles.
Three lines ruined my entire night.
Three lines found me all the way in a little college town in West Virginia.
You're nothing but a liar, Avery Morgansten. You'll get yours in the end. And it won't be in the form of money.
Chapter 4
I dragged myself into astronomy class ten minutes early and picked what I believed to be an inconspicuous seat in the middle of the amphitheater style classroom. A few other students were already there, sitting up front. Yawning, I scooted down in my seat and rubbed my eyes. The gallon of coffee I drank this morning hadn't done a thing for me given that I only had an hour of sleep.
Three little sentences.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I rested my head on my forearm. I didn't want to think about the email or the fact that I had reopened my laptop and went into my trash folder to see what my cousin had said. His email had just been one giant bitchfest on how I was letting my parents down and how his were worried sick and afraid I was going to put Mom and Dad through another episode. You need to come home, he had written. It is the right thing to do. It was the right thing for them, and while my cousin sided with my parents and oh, about ninety-nine percent of the town, I doubted he had been behind the email.
The email address was unrecognizable to me, and while there were a lot of people that it could've come from, I really didn't know who it was. It couldn't be him because even he wasn't that stupid to try to contact me.
Or was he?
A shudder rolled down my spine. What if it had been Blaine? What if he found out where I moved to? My family wouldn't have told him. Then again, they could've told his parents because they were, after all, country club pals. I was going to murder them if they did. Seriously. Catch the next flight to Texas and murder them, because the whole point of coming here was to get away from-
"Morning, sweetheart," came a deep voice.
I jerked my head up and twisted in my seat. Surprised into speechlessness, I watched Cam slide into the empty seat next to me. I was a little slow on the uptake because I knew I should've said the seat was taken or tell him to move, but all I could do was stare.
He settled back, looking at me sideways. "You look a little rough this morning."
And he looked remarkably refreshed for someone who had been partying last night. Hair damp and all over the place, eyes bright. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. Glad to see you make it to class this time." He paused, tilting his head back against the seat and kicking his feet up on the seat in front of us, his eyes on me. "Though, I kind of missed the whole running into each other thing. Provided a lot of excitement."
"I don't miss that," I admitted, bending over and rummaging through my bag for my notebook. "That was really embarrassing."
"It shouldn't have been."
"Easy for you to say. You're the one who got plowed. I was doing the plowing."
Cam's mouth opened. Oh my God, did I really just say that? I had. Flushing to the roots of my hair, I flipped open my notebook.
"Raphael is doing great, by the way."
A relieved grin snuck out. "That's good to hear. Did he pee on your hand?"
"No, but it was a close call. Brought you something."
"Turtle pee?"
Cam laughed and shook his head as he reached into his backpack. "Sorry to let you down, but no." He pulled out papers stapled together. "It's a syllabus. I know. Thrilling shit right here, but figured since you didn't come to class on Monday, you'd need one, so I got it from the Professor."