Page 38 of Keep Me

“Nope,” I stated, heading back to the counter so I could check my phone one more time. No surprise. There was no message from Britt but plenty from Olana. I pulled my bag from the side, shoved my phone in it, then hiked it over my shoulder.

“Are you going to talk to her?”

“Nope.” I lied since I didn’t want to feed information to Jackson, the gossip king. It was exactly what I was going to do since I didn’t want this going on any longer. Britt and I talked about everything. We didn’t hide the truth from each other, and if she didn’t want me, I needed to hear it from her. Two months was too long to be sitting in limbo waiting for her. “I’m late for detention.”

“Detention?” Jackson asked with a furrowed brow. I inwardly cursed at my stupid lie. “It’s a Sunday and the start of the semester. How have you already gotten in trouble?”

“Doesn’t matter. Do the crime, do the time.”

“We’re in college. I didn’t even think they gave those out anymore.”

“They do when you’re me,” I huffed out. Jackson’s questions were making my lie so complicated I had to start thinking of a previous time I got in trouble just to make it sound plausible. “The dean’s calling it a disciplinary, but it involves me sitting in a room, writing out why I will stop messing with the campus computers.”

“What security system did you hack this time?” Jackson asked, unamused.

“None of your business. Although, I wouldn’t exactly call it a hack since I could get into the database with a firestick and phone, but that’s for the college to fix, not me.”

Thea’s eyes widened, which surprised me. I thought everyone on campus knew I liked to hack things after the incident with Hayden’s ex. I tried to pass it off as a friend, but most people knew, they just wouldn’t say it out loud. I was pretty good withcomputers, and it all started when my mom took me to a coding class when I was seven. I loved it so much that by the time I was ten, I was hacking my school’s computer system so I could up my own grades. When I accomplished it without getting caught, things kind of escalated to the point where I was skating on the wrong side of legal. The one good thing about my little hobby was that I’d garnered me more money than sense. Quadruple the amount Aiden was due to inherit, but I wasn’t nearly as flashy about it. Olana knew about some of the money, but not all of it. I’d stashed most of it away in accounts that would make it near impossible to find. I stopped doing it for money once we got a couple of visits from the feds, but sometimes, I couldn’t help myself, and I’d hack a system or two since it was a good way to check that my skills were still up-to-date.

Thea gulped. “What kinds of things are you hacking?”

“Do you remember that game we had against Southern Collegiate a couple of years ago? You know, the one that went viral?” Jackson asked.

Thea nodded. Who could forget it? I’d hacked the jumbotron and played a video of Southern Collegiate’s star quarterback doing some pretty awful things. It was one of my best works.

“You can thank Matty for that. If you need a system to hack, he’s the guy for the job.”

“What? Seriously?” Thea sat up with interest. “Do you think you could hack the sorority system and up my position in the rush?”

“Sure,” I said, stepping through the living room and making my way out. “I’ll look into it.”

“No need. She’s not rushing,” Tanner shouted, then him and Thea were back to arguing.

“Not again!” Jackson bellowed, grabbing his hat and smothering his face with it. I didn’t bother to say goodbye. No one would hear it over Tanner and Thea’s arguing.

Now that I was free, all I needed to do was find Britt and figure out what the hell was going on between us.

Standing in the hallway, I looked both ways before raising my hand to knock on the door. My fist rested against the wood, but I couldn’t bring myself to knock. What the hell was wrong with me? Britt’s apartment had been like a second home, yet I felt like an uninvited guest.

This was stupid. I had a key, and last year, if she wasn’t studying at mine, I was at hers watching a football game. I’d eaten so many pizzas on her sofa that a sign saying “permanently reserved for Matty” would be appropriate.

Shaking my head, I glared at the door, willing myself to knock.

Still nothing.

This was ridiculous.

Britt was my best friend. We didn’t have to be fake with each other, hanging out with her felt like I was with family. Although, I most certainly didn’t view her as a sister. Never had.

That was why I needed to fix this. I needed to knock on her door, finally talk to her and get what happened between us out in the open. Maybe she didn’t want a repeat, but she wouldn’t leave me on read for the rest of our lives without that explanation.

Finally, my hand started working, and I rapped my knuckles against the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I took a deep breath, expecting all the air to be sucked out of my lungs. That was usually what happened when I saw Britt for the first time in a while.

When I heard some movement, I rested my ear against the door and was surprised to hear a girl giggling.

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