Page 8 of Trust Me Always

You aren’t ready to worry about what the future might not bring yet anyway, Cam.

“Stop trying to speed up time.” Ari nudges me. “It’s only August.”

“And November before we know it. You know how football season is. Our lives are a rat race for the next few months, even more so now that we’re not only trying to make all the boys’ games here at Avix but as many of your superfamousfiancé’sNFL games!”

“Cam,” she hisses, head whipping around.

“What?” I grin, glancing her way. “Afraid the world will find out what literallyeveryoneis waiting for?”

“We’re not engaged.”

I cock my head, blinking hard at her, and her cheeks pinken.

She looks away, whispering as we enter the giant room. “We’re not engaged as far as the rest of the world knows. You knowThe Avix Inquireris on a crazy kick right now. It’s gone from a fun school page to a damn gossip column. All we need is for them to start spreading rumors.”

“Not a rumor if it’s true.”

She snaps her mouth shut, fighting a grin as she shakes her head. “You’re annoying, and if we were engaged, we sure as hell wouldn’t want our friends to read about it on social media.”

“So tell us.”

“Oh my god,” she laughs, letting me go and moving ahead of me.

Smirking, I follow behind her, dropping into the seat on her right.

“Like I’ve told you a hundred times.” She leans in close so only I can hear. “We want to keep it to ourselves until I graduate and can be with him full-time.”

“That way, the pro huntresses don’t go hard on him?”

“Pro huntresses?”

I shrug a shoulder. “Better than football groupies or cleat chasers, don’t you think?”

She scoffs, grinning as she opens her book bag.

We pull out our materials, and I scroll on my phone as we wait for class to begin.

A few minutes pass when she nudges my elbow, and I follow her gaze.

My eyes land on a blond head at the front of the room, a white slip of paper in his hand.

“Coincidence?” I whisper.

In my peripheral, Ari shakes her head. “I’m going to go with no.”

Alister stands at the front of the class, chatting with the professor.

A class I’ve already attended twice, seeing as it’s the second week in the fall semester, so I know for a fact he’s most definitely not in this class—at least not at this specific hour. I try to remember if I saw his name in the queue on the online hybrid portion, but I don’t think I would have forgotten if I had.

Alister shakes the professor’s hand and turns to walk away, but before his feet move a single step, his eyes lift, instantly locking on mine.

I give him a blank expression, and he smirks in response, winking my way before exiting. “Jackass,” I mutter.

Ari chuckles beside me, and we all face forward when the professor speaks.

“Just a reminder, everyone. Two missed classes across the first three weeks and missed log-ins to our online blackboard, and you will be dropped from this course. If you’re on the wait list, you should not be seated in the class. We’re a full bunch this semester, so only those registered are permitted.”

“He’s trying to get into this class,” I whisper.

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