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His eyes widened. “Huh? No! I didn’t want you to feel like I kept it from you. That’s all it is, Sanj, I swear.”

“I thought the conversation was closed. You had the entire drive to say something, Ashton.”

And would you even have told me about it if I hadn’t seen you on the phone earlier?I wondered silently.

“Hey.” He reached across the console again, his hand brushing over my knee. “I don’t want to fight about this, and I don’t want you to be upset.”

Lord help me.

“We aren’t fighting, and I’m not upset.” I paused, “We’re simply… not doing great at communicating right now.”

He pulled a face. “That’s one way to put it.”

“You know she doesn’t like me, right?” I made it known, just in case he was under some illusion about where I stood with this girl.

He looked over and smiled. “I like you. That’s what matters, right?”

Right.

Freaking idiot.

I opened the door and stepped out of the car without saying another word. He quickly did the same, coming around to take my hand, looking down at me, which wasn’t a feat, seeing as there were a whole 2-3 inches between us, like that would smooth everything over. I didn’t want him touching me right then, but I also wasn’t going to make a scene in the middle of campus. People were already starting to look.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I won’t talk to her anymore, okay? I can text her right now and let her know you’re not comfortable with us being in contact.”

“Oh, my God. You’re not doing that.”

He stopped, his brows knitting together. “Then tell me what you want me to do, Sanj.”

His voice carried that clipped, restrained edge he used when he didn’t want to argue but was doing it anyway, and it grated against my already fraying nerves.

“I don’t know,” I muttered, rubbing the heel of my palm against the ache building between my brows. “Can we not do this right now?”

He nodded, jaw tight, and we kept walking. His hand was still in mine, but it was more performance than a comfort. With silence stretching between us, we crossed through the main walkway toward the quad. Cool air brushed my face,carrying the first bite of fall. Clouds drifted across the sky like gauze, softening the light and casting the old stone buildings in a golden haze. Crowsfell’s campus had the kind of elegance that belonged to another century. Even the remodeled sports complex echoed the original architecture, using the bones to construct.

Warm, brown-stone colored, standing tall and proud, with dramatic arches and cathedral windows that caught the light just right. At night, the paths were lit by the black, wrought-iron lamps that lined them. It all looked like something out of a film, too perfect to be real, but beneath the polished facade, many stories had been buried here, never quite forgotten.

I spotted Roxxi, Arianna, Cloe, and Layla first, all crowded together and laughing at something one of the guys said. Roxxi caught my eye and waved, and I started toward them, the warmth of their smiles pulling me in. Before I could fully settle into their energy, my gaze drifted like it always did, to the other half of my center.

He looked annoyingly well-rested despite getting less sleep than I did. I knew he had an ungodly early class on Tuesdays and never skipped his workouts afterward. As we got closer, something twisted low in my stomach. A flutter that wasn’t even close to innocent. It was happening more often than I wanted to admit and was impossible to ignore. When his pretty eyes met mine and a slow, crooked smile slid across his face, my heart stuttered. I forced myself to look away and focus on the girls, but the damage was already done. Last night’s phone call, the things he’d texted—all of it came rushing back, dragging along the core memory of his mouth on mine.

It had been months.

Months since that night, and pretending it never happened. Months since one kiss shattered every defense I’d spent yearsperfecting. Then, in true Sanjana fashion, I fucked everything up even more by getting with Ashton.

A therapist would have a field day dissecting the mess I’d made of my relationships. But hey, at least I was self-aware. Now, every day was a master class in pretending I wasn’t caught between one more reckless decision and the fallout waiting to blow up in my face.

Intent, as I was not staring at him, Ryder knew exactly how to capture my attention. The sneaky asshole lifted a brown paper bag and a cup with a familiar logo stamped on the side. Hemlock & Bean. The only decent coffee shop within ten miles of campus and home to my personal brand of liquid gold. Ryder only drank it when he was with me, and even then, he complained it tasted like straight-up diabetes.

My eyes locked onto it like a woman starved. I dropped Ashton’s hand without thinking twice and sped up, practically tasting the caramel drizzle already. Ryder clocked me coming and dared to laugh, holding the cup just out of reach as I approached with grabby hands, ignoring everyone else for the beautiful, life-giving espresso that awaited me.

“Aht aht,” he teased, lifting the cup higher, effortlessly dangling it above my head. “What do you say?”

“Thank you,” I oozed, extra sweet.

“Thank you…?”

“Thank you, Rye. You’re the best.”

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