Page 24 of Built to Fall
She huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, okay.”
The first thing I noticed about Lina may have been how gorgeous she was—with her hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and honey brown hair—but it’s obvious now that the thing that’s kept me thinking about her is the way she talks.
Her sharp tongue, the way she throws me off my game by refusing to show me any of the normal attention I get, and how she says whatever the hell she’s thinking without a second thought. That’s what keeps her lodged in my brain.
I might be an asshole, but she’s the only one who’s ever challenged me on it. And for some fucked-up reason, it keeps her circling my head.
It must be why when she goes to get up, I immediately reach out to clasp her wrist, the cool metal of her bracelet pressing against my palm. “You must not hate me staring at youthat much,considering you still showed up,” I point out, raising a brow at her.
She looks down at my hand, then up at me. “Yeah. And now I’m wondering why.”
I drop her wrist. “So leave.” It’s a challenge within itself, one I’m hoping she sees through.
“Braxton invited me here, not you.” She steps back. “Everybody else on this campus might bow down at your feet, but I won’t. There might be a dozen girls at this party chomping at the bit for a chance in bed with you, but I won’t be one of them.”
She whirls around, her long hair following the movement and falling down her back.
And I can’t help myself from saying, “We’ll see about that, pretty girl.”
Lina doesn’t say anything in return. She keeps walking.
Braxton whistles under his breath as he approaches me. “Goddamn, man, you’re really in deep, aren’t you?”
I don’t answer. I stare at the empty space she left behind, already kicking myself for opening my mouth at all.
This is why I don’t do this.
CHAPTER SIX
LINA
When I find Eden, she’s standing in the kitchen with Kara, Jack, and Owen.
Eden and I met Jack and Owen in our freshman year dorm. Eden and I were neighbors, and they lived across the hall from us. Jack is also Kara’s boyfriend, which is how we met her.
I don’t see much of Owen around anymore, but Jack makes occasional appearances at our apartment, given his relationship with Kara.
Honestly, the two of them being together makes little to no sense. Sure, they get along and seem like they have a good relationship, but their lifestyles are completely opposite of one another.
Kara is a party girl. She likes going to New York on the weekends, visiting different socialite hangout spots, but Jack is the kind of guy who checks his calendar and calls it a night at eleven o’clock.
He’s classic—soft-spoken and always polite, but with this unshakable steadiness to him that makes you feel like if the world fell apart, he’d still find a way to fold his laundry.
Where she’s chaos dressed in couture, he’s a pressed Oxford shirt.
Jack stands with a kind of quiet composure, his posture always straight like he’s been taught not to take up more space than he should. He’s tall—six-two, probably—and broad-shouldered, with warm brown skin and deep-set eyes. His hair is cut close, tight curls always clean around the edges, and he’s wearing slacks like he came from somewhere important, even though we all know he didn’t.
Owen, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He’s lanky and pale, with reddish-blonde hair. He’s a bit of a mess, but he’s still a sweetheart. The kind of guy who’d forget his own birthday but remember yours.
“Where were you?” Kara asks as I approach.
My body nearly revolts at the question. “You don’t even want to know.”
“We figured Grant would find you,” Eden says, almost teasing.
“I really need to figure out how to make it less easy for him,” I say as a joke. Although, they probably don’t think I’m kidding. “Where’s Meredith?” I ask, quickly changing the topic.
I can barely wrap my mind around how I’m feeling toward Grant, much less talk about it. It’s how I tend to operate.
