Page 67 of Tempting the Player
“I was going to say brotherly banter, but you aren’t wrong.” I pick up a pair of dirty cleats and hold them out toward him.
“I didn’t think about you needing a spot to study. Obviously not a lot of studying happens here.”
“It’s okay. I’ll manage. Go have a donut or three, and I got you a special coffee.”
He walks over and picks up the coffee with the HH on the side of the cup. He sniffs it and makes a face. “Do I even want to know?”
“It’s a salted caramel something or other.”
“Salted caramel?”
“At least try it before you decide you hate it.”
He takes a sip and waits a second before he says, “I hate it.”
“In that case, there’s an extra regular coffee.” I pull out a pair of headphones and open my laptop on the table. I’m not sure what to do with myself, but focusing on schoolwork seems to be a good place to start.
He comes over, still holding his salted caramel drink, and hovers.
“Do you need something or are you going to stand creepily over me all day?”
“I heard back from Logan early this morning about the email.”
“Oh.”
“Do you want to wait to talk about this later?”
“No. Now is fine.” I close the lid of my laptop, and he takes a seat across from me. He wraps both hands around the cup. “He was able to track the IP address, but it came back to a computer in the library, so not that helpful. Same as the email address. It was created there, and the only activity is the email they sent you.”
“Someone from school sent me the email?” My throat tightens. “I guess I should have assumed that because of what the email said, but people here have been cool.”
I always assumed it was someone from my past or a series of pranks, but what if it’s all one person at Valley who really hates me and wants me gone?
“Logan also looked into Clint. He was definitely in California at the time of the email and the night of your party.”
“Okay.” I guess I’m relieved it’s not him, but at least he was a solid lead. Without someone to point a finger at, I’m afraid I’ll go back to looking at everyone like they might want to hurt me.
“But...” His jaw flexes before he continues. “He’s still keeping tabs on your social media accounts. Logan found at least two burner accounts he uses to follow you, Ivy, and all the fan pages.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Don’t worry, he’s blocked everywhere.”
“Won’t he just create another account?”
“Maybe, but Logan’s pretty good. He’ll keep an eye on him.”
I nod. “So what now?”
“You get busy studying and I’m going to clean up this mess.”
“I mean about the email and Clint and everything...”
“I know what you meant,” he says softly. “You continue to be cautious, but you live your life as normally as possible.”
I glance around. “This doesn’t feel normal.”
A smile lifts the corners of his lips. “Anything you need, just say the word.”
