Page 30 of Bachelor

“You do love her.” He smiled, shaking his head. “And she thought you never did.”

“What?”

“Oh, shit, I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

“Well, now you have to.”

He cleared his throat. “She’s down bad for you, man. So bad she doesn’t want to go to the ski trip because you’ll be there.”

I ran my tongue over my lower lip. “She doesn’t. She hates me.”

“The opposite, I promise. There’s gotta be something you can do about it, right? She’s technically not your student anymore. You’re not even part of the same department.”

“It’s safer this way. I appreciate your concern, but we already have Christian trying to cause problems.”

“He won’t do anything. He doesn’t have proof.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said, drumming my fingers on the book. “Please, Tyler. You can’t say anything about this to anyone outside of me, Jessica, and Bill. They know, and now you’re part of the cursed circle carrying this burden with us, and I’m sorry for it.”

“I don’t mind.” He grinned, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “It’s just nice to have friends again. Your secret’s safe with me. My lips are sealed, I promise.”

I eyed him, knowing I could trust him, but part of me wanted to hold him at arm’s length anyway because of his connection to Christian. Would he give us up if Christian asked?

“So is it true Cassandra Martins has the hots for you, or is that just a rumor?”

I blew out my breath and laughed. “I have a feeling her intentions for this trip coming up next week go beyond bringing a tradition back to life. She had me cornered last Friday in town.”

“Yeah, she had an odd conversation with Whitney, fishing for information, you know. I bet she’ll make a move.”

“If you’re trying to make me feel better by distracting me, it’s not working.”

“Well, you better keep reading that awful book then,” he said, reaching into his gym bag and pulling out his own copy. “There’s three more in the series, and I bet Jessica is going to make us read them all, and Bill is going to let her. That’s the oddest—and happiest—couple I’ve ever seen, though.”

Chapter Eleven

Whitney

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