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He wanted to offer to show them to her, but he couldn’t Not when the memories of the last time he’d been in there with hiselse he needed to talk to her about right now

She smiled at him "Are you here to study, too?"

God, he loved to see her sh See her look carefree and happy She’d looked like that for a little while on Friday when they’d been heading into town for pizza and he’d been telling her about his fa about why she loved books so much

The rest of the tiain, he wanted to reach for her Not just because he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone else, but because he also wanted her to feel safe

"Actually, I was looking for you" He knew he couldn’t stall any longer, but da to put his phone on top of her book "One of the guys showed this to me"

Her smile immediately fell away and the color drained out of her face as she stared at his phone He watched her scan the story, saw the way she lingered over the three photos of theether, noticed the way the pulse at the side of her neck was ju faster and faster Until, in a blur of sudden action, she was shoving her books into her bag, pushing her chair back, anda beeline for the stairs

"Serena, wait!"

She didn’t say anything, just shook her head, and he knew from the way she’d pulled her cap down even harder onto her head and tucked her chin into her chest as she jogged down the steps that she was horribly upset

He followed right behind her and when they got down to the ground floor, he caught the concerned look froht before he flew out the front door after Serena

"Serena," he called again, but she didn’t stop walking And even though all she probably wanted to do was get away froht now, he couldn’t let her leave when she was this upset Reaching out, he gripped her hand in his and made her stop and face hiazine hadn’t written this story I hoever took those pictures hadn’t done it And I know you still don’t totally trust ot to know that I would never have tipped anyone off for this"

But when she didn’t respond right away, he realized he couldn’t force her to believe that he was on her side Especially given the way things had begun between them at the frat party, when he’d been exactly the kind of scu to evade her entire life

CHAPTER SEVEN

She’d been so happy to see hi about Sean, replaying their conversation on Palm Drive when he’d wanted to kiss her and she’d wanted to kiss him, too, but hadn’t let either of the herself why she hadn’t all weekend, why she’d felt cos so incredibly slow

Now she remembered why