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Jase sat at the corner of the bed, elbows resting against his bent knees His head was propped between his hands, his bare back hunched

Concern chased away the lingering sleep I sat up "Are you okay?"

He jerked his head up, as if startled out of deep thought In the low light, his eyes were dark and shadowed "Yeah, I justthere’s soot to do"

A little confused, I watched hirab his jeans off the floor He pulled the the button open as he turned to ot to run to the frat There’s some stuff I left there I need for class"

"Okay" My brows puckered "We can leave early if you want and run by there, so you don’t--­"

"It’s okay" He bent quickly, swiping his lips across my cheek, and then he pulled back "I’ll lock the door behind et up You still have a ­couple of hours yet to sleep I’ll pick you up around eight thirty"

I nodded, feeling suddenly cold inside "Sure"

Jase backed away to the door, turned, and then stopped, glancing back at me I could barely ht in my throat

He seemed to lower his chin, and I heard the deep breath he took next "Thank you for last night"

Thank you for last night?

I was knocked so speechless that I’d heard the front door open and close before I was even able to openwith hi to say, especially when hours before he’d said he loved ht up

Minutes turned into hours as I sat there in bed, until the pale blue light spread across the floor, chasing away the reht It’s okay, I toldinto his abrupt departure He said there was stuff he needed for class and that was all

But he hadn’t said he lovedto ignore the hollow feeling opening up inwith insecurities and doubts

Everything was okay after e’d shared last night I couldn’t allowelse, becauseI shooka sharp pain downhad to be okay

Jase was quiet when he picked me up for classes a few hours later So was I I hadn’t fallen back asleep and had worked ot into his Jeep He’d dropped ht’ve spoken about five words to each other

So on with Jase fell to the side by the ti Not because I was on crutches Groups of two or three would turn to one another Some whispered Some didn’t

"She’s the one who found her"

I heard that same statement about four times by the time I made it to history class an hour later

Calla frowned as she sawa strand of blond hair back behind her ear, her frown deepened "Sorry That was a bitchy greeting Are you okay?"

No I wasn’t okay For a fk load of reasons "Everyone is staring at lanced around the roo over their shoulders fro at you"

I sent her a dry look, and she cringed "Thanks for trying toat me like I’m some kind of morbid fascination"

Her eyes narrowed on the boys up front Both hastily turned back away "Ignore the Trustthe curious stares of class about what I had experienced, but it was like ­people who rubbernecked when they ca today?" she asked as we headed out of history, branching into another subject I wasn’t wanting to delve into

"I don’t know," I adrips on the crutches I wanted to toss thesetraffic "He was kind of moody and silent today"

She rolled her eyes "So typical of boys They accuse us of PMSing, but they have nant wo spot where the bus would take us to west ca attention to us and I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I needed to tell soht"

Her lips for reat It was freaking outstanding, but I woke up thisthere on the bed He left after that, saying he had soet fro, he barely spoke to et into an argu like that"

"Maybe he really just had to go get so Or just plain moody," she said after a few moments "Either way, just ask hi yourself out about it You have enough to be worrying about"

She was right, but there was nothing about her words that looked like she even convinced herself, and my stomach twisted even further I just needed to ask him And I would the first chance I had I’d ask hi was fine and I’d just feel stupid afterward for

Jase’s mood hadn’t improved much when he arrived to music He’d said hi to Calla, srossed in what our professor was droning on about Which was such BS, because I didn’t think one person in the entire class had any idea as going on