2. Lucas
2
LUCAS
Jayden drove, and Roger sat up front with him. Tori and I were in the back of the SUV, just a foot and a half separating us. The occasional streetlight lit up her face, but other than that, I couldn’t see much of her.
But I saw enough to catch the tightness in her jaw, the way her fingers gripped the hems of her sleeve like she was bracing for something. I’d spent a lot of time in our study group last year studying her instead of my books, and I knew she was uneasy.
The question was why. She’d let slip that her last roommate was male. That wasn’t that uncommon these days, but had he just been her friend? Or boyfriend?
Or maybe he was still her boyfriend. That thought didn’t sit very well, but it was possible. Maybe she’d decided that they’d moved in together too fast or something.
Tori hadn’t mentioned a boyfriend before—not like Amanda who seemed to have a different guy every week—but that didn’t mean that Tori didn’t have one. My priority was my schoolwork, yes, but I’d have to have been blind to not realize how gorgeous she was.
Last year she was the only woman I truly noticed. The first woman I noticed since Natalie.
“How long did you live at this place?” I asked.
She’d given us directions, and her former residence was on the far side of campus behind the foreign language building.
“Not long. A couple of weeks.”
I frowned. “So where did you live before that?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“We’ve got time,” I said, although it wasn’t true. We couldn’t have been more than a few minutes away from our destination.
Jayden slowed down and made a right at the next stop sign. I caught his eye in the rearview mirror and exchanged a look. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was taking a longer route. He knew as well as I did that something was up with Tori.
“What happened to those women you were living with last year?” I continued.
She grimaced. “That was okay at first. We weren't best friends, but we got along until one got a boyfriend and then the next one did too, and before I knew it, they were over all the time. There was always somebody sleeping on the couch or in the kitchen. And it was so loud. I couldn't study, and someone broke my tablet, and… it just got pretty bad.”
I wanted to reach over and take her hand, but we were just friends. “When did you move out?”
“Halfway through the summer.”
She told us that she moved during the summer, but it seemed more likely she’d had a series of moves. I wondered where she was living now.
“Todd and I didn't part on the best of terms.” Todd, that was his name. But I still didn't know the nature of their relationship.
Then she elaborated. “He was in one of my pre-ed classes. He was my friend, and I told me about my roommate situation. He had a spare room, and he said the house felt too big for one person.”
Light from an oncoming car splashed across her, and I saw her shrug. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“I'm sorry it didn't work out.”
She glanced at me, and I caught a quick glimpse of her before darkness returned. She had pale skin like porcelain, and those dark eyes and lashes. Then there was that hair—long, glossy, and frequently up in a ponytail. Jayden couldn't keep his eyes off it. He was like a cat watching a mouse, like he wanted to paw at it and bat it around. I couldn’t blame him. Long hair on women had never really been my thing until I met Tori.
Jayden pulled into the driveway of a small house. It looked to be two bedrooms like mine. Though mine was a little bigger, from the look of it. Tori made no move to get out until Roger opened her door. Then she took a deep breath and climbed out of the SUV.
All four of us walked up to the front porch, and Jayden knocked. He was just about to knock again when the porch light came on, and the inner door opened.
A man in his late twenties stood behind the screen, staring at us in surprise. Then he spotted Tori, and his face lit up. Oh man, he definitely had it bad for her. I couldn't say I blamed him, but there was something about the way he was watching her I didn't like.
“Um, hi.” Tori's voice was slightly unsteady. “I think I left my journal here. My friends were nice enough to drive me over.”
Todd gave us half a glance and then pushed the screen door open. “Come in.” His words were directed at Tori, but we all followed her in.
The living room was sparse, but with newer furniture than mine. There was a dining table, a sofa, a couple of armchairs, and a sliding glass door leading out back. Tori headed that way.
“I think I left it out on the porch.”
Todd’s hand clamped around her arm, and she jerked like she'd been burned. A sharp breath slipped from her lips.
“I put it in your bedroom for when you came back,” he said.
This guy definitely still had a thing for her and didn't seem to realize she wanted nothing to do with him.
“I'll show you where it is,” he said, and Tori’s face paled.
“I'll go,” I spoke up. “I know what it looks like.”
Tori shot me a grateful look and shook out of Todd's grip. I exchanged a glance with Jayden, but he and Roger were already on the move, stepping between Tori and her former roommate.
“Nice house,” Jayden said. “How long have you lived here?”
Tori led me down the hall, and while it wasn't a long distance, her steps grew slower. I felt the urge to take her hand again. Maybe if I hadn’t spent the majority of my time worrying about my grade point average last year, we’d be closer. And the kind of friends who could do that.
She pushed open the bedroom door cautiously, as if it might bite, and stepped into a room with a full-size bed, a bookshelf, a dresser, and a desk. Her pink journal was on the top of the dresser. She looked relieved to see it, and she grabbed it and hugged it to her chest like a long-lost friend.
“Do you want to look around and see if you left anything else here?”
“I probably should,” she said. “I packed up pretty quickly.”
I nodded with understanding. She checked the closet and came out with a sweatshirt and a couple of empty hangers.
“These are mine,” she said.
I smiled. “I didn’t suspect you of stealing. And even if you did, it kind of looks like that guy deserves it.”
She gave me a faint smile before looking around the rest of the room.
“Anything under the bed?” I asked.
“I don't think so, but...”
I knelt and lifted the dust ruffle so I could see under the bed. A moment later, I straightened up, holding out a pair of lavender slippers to her. But Tori wasn't looking at me. She was staring at the bookcase, and I saw a shelf near the top where it seemed she had kept her books, judging by the shapes in the dust. Her fingers curled so tightly around the journal that her knuckles paled. She wasn’t breathing. I moved closer. “What is it?”
She lifted a shaky finger and gestured to the shelf. “That's where I found the camera.” Her voice was brittle, and so quiet I could barely hear.
“What camera?” I asked, confused.
“The one he put right here.”
Her meaning hit me like a ton of bricks. Her roommate had planted a camera in her room? A camera. Pointed at her bed. That fucking asshole.
I put my arm around her shoulder, something I never would have dared to do under any other circumstance.
“God, I'm sorry, Tori. I can’t even imagine how you must’ve felt when you found it. Do you want to contact the police?”
“No,” she said immediately. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like she leaned closer against my side. “I don’t think he—I think I found it right away, but… I just want to get out of here.”
“Understood.”
But as we turned toward the door, Todd appeared. His eyes darkened when he saw my arm around his former roommate.
“Tori, can we talk for a minute? Alone,” he had the nerve to say.
“Not a chance,” I snapped.
“What? This doesn't concern you.”
“Get out of her way.”
I’d never been what you'd consider a tough guy. My high school years were spent as president of the debate club and the chess club, and I’d even taken Latin, for God's sake. But if Todd put a single finger on Tori, he would regret it.
“Get out of our way,” I repeated.
“Look, pal, I don't know who you are, but this is my house.”
Jayden stepped up behind him. “Get this asshole away from her,” I growled, and Jayden’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed Todd's arm and hauled him back into the hallway. Roger stepped up, and they both blocked Todd's path as I ushered Tori out of there.
“This is my home,” Todd sputtered again. But we didn't pause. Tori’s shoulders trembled as we stepped onto the porch, her breath coming in uneven bursts. Not until we were fully in the cool night air did she inhale deeply. Jayden and Roger caught up to us.
“What the hell was that?” Roger asked. But Jayden said nothing. He'd seen the look on Tori's face, and he trusted me not to pick a fight with some random guy without good reason.
“It's nothing,” Tori said, but we all knew it wasn't true. Still, this had happened to her, not us, and she was the one who got to decide how to deal with it. “Can we just go?” she asked.
“Sure.” I opened her door and waited until she climbed inside before handing her slippers. Then I walked around to the other side of the car, where Jayden was waiting by the driver's door.
“What happened?” he said in a low voice.
“I'll tell you later,” I said just as low.
We drove off, and Roger requested that we drop him off a couple streets ahead. When Jayden had pulled in front of his apartment building, Roger turned a little awkwardly in his seat.
“Hope you have a good night, Tori.” His tone was gentler than I’d ever heard it.
After he was gone, I offered Tori the front seat, but she said she was fine where she was.
“So where are we taking you?” Jayden asked.
“Where are you staying now?” I asked more softly when she didn't answer.
That seemed to snap her out of her trance. “With my friend Hailey.”
“Where does she live?” Jayden asked.
“Actually, I'm parked by the laundromat on Main Street. Would you mind dropping me off there?”
“The laundromat?” I repeated.
“Yeah, I had to do a load of clothes, and their dryer was broken.”
“They?”
“Yeah, she's got a couple of roommates, so I'm just staying there until I find another apartment.” Tori’s tone bothered me. It was like she was reading from a script.
“You must be a pro at moving by now,” Jayden said, but I could tell he was uncomfortable. So was I. The thought of someone planting a camera in Tori's room—it was almost more than I could wrap my head around. How the hell could you do that to someone who trusted you—someone who thought you were a friend? I wish I'd punched him in his nose.
Jayden followed Tori’s directions, his grip tightening on the steering wheel as he pulled into the laundromat’s bright parking lot. There were a couple of cars scattered around, including a blue sedan I recognized as Tori's.
“Do you want us to wait?” I asked. “We could follow you back to your friend's house.”
“I'm fine,” she said, “But thanks. I've got to get a load of towels out of there anyway.” She nodded toward the building.
Jayden twisted around in the driver’s seat. “I’ve got to be honest, Tori, I don't really like the idea of just leaving you here.”
“I'm fine,” she repeated. “That's my car, my clothes are in there, and my friend's waiting for me.”
She lowered her head, and even in the dim light I saw how Jayden's eyes followed her ponytail. “Thank you both—and Roger too. I really appreciate this. It feels good to have my journal back.”
“Anytime,” Jayden said.
“Seriously, Tori.” I waited until she looked my way. “If you need help, let us know.”
“I will. Thank you both. See you on Thursday.”
She opened the car door, gathered her things, and hopped out. Neither of us looked away until she was in the laundromat heading toward the back. Then I got out and moved to the passenger seat. Jayden and I exchanged a dark look. He'd been my best friend since the beginning of high school, and I knew him well enough to know that everything about this situation troubled him.
That made two of us.