Chapter 21 #2
“I hope you love it here, Jade, and remember, if you need anything, you can always ask me,” she says before her eyes land on Zander again, and she quickly continues, “I mean, I know the guys will help you, but like if you need anything, anything they can’t help with, or if they’re busy.
I didn’t mean to suggest that they can’t handle it.
” Her words come out in such a rush I worry she might not be getting enough oxygen.
Zander chuckles low under his breath but still loud enough for me to hear.
He reaches out a hand and places it on her shoulder before giving a slight squeeze in reassurance.
“Calm down, Hazel. I know what you meant, and I’m happy Jade has the option to come to you as well.
Stop freaking out,” he tells her, dropping his hand before we exit the building.
His words seem to do the trick as she takes a deep breath and appears calm again.
Locking up the main doors, she turns to face us, “Thanks again for your help, Hazel. I really appreciate it,” I tell her, and she smiles. I’m not sure what it is about Hazel, but I like her.
The sound of a car horn pulls all of our attention.
I look over my shoulder to see a blue truck parked a few spaces from Zander's in the parking lot just a few hundred feet away.
I don't know anything about cars, but it looks just as shiny and expensive as Zander’s.
That must be her ride. Does everyone around here have money?
I take a second to look back at the school, and yeah, dumb question.
Of course, they do if they can go here.
She rolls her eyes at the sound before rolling her eyes and looking back at me.
“Sorry about that, it’s just my brother.” She gestures to the car. “He got stuck picking me up, and he’s probably not happy that I’ve kept him waiting. He’s an ass,” she says the last part more to herself, but we both hear her, anyway.
Zander laughs, “You can say that again,” he tells her, and she smiles at him like it’s their own personal joke. I don’t get it. I look between them, confused for a moment, before Zander notices.
Instead of explaining, he simply puts his hand on my lower back and steers us toward the parking lot. Hazel follows along just a few steps behind us. He drops his hand to tangle with my own, and I can’t help but smile about it.
We get a few feet from the car before I hear a door pop open and someone get out. I’m not paying attention, but I'm still looking down at mine and Zander’s intertwined fingers. That is until I hear the door close, and someone calls my name.
My head pops up out of habit, and I find myself even more confused before the pieces all fall together.
Zander’s snark and agreement make a lot more sense now that I see who Hazel’s brother is.
Trent steps away from his car and up onto the sidewalk. In just a few hurried steps, he’s in front of us, causing us to stop as he looks down at me, not even acknowledging Zander or Hazel.
“Hey, I didn’t know Hazel was showing you around. If I had, I would have come and helped,” he says with a huge smile that catches me off guard.
I’ve seen Trent a few times now. Mostly, he’s been in his police uniform, but I also saw him at the party. He wore more relaxed clothes there, but he was still more put together than the average college kid, except for Roderick, who seems to be dressed for a board meeting more often than not.
Now he stands before me, looking much more his age and less put together, and for a moment, he almost doesn’t even look like the same person.
He has on a fitted tee that looks like it could’ve been painted on with how well it fits.
His uniform made him appear bulky, but I assumed it was from his gear.
Clearly, I was mistaken. He might not be built like Roderick or Kratos, but he’s easily the same size as Spencer, with a larger frame than Zander.
His pants are just simple blue jeans, but they give him a real boy-next-door look he didn’t have before.
He has dark smudges smeared not only on his shirt but also on his hands and a few smudges on his face.
I get the feeling he was in the middle of something when he was pulled away to come get Hazel.
His hair, which has been neat every other time I’ve seen him, is a little unruly, almost like it started off being combed nicely, but has since been messed up from whatever he’s been doing.
His eyes are also really blue, which I noticed before, but now that he’s looking at me so intensely, I can’t help but feel like they’re trying to suck me in. I can’t seem to pull myself back.
A squeeze of my hand refocuses me, and I realize I’ve been staring at him like a freaking weirdo.
I quickly look over to see Zander giving me an odd look.
He doesn’t seem upset but maybe a bit confused, and it has heat working its way up my face.
I’m not sure if it’s because I was caught staring or because of Zander’s reaction.
Either way, I wish I could stop it because the warmer my cheeks get, the more embarrassed I feel, which only makes it worse.
Ugh, if the world could open a hole in the ground to swallow me up, that would be fantastic.
Hazel, of all people, saves me from my spiral as she laughs behind us. It comes out of nowhere, and I’m just barely able to stop myself from jumping out of my skin. I had almost forgotten she was there while my brain short-circuited.
“Yeah, okay, Trent, I can’t remember the last time you helped with anything to do with the committee. You only do enough to keep your spot so you can put it on your resume,” she says before walking around us and heading to his car. Trent throws her a heated look, but she ignores it completely.
“It was nice to meet you, Jade, don’t let my dumbass brother fool you into thinking he’s worth your time. Spoiler alert, he’s not,” she says as she falls into the passenger seat, closing the door before he can respond.
A laugh bursts out of me before I can stop it, and I slap a hand to my mouth, hoping to cover it up. Zander’s smile lets me know I didn’t hide it well, but Trent either doesn’t notice or decides not to comment.
“Hey, do you have your schedule on you?” Trent asks me, and I pull it from my pocket without really thinking about it.
Before I can ask him why, he grabs it from my hand with a smirk on his face.
My first instinct is to snatch it back because I need that.
I’m so far from memorizing it that I probably couldn’t get to one class without it right now.
But I watch as he simply unfolds it and looks it over.
He doesn’t look at it long before he's smiling again. I take a moment to look at Zander as Trent still looks over my schedule. I’m not sure I can take him looking at me with that smile again right now.
Zander watches Trent with a frown, and while he still doesn’t look mad, he definitely looks like he has about five hundred other places he would rather be right now.
The sound of my schedule shifting pulls my attention back to Trent as he folds it back up before holding it back out for me to take.
“We only have one class together, but we also have kickboxing together on Wednesday, so that should be great.” He tells me while I tuck it back into my pocket.
I hear Zander let out a huff from my side.
I know they don’t get along, so I doubt he’s excited about that, but I don’t have any reason to dislike or distrust Trent yet.
He was good to the girls and even friendly enough to me at the party, so while I won’t say I trust him, I don’t feel the need to be rude to him.
“That’s great. I’m really excited about the kickboxing class,” I tell him with a smile because it’s the truth. I think I might be more excited about the kickboxing class than I am for anything else to do with college so far.
“I have been taking them since I started last year, so if you have any questions or issues, just let me know, and I would be happy—” Zander lets out a sharp laugh that holds zero humor, effectively cutting Trent off mid-sentence.
Trent doesn’t react other than to look at him, but Zander just shakes his head.
“I’m sure you would be happy to help her, but I assure you she’ll be fine, and if she needs help, I’m sure Roderick would be more than willing,” he says in a snarky tone that I’m not used to hearing from him.
I guess he could only stand him for so long; he didn’t sound very fond of him yesterday.
“I wasn’t saying she couldn’t ask anyone else or that she would even need the help. I was simply letting her know that she had choices,” Trent snaps back.
“Right, I’m sure that’s all it was,” Zander says with a roll of his eyes.
I look from each of them and back again as they stare daggers at each other before I realize this is going nowhere good.
“Okay, well, I appreciate the offer, and I’ll keep that in mind, but I would really rather not be a part of whatever this is.” I gesture my hands at both of them as if their argument is a physical thing, and it seems to remind them both of the fact that I’m even standing there.
“Yeah, sorry, Doll, I didn’t mean to get into shit here. We need to get going anyway so we can get ready and make it to Charlotte on time,” Zander says before giving me a boyish smile as if he’s just been caught stealing cookies before dinner and hopes being cute will save him.
It totally will, but I don’t need him to know that, so I just roll my eyes at his attempt before interlocking our fingers again and giving him a squeeze.
“Yeah, I have to get Hazel home anyway and finish some shit up,” Trent tells us but doesn’t make any move to walk away, and I wait to see if he has something else to say.