“I know, Gray.”

His expression turned from pained to surprise when I said his first name.

“I know we need to… ummm… release our building tension.” God, tension. I made it sound like we should hit the gym, not the sheets. Smooth, Sydney. “But I have to talk to Jack first.”

He lay back on Jack’s bed and wiped his palms down his face, trying to cool down his hormones. I made the mistake of lying next to him.

And like magic, we were freshman again.

He’d give me that charming smile and pour me a whiskey. He’d hold me tight in his arms. He’d slide his tongue over my body like no boy ever had to this day.

I wanted nothing more than to relive that night but this time make it perfect. Two years apart from Gray, harboring immense hatred, left me bitter and angry. But right now, my bitterness melted just seeing him smile, and my anger disappeared reading the honesty in his warm eyes.

“I like it when you call me Gray,” he said quietly, pulling his eyes over my face. “Sydney, I jus—”

“Can I come in?” Jack yelled through the door, and I bolted straight up with a look of guilt.

“Come in, Jack!”

He entered holding a Sprite and scanned the scene for evidence of a struggle. “What were you two doing in here?”

“We just got done having sex,” I teased, standing up and fake-straightening my bra. “You might want to clean the sheets.”

Jack’s mouth fell open as Gray sat up and laughed. “We didn’t, Jack. We wer—”

“We were discussing Allison,” I cut in, and Gray furrowed his brows.

I was glad Jack was distracted, because instead of an interrogation, he straddled his desk chair and handed me the drink. “Okay, well, the only thing I know is Katharine DeSonna hates your living guts.”

He waited for the shock to register on my face. Nope.

“So you’re saying I’m doing something right?”

Gray scooted across Jack’s bed and leaned his back against the wall. Jack watched with wide eyes as Gray opened his legs, tugged the back of my T-shirt until I fell between them, and pulled me back to rest against his warm chest. Bold move, Peters.

“First of all, what the hell is going on with you two?” Jack stood and kicked the chair across the room in theatrical fashion. “Peters, why are you touching Sydney? Syd, why are you letting Peters touch you? I thought you hated each other.”

Gray laughed. “Relax, Jack. We’re just hanging out.”

Jack was fuming. “Syd?”

I rested my head under Gray’s chin. “Come on, Jack… Tell me about Katharine before I leave, and mind your own business.” I couldn’t blame him. I’d be confused too.

“You are my business, Syd.” Jack ran his hands through his hair. “Christ. What’s going to happen when you guys get into a fight? Am I going to get my ass kicked for every little thing Syd does?”

“Just keep your big sister happy and we have nothing to worry about,” Gray teased, and Jack let out a dramatic sigh. “Now tell us what big, bad Katharine did to your girl.”

Resigned to the current situation, Jack settled back into his complaints. “Well, at first, the girls weren’t allowed to talk about you or think about you.”

“Think about me?”

He nodded. “Yes, and if they say your name, Katharine washes their mouth out with soap. It’s happened to Allison twice.”

“What kind of soap?” Gray deadpanned.

Jack looked to me for help.

“That’s an important detail,” I added, and Gray lightly pinched my side. “I mean, come on. Is it organic? Is it that blue kitchen shit? Give me the deets.”

“Oatmeal,” Jack replied. The agony in his voice nearly had me busting my gut. “And she gets those chunks in her mouth.”

I felt Gray’s chest rumble toward a laugh, and I drew my elbow into his tummy.

“What else?”

Jack looked at me and glanced up to Gray’s face. I had to respect the fact Jack didn’t want to embarrass Allison in front of a peer. After all, he was the polite Porter.

“Gray, could you wait outside for me?” I said, slowly rising off his chest.

He must have detected the air shift to somber because without another word, he raised his leg over my head and grabbed his bag off the floor. He shot me one last glance before he left the room, and I focused my eyes back on Jack.

“Spill it, Dimebag.”

“Well, it’s not a big deal, but when Allison told me about this, it nearly brought me to tears. You should have heard her voice. It was like her little heart was broken.” Jack cradled his head in his hands and kicked his backpack across the floor. “Katharine’s given Allison a new name. She calls her Shallow Puddle.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

I was leaning against the dorm wall when Sydney burst out of Jack’s door, her beautiful face twisted into scowl and a reckless fury behind her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

She shrugged her bag up her shoulder and started a brisk walk toward the elevators, leaving me behind in a daze. What have I done now?

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I ran up to her side as she repeatedly hit the down button. “Are you going to tell me what’s up, or am I supposed to read that sadistic mind of yours?”

She let out an aggravated sigh. “I’m going to tear Katharine’s face off with my own two hands and hang it from the campus flag pole as a reminder to all what bitches get when they cross me,” she said, channeling an emotionless psychopath.

I took in a breath of relief that I wasn’t the focus of her anger. “Why?”

She pushed the button rapidly, then smashed her fist against the elevator door. Pulling back, she rubbed her knuckles.

I took her hand, straightening her fingers one by one. “Don’t hurt yourself, baby. Who’s going to deliver those sweet beats if you go breaking your hand?”

She ripped her hand from mine and looked up with a warning glare. “Don’t call me baby, Peters. You think after one week you can slip back into my good graces?”

Great. Back to Peters.

“No,” I answered coolly, taking a step back. “I don’t, but goddammit, I’m trying. You keep holding a grudge against me for something I didn’t do two years ago. I’m getting tired of this shit.”

Sydney shrugged and stared at the closed steel doors. “I never asked you to try, Peters. I was content on ignoring one another for the rest of our lives, and you ruined it.”

I moved in front of her, and she dropped her eyes to the floor.

“Don’t be a pussy, Sydney. You’re just afraid, and the easiest thing for you to do is leave. Just like two years ago.”

The elevator doors opened and she tried to move past me, but I blocked her access. “You just going to leave me again? Maybe I should go get us some waters and get you another bag of fucking gummy bears.”

Her nut-brown eyes shot up to mine, and I could see the memory knocking behind them. She thought I wouldn’t remember her, but how could I forget?

“And I could come back to a cold, empty bed.” I could hear the fury in my tone and my voice rise, but I couldn’t stop it. “Then I’d run up two flights of stairs to interrogate your friends, who you’d threatened so they wouldn’t tell me anything about the real Sydney. The Sydney I had an amazing night with. Who I wanted to spend more time with. Who I wanted to take to breakfast that morning. Invite to my games every weekend. The girl who rolled in like a whirlwind one night and I couldn’t get out of my head for two fucking years,” I yelled down into her face, and she pulled her head back in surprise.

A few doors opened up down the hall, Jack’s included, and several heads poked out, peering our way. I closed my eyes, feeling my rage swell. This was putting myself out there. I wasn’t ready for it, but I couldn’t get through to her any other way.