that you don’t have time to try and get under my skirt?” I moved my palms to measure the heavy beat of his heart.
His features closed up shop, displaying zero emotion. “You will just have to trust me.”
A thousand questions sprang to instant life. I ignored them all. As his tone implied, I couldn’t ask him to trust me about the vision if I couldn’t extend him the same courtesy about this. Whatever “this” was. Besides, he could have lied and made up an excuse for his behavior. He hadn’t. He wasn’t that kind of guy. He gave truth, or he gave nothing. I’d always liked that about him.
“Do you have a few minutes to spare?” I asked softly.
He fisted two handfuls of my hair, his grip hard and unyielding, holding me still for his perusal. “For you?” The panic I’d noticed last night returned for one second, two, before he gave me the softest of kisses and whispered, “Anything.”
“Yo, Cole,” a voice said. A head peeked around the corner. “I’m taking off with Kira and Jane and—”
I turned to look, and my gaze locked with Gavin’s.
The world disappeared. Cole disappeared—
—there was only here, now, and Gavin, and we were back inside my bedroom, on my bed, my body on top of his. One of his hands was in my hair. The other was sliding down my back to cup my bottom and urge me to grind against him, hard...harder—
—a low snarl snapped me back to the present. To Cole.
The growl had come from him.
“Yeah, uh, I’ll just be going,” Gavin said, and beat feet.
Cole and I stayed where we were for a long moment, silent.
“What I saw with him...” I began, fighting for calm. I’d said it wouldn’t make a difference, and now had to pray I was right. “It was the first vision all over again.” Only a bit more vivid.
“Don’t tell me,” he lashed out. “Not tonight.”
“Cole—”
“Not tonight, Ali. Please.” With that, he walked away from me for the second time that day.
He watched me from afar the rest of the night, but at least he continued to wear the hat.
* * *
As the days wore on, I had to admit my relationship with Cole was unraveling.
Every day he grew a little more distant with me. Anytime I tried to talk to him about Gavin and the vision, he would shut me down, saying, “I can’t do this right now.”
I was trying to trust him like he’d asked. I really was. But the hot-and-cold treatment was wearing me down. Even though he’d always been lavish with his praise of me, I hadn’t spent the past few weeks mutating into a secure person. Especially with matters of the heart.
Should I call him again?
What was considered good girlfriend behavior? What delved into Stalkerville?
I knew something other than the vision was bugging him. The few times I’d seen him, his features had been withdrawn and pinched. And what had the panic been about? But again, when I tried to talk to him about it, he shut me down and walked away.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could wait for an explanation about his odd behavior without banging on my chest like a gorilla and screaming.
Eventually, he stopped returning my calls. His replies to my texts were short and abrupt—if he bothered to reply at all. He stopped coming by Mr. Ankh’s, and he stopped working out at his own gym.
Maybe Gavin had told him about the vision, and he’d decided to wash his hands of me?
Oh, good glory. No! I bet that was it, though. Dang it! The admission should have come from me. I should have grown a pair of lady balls and forced Cole to listen to me. Then I could have assured him I would rather die than allow my lips to touch any part of that he-slut’s body.
I hadn’t seen the Georgian slayer since Halloween, and I had no idea what would happen the next time we locked eyes. Part of me didn’t want to know. Part of me needed to know. If nothing happened, I could assure Cole wires had somehow gotten crossed—twice, yes—and I was meant to lick and grind on him.
What should I do next?
I couldn’t talk to Kat about this. She had her own problems, and I wouldn’t add to them.
I couldn’t talk to Reeve. I couldn’t risk a slipup.
I couldn’t talk to Nana. She’d just lost her husband.
I couldn’t even talk to Emma. To her, kissing was gross.
I missed the days when I’d thought the same. I was alone in this.
A bell rang, loud and shrill, signaling the end of class. I stood on shaky legs and gathered my notebook and pencil. Earlier today I’d met the new principal of Asher High, an older black man with kind eyes—a nice change considering the last one had been the queen of ice-cold hearts. I’d turned in all the work the teachers had sent to my sickbed. I was finally caught up.
“Glad to have you back and dominating my assignments, Ali Bell,” called Ms. Meyers as I strode from the room.
That was right. In my turmoil over Cole, I’d lost my excitement for my grade. I palmed my cell and texted Nana.
Got an A on my Creative Writing paper! I’d been working on my own at home, and it was nice to know the time and attention I’d put into everything had paid off.
A few seconds later, her reply came in. WTF an A!
I blinked, sure I was misreading. But no, the letters didn’t change.
Me: Nana, do U know what WTF means??
Her: Of course, silly. It means “well, that’s fantastic.”
I swallowed a laugh. I luv U!
Her: Love you, too! Now get back to work.
I stuffed my things in my locker and made my way to the cafeteria. Along the way I ran into Mackenzie. I was as happy to see her now as I’d been at the club but still grabbed her by the arm to stop her.
She looked at my fingers, curled her red lips in distaste and jerked away. But she didn’t walk off, as per usual, and I was grateful.
“What do you want?” she snapped.
Such a sweet, sweet girl. “Where’s Cole?”
“What am I? His keeper?”
“Just tell me where he is,” I gritted.
“He’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” He’d left without saying goodbye? Again?
“Is
