Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
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.