A professor? Their fight wasn’t broken up by a professor—it was broken up by Hardin’s dad. Either Landon lied, or . . . wait, I wonder if these guys even know Hardin and Landon are soon to be stepbrothers. I look at Hardin, who now looks worried. He lied to them. I should call him out on it right now in front of everyone.
But I can’t. I’m not like him. I find it harder to hurt people than he does.
Except Noah, my subconscious reminds me, and I push her back.
“Well, I think the bonfire will be fun,” I say.
Zed looks at me with interest. “Maybe I will make an appearance after all.”
“I’m going,” Hardin adds randomly from the other booth.
Everyone turns to look at him, and Molly laughs. “Yeah, sure you are.” She rolls her eyes and laughs again.
“No, really, it won’t be so bad,” Hardin softly insists, earning another eye-rolling from Molly.
Hardin going because Zed said he was? Maybe I’m a better flirt than I thought.
The server brings out our food and hands me my burger. It looks great, except for the ketchup dripping off the side. My nose scrunches up and I try to wipe some of it off with a napkin. I hate sending food back, and I’m already having a hard enough time tonight. The last thing I need is to draw even more attention to myself.
Talk of the party tonight circles the booths while everyone digs into their wings and I pick at my fries. Eventually the server stops back and asks if we need anything else.
“No, I think we’re good,” Tristan starts to say, and she begins to walk away.
“Wait. She ordered her burger with no ketchup,” Hardin says loudly, and I drop a fry onto the plate.
The waitress looks at me with concern. “I’m sorry about that. Do you want me to take it back?”
I’m so embarrassed, all I can do is shake my head.
“Yeah. She does,” Hardin answers for me.
What the hell is he doing? And how did he even know it had ketchup? He is just trying to make me uncomfortable.
“Here, honey, give me your plate.” She smiles and holds her hand out. “I’ll bring you a new one.” I hand it to her and look down while I thank her.
“What was that?” I hear Molly ask Hardin. She should really work on her whispering voice.
“Nothing, she doesn’t like ketchup,” he simply says and she huffs before taking a drink of her beer.
“So?” Molly says and Hardin glares at her.
“So, nothing. Just drop it.”
At least I know I am not the only one he is rude to.
My new food sans ketchup arrives, and I eat most of it despite my lack of appetite. Zed ends up paying for my meal, which is both nice and awkward at the same time. Hardin’s annoyance seems to grow as Zed puts his arm around me yet again on the walk outside.
“Logan says the party is already packed!” Nate says, reading a text.
“You should ride with me there,” Zed offers, then frowns when I shake my head.
“Oh, I am not going to the party. Tristan is going to take me back.”
“I can take her back to her room since I drove,” Hardin says.
I almost trip over my feet at this, but fortunately Steph grabs hold of me and smiles at Hardin. “No, Tristan and I will take her. Zed can ride with us, too.”
If looks could kill, Steph would be collapsing on the floor right now.
Hardin turns to Tristan. “You don’t want to drive drunk on campus; the police are going to be looking for people to give tickets to because it’s Friday.”
Steph looks at me, waiting for me to speak up, but I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to be in the car with Hardin alone, but I don’t want to drive with Tristan when he has been drinking. I shrug and lean into Zed while they settle this among themselves.
“Great, let’s drop her off and then go have some fun,” Molly tells Hardin, but he shakes his head.
“No, you ride with Tristan and Steph,” he says forcefully and Molly shrinks.
“For God’s sake can we just get in the cars and go!” Nate whines and pulls his keys out.
“Yeah, let’s go, Tessa,” Hardin says and I look up at Zed and then at Steph.
“Tessa!” Hardin barks again as he unlocks his car door. He looks back at me and I get the feeling that if I don’t follow he will drag me to the car. But why would he even want to be around me if he told Steph that I had better not come around? He disappears inside the car and starts the engine.
“It’ll be okay, just text me as soon as you get back to the room,” Steph says, and I nod and walk to Hardin’s car. My curiosity gets the best of me, and I have to know what his intentions are. I just have to.
Chapter forty
No matter how hard I tried to avoid seeing him all week, I somehow end up in his car with him. He doesn’t look at me as I get in or while I buckle my seat belt. I tug at the dress again, trying to pull it over my thighs. We sit in silence for a moment and then he pulls out of the parking lot. One saving grace is his not allowing Molly to ride with us—I would have rather walked home than watch her fawn all over him.
“What’s with the new look?” he finally asks once we’re on the freeway.
“Um . . . well, Steph wanted to try something new with me, I guess.” I keep my eyes fixed on the buildings passing by outside the window. His usual aggressive music is playing quietly through the car.
“It’s a little over-the-top, don’t you think?” he asks and I ball my fists on my lap. So this is his plan today, to insult me the whole way back to my room.
“You didn’t have to drive me home, you know.” I lean my head against the window, trying to create as much space between us as possible.
“Don’t get so defensive; all I am saying is your little makeover is a little extreme.”