With Every Heartbeat(90)

When he glanced our way, we both quickly ducked out of the doorway, then we just as quickly peeked back inside as he began to jog down the steps. I was beginning to think the way he moved looked familiar when he stepped into a pocket of sunlight coming in through the windows.

My mouth dropped open and Caroline clamped her hand hard around mine when Ten hit the last step and turned in the opposite direction as us, escaping out the other side of the lecture hall.

Like a streak, Caroline took off and raced into the room and up the steps.

“It’s... Zoey... Look.”

Too wide-eyed and breathless to explain, she spun the page around to show me what Ten had left for her.

I set my hand over my chest, my mouth dropping open. It was the same picture her admirer had been leaving her all semester, but this time the Caroline in the picture and the kitten were rolling around in the grass, laughing.

“Ten’s your secret admirer?” I lifted my dazed gaze to her, and she stared back, looking just as shocked as I felt before the biggest smile bloomed across her face.

“He is.” She covered her mouth as tears glistened in her eyes. And then she started to laugh. “Oh my God. He really is.”

She sat down blindly in her chair and kept staring at the picture he’d put so much time and detail into drawing. “I can’t believe he’s such a good artist. None of the crap he turns in for class assignments ever looks this good.”

I sat beside her, taking Reese’s spot. “I found out on Saturday he’s actually an architecture major.”

She blinked at me. Then she shook her head. “But why would he be taking a beginning art course if he was a senior with a major in architecture?”

I probably shouldn’t tell her, but I drew in a breath and did anyway. I was tired of lying to so many people about so many things. “I think he knew that wasn’t your brother’s class schedule he saw on the table at your house. I think he just...he wanted a reason to be close to you.”

Caroline huffed out a breath. She gazed wildly around the room for a minute before focusing on me again. “But...he pushed me away. I tried to kiss him, and he—”

“You’re his best friend’s little sister. He knows he should stay away.”

Her mouth fell open. “Well, fuck that. If Oren...if he really, truly, honestly likes me, Noel is not getting in my way.”

With a laugh, I blurted out, “I wish I could be more like you.”

She snorted. But I think she was too thrilled about the idea of Ten actually liking her to bother arguing with me. Instead, she started to fluff her hair and pinch her cheeks. “Shit. I knew I should’ve dressed up today. How do I look? Be honest.”

I grinned. “You look lovely.”

Reese arrived then, carrying a Styrofoam cup. “Starbucks is freaking bound and determined that I not get my white chocolate mocha today. They were out of lids and I almost spilled this on me twice already.” She nearly tripped over her feet and spilled it again when she saw me sitting in her chair. “Oh! Hi.”

“Sorry.” I started to stand and give her her chair back. “We were just talking.”

But she waved me back down. “No, it’s okay. Stay. I can sit by Quinn. He always smells good, anyway. I can drink my latte and sniff him all hour.”

Yes, that’s what I usually did all hour too, sans the latte.

He entered the room then, talking to Ten who entered with him, now wearing a T-shirt.

Everything inside me perked to attention.

Next to me, Caroline sucked in a breath.

Quinn looked amazing; his hair was styled as if he’d hand combed it and his shirt was one of those plaid, form-fitting button-up things that conformed to his large frame snugly enough to make my mouth water.

“...and then she scratched the shit out of my back when she came,” Ten was saying. He lifted the back of his shirt that I could now read: “Hey! The chick who usually sucks my dick has a shirt just like yours.” Then he twisted his torso to show off long red scratch marks on his back to Quinn...except all of us saw them.

My mouth fell open as I glanced at Caroline.

Her face went sheet white as she surged to her feet. “Oh. My. God.” Gritting her teeth, she glared at Ten as if she would gladly murder him in that second. She literally quivered as she fisted her hands at her sides.

He paused when he noticed the force of her attention. Dropping his shirt casually back into place, he frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”

“You know what,” she snarled. “You are. You make me absolutely sick. The way you whore around is appalling. You’d have to dip your dick in acid to clean off all the girls you’ve ever had.”