Nobody affected me like Bishop did.
Still, Colin was a serious distraction and another reminder of my hunger and what it could mean if I gave in to it.
“Oh, Colin,” I said, shutting my eyes for a moment before opening them again to look at him bleakly. “You’re making everything worse just by being around me.”
He blinked. “Oh.”
I shook my head, my heart clenching. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I didn’t see any other way to keep him safely away from me. “I have to go.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home, probably. I…I don’t know. I just need to get away from here.”
His expression tightened. “You mean, away from me.”
I hissed out a breath, hating that my hunger made everything so much more difficult than it had to be. I had to end this right now.
“God, Colin, just take the hint, would you?” I forced the words out. “I’m not interested in you. I’m sorry if I made you think differently, but I don’t like you that way. I don’t like you at all after what you did to Carly. So just stay away from me.”
I tried not to flinch as the pain slid through his eyes. “Yeah, no problem. I think I can take the hint when it’s delivered that loudly.”
He walked away as students filled the hallway after class.
I sighed and leaned back against my locker, bashing the back of my head gently against it.
“Nice,” somebody said. I turned to see Jordan standing there with her arms crossed, her long red hair like a curtain over her left shoulder. “Let ’em down nice and easy, huh?”
“You heard that?”
She shrugged. “Couldn’t help it. You were practically yelling at him. You actually had me fooled after being all over him the other morning. Thought you liked him.”
“Get lost,” I mumbled. I didn’t have the energy to deal with her this morning and she was just making me feel worse about what I’d said to Colin.
It was for his own good, I reminded myself. But that didn’t make it any easier.
“Get lost?” Her eyebrows went up. “Is that the best you’ve got for me today? Pretty pathetic.”
“That’s me, pathetic. But you already think that so what the hell do I care?” A lump was growing in my throat at a rapid pace. It hurt to swallow past it.
Jordan eyed me. “You’re kind of a freak, you know that? I don’t know how you managed to keep any friends at all. First with the klepto thing, then with the boyfriend-stealing thing. It’s almost like you’re completely losing your—” Her voice broke off and a frown creased her brow. “Hey, you don’t look so good.”
My bottom lip was wobbling of its own free will; I had nothing to do with it. “Just leave me alone.”
“You told Colin you’re going home. How are you getting there?”
“I’ll walk. It’s not far.” I pushed at a tear that had managed to escape, annoyingly enough, and turned away so she couldn’t see it.
She groaned. “No, forget it. I’ll drive you myself. You can’t go anywhere like this. You’re a total wreck. You’ll probably walk out in front of a bus.”
I shot her a look. “You’re going to drive me home.”
“I guess I am.”
“Why?”
“You want a ride or not? Stop overanalyzing, Samantha. It’s really unattractive.”
I felt too tired to overanalyze at the moment. Or even just analyze.
Going home sounded good. So I ended up trudging after Jordan out to her car—a white Mercedes SLK convertible—expecting her to take this opportunity to be cruel, cutting or a general bitch.
She didn’t, other than looking put out by her own suggestion to drive me home.
“Nice car,” I observed as we got inside. “Let me guess, it’s a present from your parents?”
“Just my mother. She’s in Hollywood, you know, doing her soap opera.” She didn’t say it with much pride, more like resentment. “This was my birthday present to make up for the fact she’d rather be there than here these days.”
“I have a father like that,” I said. “He usually sends fifty-dollar bills and emails, though, not luxury sports cars.”
I also had a mother who’d barely noticed me for two years and now could barely look me in the eye. But my personal family drama would have to take a backseat right now. Not that this car had a backseat.
Jordan reversed out of the parking spot and shifted into Drive. “Maybe we have more in common than we thought.”
Absentee parents aside, I sincerely doubted that.
Although, I couldn’t help but eye her a little, curious about her and Stephen.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said.
“What?”
“Why did you and Stephen break up?”
She glared at me. “You’re seriously asking me that?”
“Did he want to see other people?” Or had he done it so he wouldn’t be tempted to kiss her—and take her soul?
Her face paled and her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. “He didn’t give me a reason. He sent an email and then refused to take any calls from me. The one time I saw him after that, he started walking in the other direction. Happy now?”
It didn’t give me any information other than the fact that he was a jerk who wanted to avoid confrontation. “I’m sorry.”