e P

teeth, heat crawling rapidly up my

greed, his voice a low, st

s roar tore through the noi

didn't

hand came up, calloused fingers sliding gently around the nape of my neck to steady me. His t

ulders blacking out the crowd, the morning glare,

e leane

trapped in

actually

rely grazing the corner of mine befor

the loose hair at my temple. To the crowd, the angle made it look like Briar's golden boy was completely consuming me

as intimate enough to make m

K. F

, wolf-whistles, and hysteric

! HE ACTUA

y jaw before his hand dropped away. His pale blue eyes were dark, unreadabl

et only the wind caught it. "Send the

g the rowdy players, the pointing phones, and the roaring noise away with

hest, kept my head down, and all but sprinted across the

L

t, her wild red curls dangling toward the floorboards, her green eyes wide as saucers. "You kis

hest heaving, the ghost of mint and

my own ears. "It was a transaction. He's Professor Beaumont's nephew-he promis

with a heavy thud and shoving her glowing screen two inches from

plummeted straight th

eathtakingly, undeniably real-the athletic department's undisputed god towering over a girl in a washed-out gray hoo

one on the campus board, the comment s

Andrews caught making out with a random

looks like she hasn't brushed her hair or chang

boys laughing. Poor Julian, someone get him hand s

t of the science basement? Total nobody try

name or major? I give it two

p of the thread was a verified

rls will do anything for five seconds of at

ke out across my

terling?" I aske

letic department! She has spent two solid years telling anyone who will listen that

r boyfriend,

her mattress before her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Wait. Yo

uried my flaming face behind it. "He was just way too clo

urely sc

ck, my laptop pinged

fingers, I ran the executable. The red error logs that had plagued node forty-two for two weeks s

he had single-handedly solved the codebas

, and I never had to cross paths

uzzed violently

pulse skipping as a text popped up from the

gure skates to fix our lateral edges. The front toe picks are an absolute nightmare. I did a little digging into my favorite research assis

eft my lungs

e prodigy..." I whispered the wo

rough my veins,

competitive skating career, I swore I would never step onto a public rink again. The onl

ernet vultures on Sidechat connected my face to old com

ing to rationalize the dread clawing at my ribs. "Maybe

slowly, all the playful teasing

e deadly quiet. "If the varsity captain actually needed an edge-work coach, the athletic department

wice against the floorboards-click, click-the old skater refl

ce," I insisted,

ed, her green eyes widening. "Either he figured out exactly who

away, Analia's thumbs flew acr

both free! See y

but the screen had a

s later, the

o let the captain break

w, letting out a muffled groan as m

with a single text, Julian Andrews was dragging me str