Page 38 of Reckless Love

“Yeah, I wasn’t, but it worked out at the last minute.”

He smirked and nodded and I kept walking.

Eventually, I wandered down the back hall to find the bathroom. There was a short line outside the bathroom door and I waited, smoothing down my outfit.

Rhodes had stopped by my dorm to let me know his parents weren’t going to make it and whistled when he saw me.

“Damn, girl. What have you got on?” he’d asked, swiping his hand down his jaw.

I must have flushed a million colors because then he’d laughed at how pink my cheeks were.

“You lookgood,” he said. “I love this dress.”

“Thanks. I've been trying to branch out,” I told him.

I glanced down at the little black dress that made me feel both classy and sexy before shyly meeting his eyes.

“Well, it isworking,” he said, grinning as he looked me over again. “Let me take you out to dinner anyway. You can’t let this dress go to waste.”

I was about to say yes and then paused. “You know what? I should probably go to that party Alfie wasthrowing with his friends. He was pretty upset that I was missing it.”

“Oh.” He nodded. “Okay. You sure?” He lifted his hand. “Steak dinner?” And then the other hand. “Or college party?”

I laughed. “Yeah, there’s no comparison, but I don’t like how Alfie and I left things last night. I’ve been a pretty sucky girlfriend lately.”

“You could never be a sucky girlfriend,” Rhodes argued. “He needs to lighten up.”

I knew it wouldn’t lead to anything good if we started talking about Alfie, so I shrugged my shoulder and Rhodes nodded.

“Okay, got it. Have fun,” he said.

When he walked away, I felt like I’d upset him too.

A girl in front of me moved up and it drew me out of my thoughts. When it was my turn, I took care of business fast, washed my hands, and hurried out. I veered to the left instead of the right to avoid the growing line and the door across the hall opened. Alfie and a blonde girl stumbled out of the room, his hands on her waist. She leaned up and kissed him while I stood there in shock, watching. When they stopped, Alfie turned and saw me standing there and I finally snapped out of it and started moving. I heard him calling after me but didn’t stop, and even after I went outside, he called after me, telling me to stop.

Instead of driving to my dorm, I drove to Rhodes’ house, and the whole time I thought,I just caught my boyfriend kissing someone else and I’m not even very upset. What is wrong with me?

I just needed to see Rhodes. He would make everything better. He always did.

Because you belong with him. That little voice insidemy head had gotten pretty persistent with those thoughts lately, despite having a boyfriend for the past couple of months.

What if I told Rhodes that I’d thought about us being more than friends? Alot.

I parked on the street and knocked on the front door, opening it when I realized there was a party going on here too. When I didn’t see Rhodes on the first floor, I went up to his room and knocked. He didn’t open right away, so I knocked again.

“Rhodes, are you home?” I called.

I heard something on the other side of the door and then Rhodes opened the door. His shirt was unbuttoned and there was red lipstick on his neck. I looked past him to see Lila French on his bed. I’d known she was interested in him by the way she was always hanging around him after games, but I didn’t know he was into her too.

“Oh, God. I’m sorry. I didn’t—” I backed up and he stepped out of the room.

“What’s wrong, Elle?” He moved toward me and I kept backing up, my throat closing up as tears started to come.

No, donotcry now, I told myself.

I held up my hand. “I’m fine. Go back to Lila. It’s all good.”

“Elle, wait,” he called as I turned and bolted down the stairs.