Beg You to Trust Me (Lindon U #2)(78)
“You okay?” Danny asks as soon as we’re outside. I huddle into him, fighting the shiver from the single-digit weather that smacks into me.
“I was expecting that, so I’m not shocked. Like you said, I can’t make everybody love me. Trying is pointless. It didn’t work out. We’ll both move on.”
He squeezes me in a side hug and presses his lips against the top of my head. Caleb notices and smirks at us, making me dip my eyes down toward the sidewalk.
It only takes twenty minutes to get Caleb’s truck unloaded and put my stuff into my new room. It’s surreal to stare at the small space and realize it’s all mine.
It’s a fresh start.
Caleb kicks the baseboard heater as if that’ll help. “You may want to get maintenance to do something about this,” he tells me, kneeling and putting his hand next to it. “It’s barely giving off any heat.”
The wall by my bed is white, glossy cement blocks, similar to my old room, and reflecting the cool air as I set some things onto the naked bed. “I’ll ask Alba about it. She’s supposed to come by later after she’s out of her meeting with her advisor.”
While the guys ask where I want certain furniture setup and begin moving the bulky pieces, Raine and Olive help me start unpacking my clothes and hanging them up in one of the closets. Olive wiggles her brows as she waves around a pair of my silk panties, causing me to shoot her a glare, while Raine sneaks a peek at Caleb with a strange look on her face.
I don’t ask if she’s okay and she doesn’t offer any information as she turns back to the clothes and helps fold, hang, and situate everything. It isn’t like we’re very close. We always have something to say to each other, but nothing deep that welcomes my nosiness.
Within an hour, my fridge is plugged in with food that I definitely didn’t purchase since most of it is things Danny loves eating, my bed is made, my clothes are all put away, and my textbooks are scattered on my desk.
There’s a knock at the door that has Olive and I turning.
Aliyah stands at the door, her arms crossed over her chest as she looks at my new room. I’d told her where I was going to be staying a few days ago. Maybe part of me hoped she’d slip that information to Becca since I obviously couldn’t get through to her. Clearly, she kept it to herself.
“Hey,” I greet, noticing the weary look as she glances at the guys and then back at Olive and me.
“Hi.” Her tone is emotionless, not completely unlike herself, but not necessarily normal either. She fidgets with the thick sweatshirt she’s wearing before shifting to focus solely on me. “Can I talk to you?”
Everybody seems to understand she means only me, so they find reasons to scatter. Caleb goes to find Raine, Danny squeezes my arm and tells me he’ll be waiting down the hall, and Olive says she’s going to get ready to meet Alex. Her eyes light up, but I don’t comment on that before telling her to have fun.
I sit on the edge of my bed as Ali closes the door behind them. “If this is about Becca—”
“It’s not,” she tells me, studying the shelves next to her. They’ve got some cleaning supplies, two small wastebaskets, and some of my extra shoes lining the bottom. “Although, you could have told her sooner. She sent a text to the group chat going off on you.”
My lips curl. I was never in a group chat with any of them, which is telling enough.
She blows out a breath and stares at my books, all stacked sadly on my desk. “You need one of those desk shelves that attach to the top like you had before. You could ask if there’s one available. The school probably has some in storage.”
“Ali, are you really here to give me furniture advice?” I know there’s something else on her mind that’s making her shift from one foot to another.
Her hands still at her sides. She asks, “Do you remember the night at the football house?”
My eyes widen a fraction. “Why are you even asking about that now?”
Her eyes drop to the checkered floor. “I need to know, Skylar. You said that we ditched you, and Becca says you ditched us. All I know is that you didn’t come back with us that night.”
I still don’t understand why she’s bringing it up after all this time. “Does it even matter now? It was a while ago—”
“It matters to me,” she snaps. The glare she casts me isn’t the same angry one I’m accustomed to seeing on Becca’s face.
It’s…full of uncertainty. Fear.
“Aliyah,” I say quietly, watching her stand to full height on guard. Her posture is stiff, her eyes glazed, her face flushed. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Her nostrils flare as she looks away.
I gape when she says, “I think I know what happened that night.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
DANNY
The team has a week to relax before the Wilson Reed game next weekend, which means the guys will be letting loose. With Thanksgiving coming up, some of the team feels the need to party hard before going home to their families.
The last bye week we had is still gnawing on me. Aiden had to help me drag Marks out of one of Lindon’s sorority houses where he was blitzed out of his mind. One of the guys almost broke his leg accepting a stupid dare that involved jumping from a roof to the pool below. If Coach had found out the shit the guys did that week they wouldn’t be as eager for any repeats this time around.