You’re the Reason, стр. 45
“Do what?” Chantel asked, all innocent and perplexed.
Heat rushed to my cheeks. “Next time you want payback, I’m right here.” I jumped to my feet, this time too fast for Chase to stop me from standing. He grabbed my arm as I stood there, stopping me from touching her.
Her eyes cut to Chase, ignoring me entirely. “I hope you haven’t slept with her yet. I’ll never take you back if you have.”
“Take him back?” I said. “You’re as crazy as you are cruel.”
“He likes the chase. You made it too easy. He’ll get bored.”
“I’m sitting right here,” he said. “And you don’t know a thing about me and Sophia.”
“You’re right. I don’t. Because I never thought the two of you would stab me in the back the way you have.” She spun away from us and marched out of the coffee house.
I dropped back into my seat, my entire body trembling with anger.
“Don’t let her get to you.”
I scoffed. “Why’d you hang out with her for so long?”
“I’m a guy. We do stupid stuff.”
“Was it for the sex?”
He tipped his head.
“What? It’s a valid question.”
His eyes drifted off, and I wondered if I’d made him angry for asking. “Chantel and I never had sex.”
“Right.”
His eyes moved back to mine. “I’m serious. We may have fooled around, but that was it.”
“Like us?”
“Nothing like us.”
“What’s the difference?”
He jerked a glance over his shoulder, taking in the busy coffee shop. “Are we really doing this here?”
I shrugged. “Seems timely.”
He released a breath. “You’re real. You’re honest. You like me for me and not what I look like standing next to you.”
“Wellllll,” I teased, pretending the last one wasn’t entirely true.
He laughed. “You know what I mean. I can be me with you and laugh with you. And I know you’re being the same with me.”
I reached for the necklace he’d given me and slid my finger up and down the chain. He’d been right about Chantel and me. We couldn’t have been any more different.
Thank God.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Chase’s name appeared on my screen as I walked back from my last class on Friday. I lifted my phone to my ear. “Hey.”
“Soph?” The rushed tone of his voice told me something wasn’t right.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need you to make me a promise.”
My brows tugged together. “What?”
“Do not go to the frat tonight.”
I stopped in the middle of the path as students walked around me. “Why?”
“I just need you to trust me.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, you won’t go?” he confirmed.
“You asked me not to go and to trust you. And I do.”
Silence filled his end.
“Chase?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
Silence.
What the hell?
“I will be,” he finally said. “I’ll call you later.”
He had to know asking me not to do something was going to pique my curiosity. I needed more information than he’d given. But I’d do what he asked even if I didn’t understand it. “Okay.”
“I love you, Soph.”
My thoughts grinded to a halt as goosebumps scampered up my arms.
“You there?”
“Um…I’m here. I’m just…”
“I just wanted to be sure it was said. I gotta go.” He disconnected the call and was gone.
What. The. Hell?
***
I lay on my bed staring up at the ceiling. I’d checked my phone a hundred times between the time Chase dropped the L word on me and now. I knew how I felt about him, but the L word was a huge step. Was he mad that I hadn’t said it back? Did he think I didn’t care about him the way he cared about me?
My phone rang.
I grabbed it without even checking the number. “Hello?”
“So…ph…ia?”
“Val?”
“I ne…ed y…ou,” she slurred.
I sat up. “Are you drunk?”
“I th…ink some…thing was…in…my dr…ink.”
Alarm bells wailed in my head. I jumped to my feet and shoved my feet into my shoes. “Where are you? I’m coming.”
“Kap…pa Phiiii.”
I stilled. Chase asked me not to go there tonight. “Is Chase there?”
“I…dun…nooo.”
“Ryan?”
“Ya.”
“Can you get to him?”
Silence.
“Val. I’ll be there as fast as I can. Stay on the line.” I threw open my door and ran down the hallway. I made it down the three flights of stairs in record time and flew outside. I held the phone to my ear as I jogged as quickly as I could across the dark campus. I knew I needed to call 9-1-1, but I couldn’t risk hanging up with Val. “Talk to me, Val. Who did this?”
Silence.
“Val?” I nearly screamed.
“He...re.”
I heaved a sigh of relief. “Do not go anywhere with anyone. You scream if anyone tries to get you alone.”
“I th…ink I’m in…. ’s...”
“You cut out, Val. Where are you?”
Silence.
I turned the corner to the main road. I could see Kappa Sigma’s front porch and black shutters, now looking more ominous than ever before. “I’m almost there, honey, stay with me.”
My lungs burned and my knee felt tight as I bolted up the walkway and threw open the front door. Music blared from the speakers on the main floor, pounding as fiercely as my heartbeat. People packed the hallway and rooms. My head whipped from side to side, seeking out Valerie, but I couldn’t find her among all the unfamiliar faces.
I ran to the basement, stopping on the top step and scanning the faces of those who danced on the dance floor. I spotted Tina, but no Val.
I turned and hurried to the main staircase leading up to the second floor. I took two steps at a time and threw open the first closed door on the right, barging in on a couple going at it on the bed. “Oops. Sorry.”
I spun around and