“It’s a long story, Mom.”

“Come sit down. What are you doing here? Did you drive all night?”

She pulls me over to the table and forces me down into a chair. I should be tired of sitting, but I’m so exhausted it’s actually a relief to be off my feet.

“I couldn’t stay there anymore. I know I should have told you all this before, but I was dating Colt, the head of the school’s son who actually took over daily operations and well…we broke up and I just can’t be there.”

“Alright.” She pats my back. “We’ll talk about this later. Do you want me to stay home with you today?”

“No. Go to work. I just need sleep.”

She nods. “Okay, sweetie.” And presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Do you want breakfast first?”

I shake my head.

“Go get in bed.”

My dad comes down the stairs just then, dressed for work. “What in the –“

“She’s alright. Boy troubles,” my mom supplies.

His eyes get wide. “Oh.”

I’ve always been drama free and relatively sane so I can tell my dad is stunned right now. He glances out the window and sees the truck in our driveway. “Who’s truck is that?”

“I borrowed it from the school,” I say. More like stole it, but they don’t need to know that.

After convincing them I’m fine and they are free to leave, they finally agree. “Okay, get some rest today sweetie, and we’ll talk about this tonight. I’ll bring home chicken parm from Balducci’s.” My mom smiles. It’s my favorite Italian restaurant.

“Kay. Love you guys.” My parents are being cooler about this than I would have guessed.

When they leave, I head upstairs and bury myself under the covers.

Colt

I’m awoken in the morning to an insistent pounding. At first I think it’s in my head from the multiple shots of Jack I downed until I realize the thumping is coming from my bedroom door.

I pull on a pair of shorts and head to the door. “Yeah?” I croak out, seeing its MJ.

She looks frazzled.

“What happened?” If something’s happened to Taylor, I’ll kill Reis.

“Is Taylor here?” She steps around me, entering the room.

“No.” I rub a hand over my face, trying to wake myself up. It’s too damn early for company. “Wait, what do you mean? She’s not in the dorm?”

“She didn’t sleep there,” MJ confirms taking in the sight of my unmade bed.

“Well she wasn’t here.” Fuck. Did that mean she spent the night with Reis?

MJ answers her cell phone. “Yeah, I checked Colt’s room. She hasn’t been here….Okay.” She clicks off the phone. “Reis is coming down. She’s nowhere.”

A few seconds later, Reis and Logan barge through the still open door. “Her stuff’s gone,” Reis announces.

“What are you talking about?” I look between the three of them. I wince slightly at the sight of Reis. His face is bruised and swollen, and a cut along his cheek has been stitched up. Damn.

Reis steps forward. “When we got back from the hospital last night and she wasn’t around, I figured she was with you. Since that’s why she stayed here rather than coming with us.”

She stayed here for me? I never saw her. Oh fuck. Then I remember I invited Samantha over. What if she somehow found out? Samantha didn’t stay here long. She tried to kiss me and something felt incredibly wrong about it. I missed Taylor. I told Samantha she better go after that.

“And some of her clothes and her laptop are missing,” Logan offers.

“Where would she have gone?” Just then I remember showing her where I kept the spare keys to the truck. “Go see if the truck is gone,” I say to Logan. He takes off down the hall in a sprint.

He comes back a few minutes later, out of breath. “It’s gone.”

Christ. She took off in the middle of the night. Her parents lived six hours from here. If something happened to her because of my stupidity, I’d never forgive myself.

“I’ll try calling her again,” MJ says.

We wait while it rings, but it goes to voicemail after the fourth ring. MJ hangs up. “I’ve already left two messages,” she explains.

“Let me know if you hear from her,” I say. They all nod and then turn to head out. “Wait, Reis. Can I talk to you?”

He stops and turns around slowly to face me. Logan lingers in the doorway until Reis nods for him to go ahead.

“So you went to the hospital?” I mumble, looking at the ground, feeling like a real piece of shit.

“Taylor insisted I go last night after looking at my cuts. I got four stiches.”

The cut is right over his cheekbone, the line of stiches black against his skin. “Sorry man. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s alright. We both know I deserved it. I kissed your girl.” He smiles.

“Okay, well we’re even now.” I playfully jab him in the stomach.

He dodges the hit. “Cool. What ended up happening last night? Taylor was going to come find you after I left.”

I rub my hands over my face. “I think I fucked up again.”

Reis shakes his head. “Good Lord. I can only help you win her back so many times before I just say fuck it and keep her for myself.”

“If I get her back this time, I’m not letting her go.”

“How bad did you fuck up?” he asks, looking bored. He makes no effort to contain that he secretly likes my fuckups. They only increase his odds.

“I was with Samantha last night. Taylor, I don’t know, must have seen her or heard us.”

“Damn it, Colt. Grow up.”

“Nothing happened. She left after a little while. I didn’t touch her, I swear. What am I going to do?”

“Whatever it takes,” Reis mutters.

My cell phone chimes from my nightstand and I lunge for it, hopeful it could be Taylor. But it’s just an email from Geoffrey with a new case they need me to get started on right away.

The job is gathering intel on a few guys they’re tracking who are now in New Jersey. A few days on the road will be a good distraction for me.

Taylor

After a leisurely shower, I finally face my cell phone. I plug it in and power it on. I have numerous missed calls and texts from Logan, Reis, Colt and MJ. I’m not ready to talk to anyone yet, but I don’t want anyone to worry. I send a text to MJ telling her I’m fine and I’m at home, then I turn the phone off again.

When my parents get home with takeout containers of Italian, I dress in fresh pajamas and make my way downstairs.

I set the table while my mom makes a pitcher of iced tea.

After dishing up a plate with pasta and a golden breaded chicken breast, my mom passes it to me with a wistful look. “We need to talk about this, Taylor. You need to be back in school.”

“I know. I want to transfer back here.”

“You can’t transfer back in the middle of the year,” my dad supplies around a bite of pasta.

“I can’t go back there. Mom…” I plead.

“Taylor, your dad and I talked and we think the right thing to do is to go back to the academy. It’s a good opportunity for you and we don’t want you to throw it away. You’re stronger than that.”

As excited as I was for my favorite meal tonight, I push away the plate, my appetite vanished. How could they do this to me? I cannot go back and face Colt every day. They don’t understand anything.

After that disappointing dinner, I decide to turn my cell phone back on. I can’t avoid my life forever. There’s several more missed calls and a text from Colt that says I’m sorry. Another from MJ says Are u ok? Call me!

Crap. I hate it when my parents are right. After four days at home, one thing is crystal clear. I don’t belong here anymore.

The moment I called Piper to tell her I was back in town, her endless questions pumped me for information. And her sympathy-laced voice made promises to set me up with useless high school boys I had no interest in whatsoever. My conversations with her, and then with MJ had me wondering if coming here was a mistake after all.