“Don’t cry too much about it.” I brushed the ends of her hair across her cheek and tried again with her doing something this weekend instead of being alone. “Are you going to take Brit up on her offer and go home with her?”

She shook her head no. “I’m just going to hang out here and get some reading done.”

“Nerd.”

“Jerk.”

I smiled as I spread her hair over her shoulders. “You know what?”

“What?”

Taking a deep breath, I stepped back and shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “You should go out with me tonight since I’ll be gone all weekend.”

She laughed. “I’m not going out with you.”

“Then hang out with me.”

Her brow puckered. “How’s that any different from going out with you?”

“How is me asking you to hang out with me tonight any different than us hanging out on Sunday?”

The knit between her brows started to fade. “What do you want to do?”

I shrugged casually, but my heart was pounding like a drum. “Order some food in and watch a movie.”

She shifted her weight, wary. “That sounds like a date.”

“That’s not a date with me, sweetheart.” I laughed. “I’d take you out, like out in public. This is just two friends hanging out, watching a movie and eating food.”

Her lips formed a tight line as she looked away. Several moments passed, and I steeled myself for yet another rejection. For some reason, if she said no to this, it would sting worse than the others. I didn’t know why, but if I couldn’t get her to do this, I was really going to have to reevaluate what the hell I was doing.

Shortcake sighed. “Yeah, sure. Come over.”

Holy shit? She said yes? I had to force myself to play cool, because I was about to fist pump the sky or some shit. “Wow. Calm down before you get too excited.”

“I am excited.” She playfully shoved my shoulder. “When are you coming over?”

“How’s seven?”

She smiled as she fiddled with her bracelet. “Works for me. See you then.”

I let her get to the sidewalk before I stopped her. “Avery?”

“Yeah?” she replied, turning.

My lips curved up as a bolt of nervous energy rolled through me. “See you tonight.”

“You’re spending a lot of time with this girl.”

“Whoa!” I stepped out of the shower, buck-ass naked, finding Ollie standing in the doorway of the bathroom. “What the hell, man?”

“What?” He shrugged. “Not like I haven’t seen your junk before.”

Shaking my head, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my hips. “What in the hell are you yapping about? And can it wait? Kind of have stuff to do.” Namely dinner and movies to acquire.

Ollie followed me into my bedroom. “I was asking about Avery. You’ve been spending a lot of time with her.”

I didn’t respond as I pulled on a pair of jeans, buttoning them up and then dropping the towel.

“Free balling it tonight?” Ollie grinned as he smacked his hands on the upper frame of the door. “Planning on getting laid?”

I shot him a dark look as I turned and grabbed a shirt. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”

He leaned forward, stretching out his arms. His hair fell forward, shielding most of his face. “Nope. Not at this moment.”

“Great.” I pulled the shirt on.

“Steve’s having a party tonight. You going?”

“No.”

“Of course not.”

I arched a brow as I brushed him out the way, heading into the living room to find my sneakers. “If you’re not surprised, why did you ask?”

Ollie shrugged. “You used to go to all the parties.”

Sighing, I pulled my shoes on and straightened. That part was true. So was the fact that my face had been absent from all of them since late August. “I’ll go to the Halloween one. I won’t miss that.”

“Uh-huh.” Ollie plopped down on the couch.

I looked at him a moment, then shook my head as I grabbed some movies off the rack. Sometimes I wondered if Ollie even knew what he was talking about or doing.

“Cam?”

“Yeah?”

He tipped his head back and grinned. “I think it’s pretty cool that you’re spending time with Avery. I like her. She’s nice.”

“Thank you.” The moment those words came out of my mouth, I had no idea why I said them. My cheeks heated when Ollie laughed. “Fuck you.”

Ollie’s laughter followed me out to the hall and down to my truck. Thank you? That didn’t even make any sense. What the hell was I thanking him for? But as I headed down to the nearby Chinese restaurant and ordered Avery’s favorite—shrimp stir-fry—I realized I felt thankful. Strangest damn thing, because all Shortcake had done was say yes to hanging out, but I knew she didn’t allow people to get very close to her. This . . . this was a big step she was taking.

Avery was such a mystery to me; a paradox of innocence and allure—a mystery I was determined to solve.

Eleven

“Let’s go with Resident Evil,” Avery said as she stood in front of the counter, doling out the shrimp stir-fry. Her hair hung in loose waves all the way to the middle of her back. She was dressed low-key, in a pair of tight workout pants and a loose-fitting shirt that slipped over one shoulder, revealing a swath of smooth, golden skin and a thin strap.

The girl had no idea how good she looked like that and I resisted the urge to move closer to her. When I’d walked up on her in the kitchen earlier, she had reacted strangely, stiffening and paling.

“A girl after my own heart,” I replied, picking up two DVDs and taking them into the living room. “Zombies for the win.”

A sudden soft glow alerted me to her presence. “What do you want to drink?” she asked.

I glanced over my shoulder. “Do you have milk?”

Her nose wrinkled. “You want that with Chinese food?”

“Need my calcium.”

She made a face and disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a glass of milk and a can of soda. “That’s kind of gross, you know?” She sat, tucking her legs under her. “Weird combination.”

“Have you ever tried it?” I sat, staring at the remote.

“No.”

“Then how do you know it’s gross?”

“I’ll go with my assumption that it is.” She picked up her plate, sending me a cheeky grin.

“Before the end of the year, I will have you trying milk and Chinese.”

The look on her face said over her dead body, and I grinned. As Resident Evil kicked off, we dug into our dinner and spent more time discussing how women in a zombie apocalypse managed to look so attractive. As Alice faced down zombie Dobermans, I gathered up our plates and took them into the kitchen. While I was there, I grabbed another glass of milk and a can of root beer for her.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling as I placed the soda on the coffee table.

I sat down closer to her. “I live to service you.”

Shortcake grinned and we continued to poke at the movie and its sequel. At one point, her cell phone went off. My gaze flicked to the screen on the iPhone and saw UNKNOWN CALLER flash.

“Not going to answer?” I asked.

She quickly leaned forward, snatching the phone and turning off the ringer. Seemed a little strange, how stiff she was when she did it. “I think it’s rude to answer the phone when you have company.”

All we were doing was being overly critical about the movies. “I don’t mind.”

Shortcake sat back, nibbling on her thumbnail as she turned her attention to the TV. Come to think of it, I couldn’t recall a time when I saw her on her phone—not before class or around the campus. Most girls had their phones glued to their hands or the side of their face. She said she wasn’t popular in school and it was obvious she wasn’t that close to her family, but . . .

Well, something was off about it all, but I didn’t know what.

Minutes went by and she was still chewing away on her fingernail, something I hadn’t see her do before now. I reached over, wrapping my fingers around her wrist.