LOGINELI'S POV"So he actually said it?"Jasmine dropped her tray across from mine in the cafeteria and leaned forward with both elbows on the table, eyes wide, coffee completely forgotten beside her."Keep your voice down." I replied."I am keeping my voice down." She insisted. "Did he actually say it Eli? Out loud? In a corridor? Those exact words?""Those exact words." I confirmed.She sat back and picked up her coffee and looked at me over the rim with an expression sitting somewhere between I told you so and genuine emotional devastation on my behalf."And you told him to figure it out." She noted."Yes." I replied."To Sebastian Hale." She noted. "Who just told you he was in love with you. After being cleared by a university board. After getting Devon expelled. After everything." She paused. "You looked that man in the eye and told him to figure it out.""I also told him I had never hit anyone in my life." I replied. "And that he should draw his own conclusions from that."She set he
SEBASTIAN'S POV"Walk me to my next lecture."Those were the last words Eli spoke to me in that corridor. I walked beside him across the entire campus with his shoulder occasionally brushing mine, neither of us speaking. Best and worst twenty minutes of my life simultaneously.He turned left at the literature building door, pulled it open, looked back at me once.Not a long look. Just a second. Just enough.Then he went inside and the door closed and I stood on the path for approximately thirty seconds before turning around and walking home.**************************************************"She knows."Bianca stood at the bottom of the stairs when I walked through the front door. Those two words hit me before I even closed it properly.I stopped. "What?""Your mother." Her eyes were wide. "She knows Sebastian. Not suspects. Knows." She stepped closer, voice dropping immediately. "Mrs Carter called twenty minutes ago. The board decision went through the university official system, so
ELI'S POV"How long has he been in there?"Jasmine dropped onto the bench beside me and looked at the closed boardroom door and then looked at my hand resting on my knee.Her eyes narrowed. "Your knuckles.""I am fine." I muttered."They are swollen Eli." She leaned closer."Jasmine.""Who did you hit." She turned fully toward me. Already knowing. Just waiting.I said nothing.She looked at the closed door. Then back at me."Devon." She breathed."He shoved Sebastian first." I muttered.She exhaled slowly through her nose and folded her arms across her chest and sat back against the wall."In front of people?""Approximately thirty." I muttered."Eli Brooks." She observed."I know." I muttered."You have never hit anybody in your entire life." Her voice dropped. "Not once. Not even when Jayden..." She stopped herself. Looked at the floor briefly then back at me. "Not even then."I said nothing to that.She looked at my hand again. Then back at the door. Her fingers drummed once agains
SEBASTIAN'S POV"He is going to do something stupid before two o clock."Eli said it the moment we walked through Mr George's door and Mr George looked up from his desk and looked between us and then at my face and then at Eli's hand."Somebody hit somebody." He said flatly."Devon shoved Sebastian." Eli said. "In the middle of the quad. In front of approximately thirty witnesses."Mr George looked at me."Are you hurt?" He asked."No." I said.He looked at Eli's hand."And Reed?" He asked."He will be fine." Eli said simply.Mr George looked at him for a long moment over his glasses.Then he picked up his phone."Sit down." He said. "Both of you. Not another word until I tell you."We sat down.He made three phone calls in quick succession. Short and precise and completely unhurried. I caught fragments... disciplinary board, eleven thirty, physical altercation, multiple witnesses, yes today, yes now... and then he put the phone down and looked at us."The board convenes at eleven thi
SEBASTIAN'S POV"Heard you went to see George this morning. Everything okay friend?"I stared at Devon's message for a long moment then held the phone out to Eli without a word.He read it. His jaw tightened. He handed it back."He knows." He said quietly."Not enough." I said. "Not yet. But he is fishing."My phone buzzed again immediately."Marcus not answering his phone. George's office closed after you left. Interesting morning Sebastian."I stood up from the steps."He is moving." I said.Eli was already on his feet.We were halfway across the quad when I saw him.Devon was coming out of the cafeteria building directly across from us. His phone in his hand, his eyes down, typing fast. He had not seen us yet.Then he looked up.He saw me.He saw Eli beside me.His whole body went briefly still the way a person went still when they registered something unexpected and needed a split second to recalculate. Then the easy smile came back and he walked toward us like nothing had happene
ELI'S POV"He is already down there."Jasmine fell into step beside me on the path toward the east parking lot at six fifty eight in the morning with her coffee in one hand and that expression on her face that meant she had been up earlier than she should have been.I looked at her sideways. "How do you know that?""Because I saw him leave the house at six thirty." She took a sip of her coffee. "And I followed him at a reasonable distance.""Jasmine.""You are welcome." She replied pleasantly."I did not ask you to—""Sebastian is already there." Her voice dropped slightly. "He and Marcus have been standing in that corner for twenty minutes and from where I was watching it looked very serious very fast."I picked up my pace slightly."You were watching from where exactly?" I asked."The bench by the east wall." She said simply. "With my coffee. Looking completely innocent."I looked at her sideways."Go to class." I said."Eli—""Jasmine." I stopped and looked at her properly. "Go to
SEBASTIAN'S POV I stared at him utterly confused. I just could not bring myself to understand what he was saying no matter how hard I thought about it. “I am confusing you? What exactly do you mean?” I muttered and he scoffed. “You are the one to answer that question. But then again…” He paused
SEBASTIAN'S POV“Eill, how about we strick a deal?” I muttered softly, too soft that I almost didn't recognize my own voice. His eyes laced with suspicion, I felt his breath heavy like he was suddenly breath faster or maybe it was just the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. My eyes held his
Eli'S POV “Going somewhere?” That voice was enough to send the shivers down my spine, it was an awfully familiar voice and I knew just who it was the moment I heard them.I thought Sebastian was behind this but guess he was innocent this time around, although I really wished he wasn't. It would ha
SEBASTIAN'S POVI watched him drag those guys to the side and they both whispered words I wasn't sure of but I knew that he had pleaded with them and then they turned to leave but the Jayden bastard stopped as soon as he got closer to where I was.“You should really thank Eli for saving your life.







