“Ah, and what brought you all the way from Colorado?”

I swallowed. I could admit it to her right here, but what if I didn’t make it? What if I fucked this up like I usually did and then had to admit my failure? “A school opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”

“You’re still in school?”

I cocked my head to the side. “I am a student, yes.”

“And you moonlight as a handyman.” She laughed. “Ah, you’re the mayor of Vague-ville. I understand.” I loved how her accent made two syllables out of ville. It was sexy as hell.

I laughed and held out my hand. “Phone?” She hesitated but handed it over. I was tempted to scan through to find a picture of this boyfriend she held so high. Instead, I opened her contacts and put in my phone number and first name before handing it back. “There. Text me later when you want to schedule another Stop-Paisley-from-Drowning lesson.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

My phone rang. I answered it with a swipe. “What’s up, Walker?”

“Carter called. Formation got moved up. I grabbed your stuff from home, so get your ass over here.” He sounded as annoyed as I felt.

“On my way.” I hung up and looked at Paisley. “You sure you’re okay to get to class?”

“Nothing I can’t handle. I’ll text you?”

“Sounds good.”

She drove away, and part of me wished her car was still broken, just so I could get another couple minutes with her. For some reason, I could breathe easier when she was around. Maybe there was something to be said for this friends thing.

I parked Lucy in the closest spot and damn near ran into the building. Josh threw a bag at my chest. “You’ve got ten minutes.”

“Thanks.” I threw my uniform on and was almost in the classroom before I realized I’d forgotten my tongue stud. A few twists of my fingers, and I had it out and stored. It was a pain in the ass to keep taking it out, but I wasn’t willing to get rid of it permanently.

I took the seat next to Josh, pulled out my green notebook, dropped my pen, then fumbled again trying to get it out from under my chair. “Fuck!”

“What’s got your panties in a twist?” He sent me the look, the one he usually shot me to remind me to cool my temper.

“Nothing.”

“Oh, and touchy, too? Does it have anything to do with a little blond librarian?” I cut my eyes toward him with my own version of the look. “I saw your car there.”

I guess the look wasn’t enough.

“Leave it alone.”

Josh’s eyes narrowed. “You hung up?”

My jaw flexed. “There’s nothing to get hung up on. She has a boyfriend.”

“He’s been friend zoned.” Masters slid in behind us, and I crushed the impulse to punch him in the throat. Mostly because he was right.

“I chose the friend zone.”

Josh’s mouth dropped open.

“What?” I snapped.

He shook his head and pulled his stuff out to take notes. “I’ve just never seen you hung up on a girl, that’s all.”

“For fuck’s sake. What’s it going to take? We’re friends!”

He scoffed. “Look, you were there for me, and I’m trying to be there for you. You don’t want to admit that there’s a problem? Fine.”

Well, if that didn’t make me feel like shit. Carter walked in, giving me an excuse not to respond to Josh. He was right. I didn’t waste time on girls who didn’t want me. Hell, I didn’t really waste time on girls, and I couldn’t remember the last relationship I’d had that didn’t end with me handing her clothes and offering to call her a cab.

It came down to that one little word I was incapable of: trust. And, damn, she made me want— Don’t even think it.

“Glad to see you all survived SERE,” Carter said, sitting on the edge of a table at the front of the room. “Well, almost all of you.”

Everyone in the class glanced around, looking for who was missing. I counted twenty-four…Rogers. I’d heard him screaming in the box that last night. Guess psych pulled him.

“Bateman, I’m shocked you didn’t get the crap beat out of you more often for singing that stupid song over and over.”

“Hey, man, the secret of the fox is an ancient mystery.” It’d been worth the beating my ribs took to distract Josh. He never did well in confined spaces.

Our classmates laughed, but Carter didn’t. Arrogant West Point fuck was never amused. I grinned just to piss him off.

He tapped his ring on the table. “Right. Major Davidson wants accountability before the four-day. Academics start on Tuesday, so please don’t slack off this weekend. Also, there’s a sign-up sheet here.” He lifted a clipboard from the desk. “We’ve been tasked with the dunk booth for Saturday’s Fall Fest, so you each need to pull a time slot.”

“Fuck,” Josh swore under his breath.

“I’ll cover you. You’ll be an insufferable asshole if you don’t get to see her.”

“Thanks, man.” He relaxed into his chair.

“No problem.”

“Got something you want to share, Bateman?” Carter snapped.

“Nawh, I don’t share well. My parents bitched about it constantly,” I fired back. Class leader or not, he’d been commissioned one day before me. That didn’t make him God.