No, no responsibility from the old man.

That was asking too much.

Now, I was here, thirteen years later, trying to clean up his mess—again.

“I spoke to my uncle.”

“Good,” I said softly.

I’d been trying to remain calm, but my hand had been itching to call the cops all afternoon. I knew Grant didn’t want me to. I also knew he didn’t think logically or rationally about anything regarding his father. I didn’t want to go against his wishes before he got back to me though, so I’d held off.

“What did he say?”

“He’s going to get a hold of my father and try to meet up with him. I think he’s starting to understand how much I want to fucking steer clear of him. My father is a determined man, but I think my uncle can talk some sense into him.”

“Okay. Do you know when that’s going to happen?”

“Hopefully, today or tomorrow. I think it’ll get him out of Princeton for some time, so you won’t have to worry.”

I blew out a breath. Thank God.

I wanted to be strong during this, but all the horror stories Grant had told me were taking over the reasonable side of my brain. Truth was, I didn’t know how to deal with the situation. I didn’t want to obsess about it. What if it ended up being nothing? But I didn’t want to blow it off either in case it was truly dire.

“You’re not going to like this, Grant, but if I see him again, I’m calling the cops.”

“Ari—”

“No, I don’t want to hear it. You’re not here. Even if you were, I wouldn’t want you to get near him. I saw him. I saw the look in his eyes. I didn’t understand what you were saying until that moment. I’m not going to risk anything happening.”

He sighed softly. “I wasn’t going to argue with you.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. I-I talked to Miller about it.”

“You told Miller?”

“Yeah.”

Wow.

That was a step for Grant. He’d known Miller for a long time. He was Grant’s best friend, and he’d never told Miller about it. Grant must be really stressed and worried to do something like that.

I heard noise on the other end of the line, and Grant cursed under his breath.

“Sorry, Princess. I have to go. Can’t have a minute of fucking privacy on this bus. I can’t wait to get back to you and have my own bed and my girl with me.”

“I’m ready for that, too,” I whispered throatily.

“Stay safe for me.”

The line ended, and I carefully set the phone down on the table next to the Molecular Biology assignment I’d already triple-checked for accuracy.

So, here I was, stuck in the library again and terrified of Grant’s dad without Grant or my friends around me. The numbers and equations on the paper blurred under my vision. I hastily moved the papers away, so I wouldn’t get any unwanted tears on the assignment.

“Aribel?”

I glanced up at the voice, and with the back of my hand, I quickly brushed the tears off my face. God, I had been a freaking leaky faucet lately. I’d never cried before Grant.

Kristin stood in front of me.

Great.

This was just what I wanted to deal with right now—the slutty bitch who had tried to get my boyfriend to cheat on me.

“What?” I snapped.

She cringed. “Sorry. I just…are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I stood and slung my bag on my shoulder. “Just leaving.”

“Okay. Yeah. All right.” She shrank away from me like the sheep she was. “Um…are you sad about Grant being gone?”

“Why? So, you can somehow use that to your advantage to try to steal him away from me?” I knew I was being unnecessarily harsh, but well…she had already tried to do that, and I was in a bitch mood.

“No! No, seriously, I’m so sorry about that. You looked like you could use someone to talk to about it.”

I did need someone to talk to about it, but that didn’t mean I wanted Kristin.

“I’m fine,” I repeated hollowly.

“Well, if you do, I finished the M-Bio assignment. We could go over it or discuss O-chem or get a drink.”

I skeptically looked at her. “Are you asking me out?”

Kristin burst out laughing. “Oh my God! It totally sounded like that. I’m seriously such a dude. I legit just wanted to apologize and get to know you better. This is going to sound way bitchy, but you’re a lot cooler than I thought you were.”

“Yeah…that does.”

“You’re right. Never mind.” Kristin shouldered her bag and started walking away.

What the hell? It wasn’t like I had anyone else to do anything with.

“Kristin? Hey, wait up.”

She stopped and looked at me in confusion.

“A drink might be nice.”

Hanging out with Kristin was…weird.

It was the only word I could use to describe it. We had so many classes together, so there was an unlimited amount of things to discuss. Not to mention, she had been a big time ContraBand groupie, so she knew all the guys and had been to all of their shows. But I also didn’t like her, and spending time with her made me feel like a traitor to my good nature.

It wasn’t that she was mean or bitchy or rude. She just reminded me too much of the horrible things she had done in the past. Then, I felt as if I was using her because all my other friends had fallen apart after Gabi’s breakup.

Realistically, I should have confronted them about this by now, but I’d kept making excuses for their bullshit. Eventually, I’d have to figure it out—sooner rather than later since the end of the semester was approaching.

About a week and a half later, I had gotten home from class, exhausted after a crazy lab. Kristin had asked me to hang out, and I’d bluffed and said I was busy. It had been nearly a month without Grant, and I terribly missed him. I didn’t want to have to pretend to be happy with Kristin. I had planned to stay in, write up the lab results from that afternoon, and crash.

Cheyenne had a different idea.

“You’ve been hanging out with that bitch, Kristin, instead of us?” she asked as soon as I’d walked into the apartment.

“Hey to you, too.” I shrugged out of my cardigan and glanced around to see where Gabi and Shelby were lurking, but it looked as if we were alone.

“What’s going on, Ari?”

“What’s going on with me?” I asked incredulously. “I’ve been getting death stares from all three of you since the band left. You’ve made it pretty clear that I wasn’t really welcome to hang around.”