All The Wild Ones | Wildfire Series

Diminuendo

NESSA

The ceiling was gross. It had all sorts of stains and missing pieces of drywall that made me wonder whether the patchy roof over my head was the reason why it never reached above sixty-five degrees in my room. And also whether it was worth it to go into debt to live in this dump. But mostly, I was thinking about anything that didn't involove football players or the overstimulating psychology lecture I'd just escaped.

When I managed to count thirty-three ceiling squares, someone knocked on my door.

Frowning, I pushed myself up from the bed. Beau had a chem lab this morning, so I knew it couldn't be him. And while I was friendly with some other girls on the floor, none of them actually stopped by to visit me. Being friendly and being friends was an entirely different thing. And I'd only made three friends at college so far.

Two of them were still on a beach in Los Angeles. One of them was in chem lab.

My stomach swirled with a touch of anxiety, and I held my breath as I looked through the peephole. I'd made the mistake of not doing that before.

But the stress that had been creeping up the back of my neck disappeared as I saw who it was. My frown still deepened, though. There was a reason I hadn't texted Grayson back, and it was pretty simple.

I didn't want to talk to him.

Biting my lip, I debated. But in my gut, I knew that if I didn't deal with Grayson now, I'd just be doing it later. He wasn't the type to let things go. He wasn't the type to let me go. Not before he got what he wanted—whatever that was.

I swung the door open to find Grayson grinning at me. Pursing my lips, I didn't return his smile. But I did throw my hand on my hip and snipe, "Missed me, huh?"

And shit, it was a dumb thing to say. I could have said literally anything else, but of course, I had to say that, leaving the door wide open—literally and metaphorically—for Grayson to come right in.

"Yes," he admitted, and even though it had only been a few days, I'd forgotten how perfectly smooth and husky his voice was. "I did. Particularly our date that you ditched out on."

It was then that I noticed the coffee in Grayson's hand, which he shoved forward, into my empty palm.

"Here, I owed you." He lingered in the open doorway for a second with that silly smile on his face before smirking. "And you owe me."

I narrowed my eyes at him even though I appreciated the smell of caramel and the warmth spreading through my cold hands. And just the fact that he brought it to me. No one ever brought me things.

But this was just another little play, and I wasn't going to let Grayson score.

"Owe you? I don't owe you."

My dismissal didn't phase him.

"You owe me a date. I'm fine with a dorm room date. Or maybe we could take a walk?"

"What—" I sputtered at his audacity before getting a grip on myself. "I don't owe you a date."

"It's just a walk, Nessa."

"I don't even owe you a walk, Grayson."

He shrugged. "That's fine. Sitting in your room works for me."

And then he slipped past me, brushing against my body so he could squeeze into my dorm.

"I don't owe you shit, Everett!" I said through clenched teeth, and before I knew what had gotten into me, I'd stomped my foot on the floor like a toddler. But it was either act like a toddler or admit that heat had rushed into my body when he touched me, turning the temperature in here up to at least seventy degrees for the first time ever.