Suz doubled over laughing. "He—He's luring you with sex?"
It was a few days later, and we were crossing campus, on the way to her car. We both had late classes tonight, so she'd offered to pick me up and drop me back at Killian's place afterward.
"Shush! Do you want everyone else to hear that?" I frantically looked around. Despite the sunny weather, no other students were hanging around the parking lot. Good.
"Oh my God, I can't," she said, trying to catch her breath. "You're done,"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked after we settled into our seats.
"Sweetie. I was already impressed he came up with the one-month thing. He knows you too well. It's hilarious really how he outmaneuvers you before you can even make your move."
"Very funny," I grumbled and blushed.
Somebody knocked on the window. I jumped but relaxed when I saw it was Jules. Suz unlocked the car and he hopped into the back, handing each of us an oat latte.
With one long look at our faces, he asked, "What's up with you guys?"
Suz, still wearing that stupid grin, shrugged. "Tay lives with Killian and Cody now."
"Ah," he said as if that made perfect sense.
"What?" I probed and took a sip of the warm liquid. Shouldn't he sound more surprised at that? Did Killian tell him already?
His brows drew together. "You two finally hooked up, I suppose?"
I sprayed Suz with part of my oat latte, but she was too busy to dissolve into another fit of laughter to care much. "I told you," she exclaimed after finally calming down, followed by a satisfied sigh. "I knew you two were gonna end up like this."
I bristled. "How? We hated each other."
Jules and she exchanged a glance. "You keep looking at each other. For one," Suz said.
"I mean we're friends," I said. "Sort of."
"Yeah, but that's not the friendly look. It's the please notice me kind of look," she teased.
"That's not how I look at him," I sputtered and glanced at Jules pleadingly. "How come not even you are surprised?"
He shrugged. "The attractive forces between you two were too strong to resist. It was only a matter of time."
"I wouldn't call it a purely attractive force," I replied. "It's more like there was this high potential barrier but somehow our wave functions overlapped and I accidentally tunneled."
"And now you're trapped in Killian's potential well," he chuckled.
Suz gaped at us. "Sometimes I forget that you two study all this science stuff. I feel like I need a PhD just to understand what you two are saying."
I laughed and faced her. "Think of it like this. You have a ball outside an open box. Now the ball cannot enter the box unless you give it enough kinetic energy and throw it in."
"Right..." she replied hesitantly.
"But on a very small scale, particles or the ball can act like a wave and its position becomes a probability. This means there is suddenly a small probability that the ball just ignores the wall of the box and tunnels inside."
"It's simple quantum physics actually," Jules said and leaned forward with sparkling eyes.
"Simple," Suz repeated tonelessly. "I would have just said opposites attract or something because you two like to argue but sure, um...potential tunneling makes perfect sense as well."
"Well, he's easy to argue with..." I said.
Suz shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts from the onslaught of physics she just had to endure. "Do you realize you barely argue with anyone? Like ever? I mean did you ever really argue with Chris? So, how come Killian's special?"
"He gets on my nerves in a special way," I relied promptly.
Suz waved her hand at me. "Oh, please. You just like to poke at each other. If that isn't foreplay, I don't know what is."
Jules then turned to me. "So, you're living with Killian now?"
"Yeah," I said, "until the guy is caught."
The other day, I had confided in Jules about my stalker. He'd seemed immensely relieved when I recounted the events leading up to the break-in. Then he'd said that he was glad I wasn't dying of cancer. I had to be more transparent than I thought.
"Did you find any more letters?" Suz asked.
"Nope. Killian drove by yesterday because he wanted to check the security lock they installed on my new door."
She snickered. "Of course, he did. But you should definitely wait until the cameras are installed or at least until Sofia is back. I don't like how shut away your apartments are and then anyone can just access the staircase. You can always come to my place if the temptation is getting too much," she added with a suggestive grin.
"I might actually have to," I muttered. "I mean does it make sense that it's going this well? Don't you think it's weird?"
"Oh, my God," she exclaimed and gripped my hands. "You definitely have to come to my place before that month is up, even if I have to kidnap you. If you two are already like this, I'll never see your face again when that ban is lifted."
I let out a long groan and threw my head back. "Suz, I'm not obsessed with sex. I never was. So how come after one time, all of a sudden this is bothering me so much?"
Her eyes lit with amusement. "Well, it wasn't just once, was it? Besides, Killian doesn't study psychology for nothing. Maybe I should have taken a page from his book when Nick and I started dating. He's like the Mentalist; he sees your moves before you see them yourself. And based on your reaction, it seems like those times were pretty good, huh?"
"Ugh." I slapped my palms against my cheeks, trying not to grin. Suddenly, I froze. The silence was deafening inside Suz's small car. We stared at each other wide-eyed before simultaneously turning our heads to look at the third person in the room who had accidentally overheard our girl talk.
Jules pushed up his glasses with an unbothered expression on his face. "I agree with Suz. He's smart. He knows you'd be running for the hills sooner than later otherwise."
My mouth dropped. Even Suz looked surprised.
I finally recovered and asked, "And why do you know that?"
Jules let out a sigh as we continued to stare at him. "I think it's because you're not one for emotions," he said, shrugging a shoulder. "I mean you didn't really care about Chris. You basically ran to him because it saved you from dealing with the drama duo and then you stayed because you were scared of the idea of ending things. Fifty lines have to be crossed until your fear of severing ties is undermined by whatever shit the other person did. Once you two parted ways, you didn't even think twice about it. You have a problem letting go of people, even if they're not good for you. But with Killian, it's different, which is why you're panicking."
"Jules," Suzy breathed. "I knew you were smart, but I didn't know you were this smart."
I crossed my arms. "Are you guys done analyzing me? Does everyone read psychology books these days?"
"What drama?" Jules asked, confused. "And I don't read books like that. Killian mentioned something along those lines."
My back straightened. "Say again? He said what exactly?"
"Well, for one he said you would panic and run for the hills if he pushed you."
"And when did this conversation happen?" I asked in a strangely high voice.
Jules tilted his head. "I don't know, maybe two weeks ago?"
"Huh? Where?"
"I told you I started going to the gym with them."
True. I leaned back, appraising him. Jules had always been rather lanky but now I realized for the first time that he looked a little more...buff. And I wasn't the only one.
"Jules!" Suz did a full body scan, an appreciating look in her eyes. "How tall are you?"
"Five-eleven. Why?"
"We have to stop those morons," she said to me. "Few more weeks and they'll turn him into a force of nature. Girls will faint."
Jules's forehead creased. "We train but I wouldn't hit a girl."
Suz positively beamed. Then she patted his hand. "That's not what I meant, sweetie. Not what I meant. He's oblivious, huh?" she asked with a side glance in my direction.
"Totally," I confirmed.
Jules knitted his brows, his gaze flitting between us.
I tried not to sound too eager as I asked in a bored voice, "So, you talked about me? Did he say anything else?"
"Not really. Sometime before that, he said you were irritating—"
"What?" I interrupted him loudly. "How dare he—"
"He said," Jules added in a patient tone, "You're irritating but cute."
"I think you broke her," Suz remarked while I curled up in my seat, hiding my burning face.
I peeked through my fingers. "He still said I was irritating."
"Don't you call him annoying all the time?" Suz added and put her empty cup into the holder. "Buckle up."
"This and that are two different things," I said, fastening my seat belt. "Plus, what? He talks behind my back? He uses his psychology studies on me?"
Suz heaved a long sigh, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot while pointing out, "Hey, you two used your weird ass science stuff on him as well—Tay? Your phone."
"What?" I took it out and drew short. It was Detective Johnson.