Wearing only her pajama shorts and a pink bra, Liv was straddling a guy lying on her bed. Harper averted her eyes as soon as she realized that Liv wasn’t completely dressed, but she’d seen enough to realize that Liv was making out with him more ferociously than she’d ever seen before.
Both Liv and Harper had loft beds, so they were located on top bunks with their desks below. That meant that Harper didn’t have the greatest view of the guy from where she stood, but thanks to a pair of guy’s jeans and a T-shirt rumpled up on the floor, she discerned that he wasn’t wearing much clothing either.
“Oh, sorry,” Harper said quickly, and turned around, attempting to give Liv some privacy. “I thought you were alone.”
“Get out,” Liv hissed, and there was an edge to her voice that Harper hadn’t heard before.
The few words they’d exchanged the past couple of days contained a sweetness in them, like honey, but that had been replaced by something entirely venomous.
“Yeah, sorry, I will, but I just need to grab my chem book.” Harper hurried over to the desk underneath her loft bed and searched for her textbook.
Part of the reason she’d chosen now to have the conversation with Liv was that she needed to come back to the room to switch books for her afternoon classes.
“Hurry up,” Liv snapped.
“I’m trying,” Harper assured her.
She dropped her backpack onto the desk chair so it’d be easier for her to look. Normally, organization was her strong suit, and everything was in its place, but now that she was trying to get out of here, her book had vanished.
“Maybe you can join us,” Liv’s male companion suggested.
Harper chose to ignore him, instead thinking that her time would be better spent searching for the book. She still had her back to Liv as she was throwing everything off the desk, but she heard movement behind her, then a creaking bed.
Liv groaned. “Get out.”
“It’ll only be a second.” Harper turned around to scan the room.
“Get out!” Liv roared, and the anger in her voice seemed to reverberate through Harper’s head. For a moment, she could only stand there—dazed and unable to remember what she was looking for.
Harper shook her head, clearing some of the confusion, and feebly said, “I’m going as fast as I can. I just … I need the book first.”
“Not you,” Liv said. “Him.”
Before either Harper or Liv’s boyfriend could say anything, Liv pushed him out of the bed. He tumbled down, landing on the floor with a painful-sounding thud, and he groaned.
“Are you okay?” Harper crouched next to him, and he slowly sat up.
He rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah … I think so.”
Harper looked him over just to be sure, and she was relieved that he was still wearing his boxers. His bare torso revealed several fresh scratches on his chest and shoulders. His lip was bleeding, too, but she wasn’t sure if that was from the fall or something that Liv had done.
“What don’t you understand about the words get out?” Liv asked, leaning over the edge of her bed to glare down at them.
Her eyes—which had seemed wide and innocent when Harper first met her—now appeared much darker and more calculating.
“I’m going,” the guy said. He got up quickly, wincing as he did, and picked his clothes up off the floor.
That’s when Harper finally discovered her missing chem book. It had been hidden underneath his jeans.
He didn’t even wait to get dressed before he left, preferring to walk out into the hall in his underwear rather than spend another minute in their dorm room. Not that Harper blamed him.
“Got my book,” Harper told Liv as she shoved the textbook into her backpack. “So I’ll be out of your hair.”
“You don’t have to rush out of here now that he’s gone.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Harper saw Liv jump down from her bed and land on the floor in one graceful movement. The honey had returned to her voice, but Harper wasn’t sure if she could trust it, so she turned around slowly. Liv’s blond hair fell in waves that landed just above her shoulders, and though she wasn’t as tall as Harper, her tanned legs appeared long, extending below her micro pajama shorts.
“I figured he’d want some privacy, you know?” Liv glanced back to wink at Harper, then grabbed a tank top out of her drawer.
“Yeah.” Harper forced a smile and tried to sound happy for her roommate. “He seemed … nice. Is he your boyfriend?”
Liv scoffed. “He wishes. I woke up thirsty and hungry, so I went down to the commons to get a soda out of the machine, and I picked him up, too.”
“Oh.” Harper leaned back against her desk. She thought about straightening up the mess she’d made, but she didn’t want to take her eyes off Liv. “Do you think you’ll see him again?”
“Just because I said you could stay doesn’t mean we have to talk,” Liv said, pulling her shirt on over her head.
Harper sighed and considered leaving, but she knew she’d have to talk to Liv eventually. She might as well get it out of the way now.
“Actually, um, I have been wanting to talk to you,” Harper said, plunging into the conversation.