Page 44 of Blitz
“You can shower here.”
“And what, wear yesterday’s clothes?”
I didn’t think about that. “Yes?”
“I don’t have my books, I don’t have my backpack, I—”
“Princess.” I set my hands on her shoulders. “Breathe, okay? We have an hour. Forty-five minutes before you need to walk over there.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down, Tucker.” Her eyes flash, and she ducks out of my grasp, grabbing her leggings.
“I’m not. I’m only saying, take a breath. We don’t need to panic. There’s plenty of time for you to take a shower, gather your things, and make it to the library by eleven.”
She sits on my desk chair to pull on her pants.
“I know. I know.”
“What do you have planned for the rest of your day?”
Mason sighs, scrubbing a hand over her face. “I need to study. I have a quiz in my statistics class on Tuesday.”
“Okay, great. I have a lift with the guys, and then I need to run some errands. Do you want to have dinner tonight?”
She swallows. It shouldn’t be a big decision. That it’s giving her pause is making me nervous.
“Maybe another night. I should spend some time with my roommates.”
I force a smile. “Sounds like a good plan. Can I see you one night this week? We can grab dinner or something.”
“Yeah, sure. Tomorrow works for me.” She pulls her pants on, then takes off my t-shirt. She hunts on the floor for her bra.
“Mase.”
Her sigh is aggravated. “What?”
“Are we okay?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. Because last night was pretty fucking spectacular, and then things got weird, and I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Her smile is entirely too peppy to be real. “We’re great, babe.”
Chapter nineteen
Tucker
What I thought would be a straightforward conversation turns out to be a landmine.
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Mama,” I say, waving to the videochat screen.
My mom rolls her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Why would you automatically assume that something is wrong?”
“Boy, I changed your diapers. I know when something is bothering you.”
I bite my lip. “So, I have good news and bad news.”
