Page 22 of Hidden

Sadie straightens. Picks up the ball, lines up her shot with the focused calm of someone who has been underestimated, the ball arcs and drops cleanly.

The table erupts.

She doesn't celebrate; she just reaches for her cup with the composed satisfaction I'm starting to recognize. The confidence looks good on her.

Then she looks up, across the room, through the crowd, directly at me.

Just for three seconds, maybe even four.

The girl in my arms rolls her body back against mine and I don't move, don't react, I hold Sadie's gaze across twenty feet of noise, bodies and bad decisions with the same stillness I'd bring to any other variable that needed assessing.

She looks away first, back to her teammates, back to the beer pong, as if it hadn't happened.

The party ends. It’s not all at once but in pieces, the energy leaking out gradually until the rooms are half-full, the music drops and the people who are leaving start finding their coats.

Sadie finds hers at eleven forty-two. I know because I've been watching the door.

She does the rounds finding her friends, Juno, Cara, Maya and Bree. The yellow dress catches the hallway light when she moves. The strap has been sliding all night, and she stopped fixing it hours ago. I’m lucky that no guy tried it on with her tonight. I’m not sure if I could’ve stopped myself from hurting anyone.

Mason finds me at the wall. "I’m leaving," I tell him, and look over at the blonde next to him, his arm over her shoulder. “You found some fun then?” I ask, making him laugh.

“I have, and it’s going to be wild.” I turn to walk away.

“Miles.” I stop and look back at Mason. “You’re welcome.”

I narrow my brows tight. What the fuck does that mean.

Mason continues. “No guy will go close to her if they want to walk for the year.”

“What did you do?” I’m angry. I close and open my fist.

“I might have said something to the guys. I warned them to stay away from her.”

The fucker has threatened every guy on campus to stay away from Sadie. I’m not sure if I’m pissed off or love him more than I already do.

“I’ll see you in the morning.” I walk away and look over at where Sadie disappears to.

Thirty meters. That's the distance I keep on the walk back. Thirty meters of dark campus between me and the three of them. Sadie, Juno and Cara. They have their heels in hand now, their bare feet on the path, and their voices carrying in the quiet. Sadie's laugh punctuates every thirty seconds. Her yellow dress is a fixed point in the dark, and I’m grateful because it makes it easier to follow her.

They don't look back. Nobody looks back while on a campus, there has never been a safety problem here.

Alderton comes up on the left. Juno badges in. Cara follows. Sadie goes last, pausing in the doorway for a half-second, tipping her head back at the sky the way she did outside Grounds last week.

Then she's inside, and the door closes.

I stand at the edge of the car park, in the same spot as last Friday. Same darkness, same sightlines, same lit building in front of me.

I wait.

The third floor is in darkness, then I watch the corridor light come on, then, a few minutes later, the fourth-floor east window light comes on.

I wait for her to settle in for the night, waiting and waiting. Then the light goes off and the whole building is dark. The campus is quiet enough that I can hear my own heart beating.

I need to get something and then I’ll be back. The flower shop is a fifteen-minute walk from campus.

The Crawford family has always held a key, because sometimes Autumn wants some help with her orders. Cain made us all have a key to make it easier for us to help.

Inside it smells like cold water, cut stems and something fresh. I don't turn the main lights on, the streetlight through the front window is enough to move by.