I glance over my shoulder but find nothing except a couple walking near the fountain and two guys laughing outside the gym.
I keep walking, but the feeling doesn’t go away. It grows deeper like vines around the middle of my chest.
I make it another twenty feet before the voice comes from beside me. “Looking for someone?”
I jump.
Saint is standing beneath one of the oak trees, hands buried inside the pockets of his hoodie, as though he’d been there the entire time.
My pulse pounds against my ribs. “You scared me.”
“I didn’t mean to.” His answer is maddeningly calm.
I look around him. “I didn’t even see you.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
I fold my arms. “Were you following me?”
“Yes.”
The honesty catches me completely off guard.
“You admit it like that is something normal?”
“Why lie.”
“Why?”
His gaze stays on me. “Because you’ve looked over your shoulder six times since you left the library.”
Heat creeps into my cheeks. “I wasn’t counting.”
“I was.” Silence stretches between us for a few scenes before he continues. “You’ve been nervous all week.”
“I’ve told you I’m fine,” I explain. “The other night in the shower…That hasn’t happened in a while.”
“You aren’t.”
“I am.”
“You’ve started walking faster after sunset.” I blink. “And you noticed that? You hold your backpack tighter now. You stay nearlights. You check reflections in windows before turning corners. I can keep going.”
Each observation lands like a heartbeat because every one of them is true.
The question leaves my mouth before I can stop it. “How do you notice things like that?”
Saint looks toward the empty quad before answering. “I taught myself to.”
The words are simple, but something in his voice tells me he didn’t have a choice and was given no other choice.
A breeze slips between us, and without thinking, I rub my hands together.
Saint notices immediately. He steps closer, closing the distance between us. His hands disappear from his pockets. Before I can ask what he’s doing...
He gently catches the sleeve of my sweater and pulls it down over my fingertips. My hands disappear inside the oversized sleeves.
“There.”