Across The Hall (24 page)

I was about to ask her if I could talk to her in the hal for a minute, but Beau spoke up first.

“So, Quinn, I thought you were going to Chicago, too.” He tilted his head to the left as he waited to assess my answer. “Have you enjoyed having

Sylvia here alone al weekend?”
Having Sylvia alone
? That right there sent a big red flare up in my brain. Normal y he was al about reminding me

that Sylvia was no longer with me. If he was wil ingly informing me that he hadn’t been with Sylvia al weekend, it could only mean that he was

questioning where she had been. I glanced at Sylvia to see what was going on. Her face wore a painful mask. Her eyes pleaded with me. “Don’t

look at her!” Beau snapped at me, pul ing my ful attention back to him.

“Sylvia, are you sure everything is okay here?” I was very concerned about the way Beau was acting. I pictured Sylvia’s milky-white skin with

those hideous deep purple bruises and became immediately alarmed. I pul ed up to my ful height and stepped back, shifting my weight to my back

foot. I had never had to actual y use my Tae Kwon Do training outside of class, but my body just took over. I turned slightly so that I was facing him

more from the side then straight on. This would al ow for a slimmer target for him and give me the advantage of stepping into my punch or block if

needed. I hoped I wouldn’t need it.

“Wel , it was until you showed up. What is your deal anyway?” She squeezed Beau tighter, wrapping her body more in front of him than to the

side. Her head was now against his chest. From that angle he couldn’t see her face. Her beautiful green eyes were silently begging me to be quiet.

I wasn’t sure if it was to cover her own ass so her boyfriend wouldn’t know that she had slept with me, or if there was another reason. “Why are you

here? Kai said you were going with them.” So she wanted me to play it that way.

“Strep throat,” I said it a little harsher than I’d meant to. I didn’t know if she was worried about what Beau would do if he found out. I wouldn’t be the

one to tel him. Sylvia needed to make her choice. It clearly wasn’t the time to talk to her about it, but I stil had to leave her a clue and hopeful y throw

off whatever suspicions Beau had. “I was sick in bed al weekend, but I had the sweetest little nurse taking care of me.” I made my voice go wistful,

like I was thinking about something good and wanted to rub it in her face. Her eyes fel open like she couldn’t believe I would tattle on her. “Now if

you’d turn your damn phone on so Kai can get a hold of you, I can get back to her. I’ve been gone long enough and I’m sure she’s starving.” I held up

the bags with the sandwiches. I guess getting two was worth it.

“Fine! I’l turn it on when I find it.” She ushered me to the door. “You better get back to your little...whatever,” she said with a flick of her wrist and

annoyed huff.

I walked out and turned to her. I couldn’t see Beau and I hoped he couldn’t see me. I looked hard at her and mouthed, “We’re not done here.” She

shut the door in my face.

I was no longer hungry when I got back to my place. I threw the sandwiches in the fridge and paced again. Beau was going to be a problem. I

real y needed to find out how Sylvia felt about me. Obviously she didn’t want Beau to know where she’d been al weekend. What I didn’t know was

why. Was she scared of him? Was she letting me know she’d made her choice and I wasn’t it?

I lost track of time as my mind played out different scenarios of what could happen regarding Sylvia. I was so far in my own thoughts that I jumped

at the sharp rap on my door. I wanted it to be Sylvia but worried that it was Beau. I opened the door ready for either. It was Sloane. Over his

shoulder, I saw Kai standing at Sylvia’s door.

“Are you gonna let me in, or are you gonna keep staring at my girl’s ass?” He drawled at me. I shook my head and looked back at him. I hadn’t

been staring at Kai’s ass. I was watching to see who opened Sylvia’s door.

“Sorry, man, my mind blanked. Too much cold meds.” I stood back and let him in.

He walked over and plopped down on my couch. “So what happened with you and Sylvia while we were gone?”
What the fuck? Him too? Why

would anyone even suspect us? We hadn’t given any reason for anyone to. Maybe Sylvia called Kai and told her. No, she wouldn’t do that in

front of Beau, unless he’d left.

I played dumb. “What do you mean ‘what happened with Sylvia?’” I imitated him. “Why the fuck would anything happen with her?” I tried to sound

offended.

“Let’s see, you contacted me to get her number and you were looking for her.”

“I had a question for her.” I didn’t join him on the couch. I ran my fingers through my hair and resumed my pacing.

“Uh huh. What exactly did you have to ask her? It’s not like the two of you have any common classes or anything.” He was looking at me with one

eyebrow arched.

Several questions flashed before me, none of them sounded plausible. Then, “I needed to ask her about a former classmate,” came to mind.

Sloane gave a little snort. “Sure you did.”

“What? We graduated together. Remember?” I stopped right in front of the couch and looked at him.

“Wel , Kai seems to think that something happened this weekend. She’s over at Sylvia’s right now and you know she won’t let it go until she has

the truth. That, and you look guiltier ‘n a fox with hen breath and feathers between its teeth,” he drawled out.

I sat down hard on the other end of the couch and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t know what happened.” I said it more to myself than

Sloane, but he stil heard it.

“So something did happen then. Kai always knows,” He said with a fucking smirk as he shook his head.

“Look, I don’t real y want to talk about it. I doubt Kai wil get any answers from Sylvia, either. Not with Beau there. Fucking prick.” I added under my

breath.

“What did that asswad do now?” I was slightly surprised to hear Sloane use that tone. No one but Kerrington ever said anything about Beau in

front of me. It was like an unspoken rule they had between al of them. I real y didn’t know how any of them other than Kerrington felt about him. She

couldn’t stand him, that much was obvious. But she limited her thoughts to snide comments when Sylvia didn’t join the group because she was

otherwise occupied with Beau. From his pissed tone of voice, I gathered that Sloane must not be Beau’s biggest fan, either. Maybe I could confide

some of my fears about him without coming across as the jealous ex-boyfriend.

“It’s not real y anything he’s done, more of just a feeling I get around him.”

“I know what you mean.”

“I didn’t ever tel you, but that morning after the picnic I went to talk to Sylvia.” I figured he probably knew this. He nodded so I continued. “She had

bruises on her.”

His eyes went wide. “Where? Why didn’t Kai tel me? She was up there after you left.” He shot me an apologetic glance. “Sorry, we al heard you

two. Kai went up there to check on her when it quieted down. Surely she wouldn’t have let that go.”

“Wel , Kai might not have seen them.” I said fast. I probably said too much, but I wanted to get it al out there. “They weren’t exactly in a visible

location.” I rubbed my hands over my face and peeked at him through my fingers. His eyebrows were raised and he had the ‘this is going to be

good’ grin. “Wel , um,” I swal owed. “She was only wearing a t-shirt when she opened the door. She thought I was Kai,” I added quickly, hoping that

he wouldn’t think I’d intentional y wanted to see her in just a shirt. “I couldn’t help but see them when she moved. I wasn’t looking there on purpose or

anything.” I felt myself blushing.

“Just tel me where they were.”

I blew out a breath and sat back. “On her hips and upper thighs. They looked like finger prints.”

“Sylvia gets hurt easily. She always has bruises or cuts.” I knew he was just playing devil’s advocate.

I shook my head. “Not that easy. I know how accident prone she is, and I know with her fair skin evidence of that shows more than it would on

most. But these were left from force. They were too dark.”

“She could like it that way?” He winced as he questioned it, like it was his sister’s sex life he was discussing and he wasn’t comfortable with that.

I wondered the same thing myself. Sylvia was always...open to new things, but I couldn’t see her liking pain. It just wasn’t like her.
Of course,

people can change.
I shrugged my shoulders. I had no answer for that.

“I got a real bad feeling when I was over there earlier. I stopped because I needed to talk to her. I didn’t know he was there. At first he was just too

friendly with me. Then he accused me of spending the weekend with Sylvia.”

“Did you?” he interrupted.

I just shot him a quick look, letting him know I wasn’t going to answer that. “She was al over him but her eyes were tel ing me something was

wrong and to be careful with what I said. You know Sylvia can’t lie. Something was wrong. I just don’t know what it was. She didn’t appear to be hurt

or anything, so I guess...” I just let myself trail off. I couldn’t prove anything. I probably sound like the crazy stalker ex-boyfriend trying to sabotage the

new relationship.

Sloane was al serious-looking. “Quinn, where was Sylvia al weekend? Was she here? I need to know so I can help figure out if she’s in trouble

and what we need to do about it.” He waited for me to answer.

I manned up and confessed to it. “She was here. But it wasn’t what you’re thinking. I was sick and she came over to...” Babysit me? Take care of

me? Help me out? It al sounded bad. I might as wel just say sleep with me... “To make sure I was okay.” He gave me a very knowing look. I wasn’t

going to divulge any more info than that.

“So Beau knew that?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t recal her ever using her phone al weekend. She said she lost it. I don’t know if he ever showed up and she wasn’t there

until today.”

“How long was she here to ‘make sure you were okay’?” He mocked my words.

“Saturday morning until this morning.” I didn’t look at him as I answered.

Sloane let out a low whistle. “Wow, I guess Kai’s spidey senses were spot on again.”

I threw a scowl his way. “I didn’t say anything happened. I just said she was here,” I snarled at him.

He raised his hands in innocence. “I’m not judging, man. Whatever did or did not happen isn’t my business. I’m just trying to figure out where she

was.” He stil shot another fucking presumptuous smile my way.

“So anyway, I don’t know if he came earlier. I saw him this afternoon for the first time. Sylvia wasn’t back yet.” He looked confused at that. “She

took off sometime early this morning and I have no idea where she went. She didn’t exactly leave her agenda for the day, let alone say goodbye.” I

muttered the last.

“That’s why you were looking for her,” he said as if suddenly it made sense. I nodded. “She was probably at Jason’s.”

I just let out a big breath. “So I don’t know what’s going on with Beau, if he’s pissed ’cause she wasn’t home or if he real y knows she was here or

what. I just don’t like it.”

A light tap at my door alerted us to Kai’s presence and I cal ed out to her to come in. Sloane and I didn’t say anymore about Sylvia.

“Wel , Sylvia is fine.” She rol ed her eyes. “She lost her phone. I don’t know, she was al cuddly with Beau. I bet she was just al cozied up with him

al weekend and turned her phone off.” Sloane and I exchanged knowing looks over her head. I hoped he wouldn’t share the secret. I wanted to wait

and see what Sylvia would do. I shook my head and hoped he understood what I wanted. Kai was stil talking and I caught the end of, “what did you

do?”

“What?” I asked a little alarmed.

“I asked what you did for the weekend.” She looked up at me expectantly.

“Oh, nothing. I had strep throat and just stayed in.”

“Sorry. Chicago was great. It’s too bad you couldn’t come.”

She looked like she was going to say more but Sloane suggested they go home so I could rest.

We said our goodbyes and I sat on the couch, wondering just what to do.

I tried every day for the next two weeks to get Sylvia alone to talk to her. I was blocked at every turn. If she wasn’t with Beau she was with Kai,

Kerrington, and even Jason, but mostly with Beau. He seemed to be over al the time.

I tried to cal , but I only got her voicemail. She never returned my cal s. I tried to text her. She just replied back that she wasn’t interested in

anything I had to say. I tried again a few days later.

I need to talk to you -Q

I can’t - not right now -S

I’m here when you can. Anytime about anything -Q

A reply never came.

She didn’t even leave at the same time anymore. I thought she was leaving earlier, but I couldn’t seem to pin down the time and catch her. I didn’t

want to make it look like I had been stalking her for the past few weeks. I lived for any information I could glean from the others. Sloane didn’t know

what was going on either. He said that Kai was pissed because Sylvia was always with Beau. She stil hadn’t said anything to Kai about that

weekend. I debated on leaving her a note but I was afraid Beau might see it. I didn’t know what that asshole would do if he knew. I was fairly certain

that he didn’t have a clue about Sylvia and me. I was also sure that was why Sylvia was avoiding me.

I didn’t want to have Kai or Sloane slip her a note like we were in junior high, either. I wanted to talk to her face to face. I wanted to see her face