With Every Heartbeat

Reese didn’t make it to art class on Monday. She texted Caroline, telling her Mason’s chicken pox was taking a toll on him. But two seats—not just one—remained open between Caroline and me that hour.

Every time the door opened, admitting a late student, my chest wrenched, thinking Zoey would enter.

She never did.

Ten slept the entire hour, which left only Caroline and me. She kept shooting me worried glances. I wondered if she knew. She and Zoey had grown close; but would Zoey confide something like this in her? I’d had to talk to Pick about it. Maybe Zoey had needed to talk to someone too, like Caroline.

Maybe Caroline would know what I should say to Zoey when I finally saw her.

Class let out early, thank God, and the two of us gravitated toward each other. I opened my mouth to ask when she’d last talked to Zoey, but she patted my arm and sent me a sympathetic smile, waylaying my question.

“I heard about you and Cora.”

I jolted, not expecting or wanting to hear sympathy about Cora. I hadn’t even thought about Cora today. I’d been too busy wound up about my upcoming talk with Zoey.

Gritting my teeth, I nodded and sent Caroline a stiff smile, even as my gaze strayed to Zoey’s empty seat. God, I hated knowing I’d scared her away from art class.

“And don’t worry. If you think Zoey knew anything about it, I can assure you, she was just as surprised and upset by Cora’s faithlessness as you were.”

I glanced at her, and suddenly I knew; Zoey hadn’t told her about us. A sigh escaped my lungs, but I nodded. “I know she didn’t.”

Caroline opened her mouth again, but something a girl from across the room said caught our attention and stopped her from speaking.

“...Kavanagh didn’t even look like the kind of teacher a student would want to fuck.”

“Excuse me?” Caroline spun toward the group of girls talking together as they gathered their things.

As she marched toward them, a yawning, stretching Ten appeared at my side. “Where’s she going, looking all pissed like that? I didn’t talk in my sleep, did I?”

I shook my head. “She just heard someone bad-mouthing Aspen.”

“Fuck.” He swiveled her way. “Should we stop her?”

I glanced at him, shaking my head in confusion. “Stop her from doing what?”

He lifted his hands. “I don’t know. She’s a Gamble. A pissed-off Gamble. They lose their shit when they’re pissed.”

“Oh, crap.” He was right.

But Caroline had already reached her target. She paused in front of the four girls and slapped her hands to her hips as she focused on one short redhead. “What did you just say about Dr. Kavanagh?”

“Umm...” The girl who’d been talking blinked at her as if she couldn’t believe she’d been interrupted. “That’s really none of your business. This is a private conversation.”

“Private?” Caroline lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, it was so private I could hear it in this public classroom from twenty feet away while you bashed a respected professor from this university.”

The gossipmonger snorted and rolled her eyes. “She’s not a professor here anymore. I heard she got fired for sleeping with a student.”

“Oh really? You heard?” Caroline glanced back at us and I could see she was about to blow.

Tensing, I wondered if she lost her temper the same way her brother did. I turned to Ten. He shared a worried look with me.

Caroline snickered at the girl. “Well, I heard you fucked that guy right there last night.” She motioned blindly toward Ten. “And you liked it up the ass best.”

The girl’s eyes widened with horror as she glanced at Ten.

Next to me, he slipped into character without pause. Grinning, he blew the girl a kiss. “Hey, baby.” He notched his voice seductively low. “Hope your tushy isn’t too sore this morning. You liked it rougher than I was used to giving it, so I got a little carried away.”

“Oh my God,” the girl cried, backing away from him and trying to crowd into her friends, but her friends suddenly didn’t want anything to do with her. She shook her head frantically. “No. I...I don’t even know that guy.” Gaping at Caroline, she shook her head. “You’re lying.”

Caroline widened her eyes as if she’d just realized she’d made a mistake. Then she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, but that’s what I heard. And since I heard it, it has to be true, right?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”