I shook my head, already dreading whatever he was about to say.

“From what I read about it, it sounds like they were barely going five miles over the speed limit. They’re filing a complaint for harassment. Of course, nothing so far about accountability for the officers who’re doing this shit.”

I exhaled at the same time I felt the muscles in my shoulders tense again. “I didn’t hear.” I sighed, weary as fuck already, and it was barely 10:00 a.m. “I mean it’s not like I expected this kind of thing only happened in the city, but it’s never not disappointing.” Ted only nodded, his handsome face thunderous, as I pulled out my phone. I opened my Twitter app and noticed a tweet from earlier this morning, where I’d dragged some DC flunkie for some mess brewing down there, had blown up. I started tapping out a new one.

Nice to know the move from NYC to Upstate is not going to let me get rusty. Driving While Black seems to be enough to get hassled up here too. Any students getting stopped for going five miles over the limit? @ me if you are.

I hit send and put my phone back in my pocket and when I looked up at Ted he was grinning at me.

“You’re going to be good for this town.”

Chapter Three

Easton

I’d never been the jealous type, but whatever was happening had turned me into a possessive asshole when I was around Patrice. I’d been seething in silence for the past twenty minutes, watching him get chatted up by some guy at Nesto and Jude’s party. I had no clue who he was, but he’d been stuck to Patrice like a fucking shadow since I’d gotten here thirty minutes ago.

“You can’t actually burn a hole through a person by staring, Easton.”

I turned around and saw Jude standing behind me with an amused look on his face.

“I don’t know,” I said through gritted teeth. “I feel like I was making progress. Who is that anyway?”

He used his glass of rosé to point in the direction of Patrice and his new chat buddy. “That’s Peter. He’s a mathematics professor from somewhere on the West Coast. He knows Ted from undergrad and was here for the week doing something up at Cornell. They brought him along since he’s not leaving until the morning. No need to worry, he will be on his way out of town soon.” Jude was having a little too much fun at my expense.

I kept looking in Patrice’s direction, but turned my head slightly to continue talking with Jude. It seemed my desperation was showing.

“Am I that obvious?”

Jude chuckled and took a sip of his wine before answering. “It wouldn’t say super obvious, but I may be hyperaware of people pining in silence. It was kind of my thing for a while.”

In that moment Patrice turned his head and finally looked my way. When his eyes landed on me, the intensity in them heated my skin. For a second he looked at me like he was reaching across the room to touch me. It was gone in a flash though, and then he was back to aloof Patrice, but it was too late. I’d felt the heat of his stare on me.