I keep myself busy from the minute I wake up to the second I fall into bed, so I don’t have to think about the fact that I’m lonely.

Lonely and alone.

Gavin drops his head and I catch him quickly swipe at his face. Crying?

I want to reach out to him. Offer him my friendship.

More.

My back straightens and my determination comes back.

This is the moment.

I walk forward, my eyes on Gavin.

“Jessie.” It’s Will. He sounds sorry, like he’s going to apologize. I ignore him.

“Jessie. Stop.” He says stop like a command, not a request. “Stop.”

I swing back around. “No. You stop.”

I keep walking backwards, away from him. “Quit interfering—” I cut off when I hit a metal object.

Will reaches for me.

I grab at the object. It’s books, stacks of books. Will grabs for me, catches my hand, but the book cart flips under me. I tumble over it and pull Will down with me. We crash to the sidewalk. I land on a pile of paperbacks. Will lands on top of me. The jarring thud sends a jolt through me and the shock of it stops all thought.

“Ow. Ouch.”

Will groans. “That hurt.”

“You’re on top of me.” I push at him, but he doesn’t move. “Off.”

He repositions himself so that his legs capture mine and his arms cage me in. He looks down at me and a calculating light enters his eyes.

“I’ll get up when you promise to stop chasing Gavin.”

I glare at him. “No.”

He lets out a frustrated breath. “I’m not going to let you ruin his chance at happiness.”

The nerve.

“What if I’m that chance?”

“Not possible,” he says.

I glare at him and then push up against him, trying to dislodge his bulk. His blue eyes go dark like the deep, violent blue of the Romeo River before a storm. The depth in them scares me, like I might drown in the stormy waters, never get air and never come up again if I dive beneath the surface. He lets out a short huff of air and the black of his pupils dilates. Suddenly, I have the urge to reach up and brush the lines at the corners of his eyes, touch his long feathery eyelashes and see if they feel as soft as they look.

He makes a low sound in his throat. I look at his mouth and focus on his plump lower lip, soft and wicked…so at odds with Will’s personality.

Will.

William.

I gasp and wrench myself out of my lust-filled stupor for the wrong man.

“Get off.” I shove at him again. He blinks and shakes his head, like he’s trying to reenter the present.

Yeah, welcome back from Weirdville. That alternate dimension where Will and I lust after each other.

Ugh.

Why?