The bags under my eyes are huge and puffy. I have a pounding headache from too much coffee and I try to ignore it by applying concealer under my eyes.

All this to say...

I'm a hot mess.

I'm so tired that my bones ache and I'm pushing my body to the limit. But it's exactly what I want. When I'm this exhausted, my brain shuts down from overuse. I don't dream, and I'm rewarded with a soundless sleep.

Exhaling a deep breath, I start working my rambunctious hair into a bun.

Yeah, that's right.

I called my hair rambunctious

Because it's alive, like Medusa's head of snakes. The problem I always have is that my hair is so heavy that my bun sags and I hate that, but today I simply don't care.

The only person I'm seeing this morning is the dean for my scheduled appointment, then I'll eat, relax, and look like a whole new person. After that, I'll head over to Tariq's to make us some dinner.

I finish prepping myself and grab my glasses. I slide them on and happily notice that they somewhat conceal those horrifying bags. There's also only a sliver pink line under my eye that is the only indication of the tragic football incident.

One more glance in the mirror and I give myself a thumbs up.

Good enough.

Grabbing my wallet with my keycard in it, I head over to my mini-fridge only to open it and see... nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Great.

For some reason, I thought I still had one more container of yogurt, but that was wishful thinking. My stomach grumbles and I give my stomach a silent warning that it can't do that during my meeting with the Dean.

You know that hunger in the morning where it churns in your stomach and claws its way to your sternum making breathing painful?

Yep, that's what I have right now.

I open my door and I step on something. I look down to see a little white doggy bag with a coffee next to it.

Good thing I didn't knock it over.

I pick up the coffee and bag peering inside. A cheese danish... my favorite. The coffee's still hot when I pop the lid open so I blow on it. These could be poisoned, although I don't know why anyone would want to poison me.

I risk it and take a sip.

It's perfect.

French vanilla cream with a crap ton of sugar.

"I swear that wasn't me." Heather stands there looking at me with her face pulled down in guilt. "I'm really sorry, Elodie."

I give her a reassuring smile. Truth is, despite my initial frustration with her and betrayal of confidentiality, Heather was only worried about me.

"I'm not mad."

Her face instantly relaxes. "Still, what I did wasn't okay. I shouldn't have told Tariq. He just wouldn't stop hounding me about it."

"It's fine really. Even though the guy drives me nuts, he weirdly does care I guess."

"Weirdly?" she asks with a small smile then nods her head at the baggy. "Speaking of, there's a message on the back. What does he want from you now?"

I turn it around and see that she's right.

"He wants to come with me to the dean's office."

She quirks a brow. "Any reason why he wants to escort you?"

I bring the bag to my side and roll my eyes with a sigh. "He wants me to go to the dean about what happened at the frat. I have a scheduled meeting with him today about something so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone."

When I glance back, Heather's face has dropped. Mouth in a flat line, eyes glimmering with something like fear as she shakes her head, blinking in disbelief. "He's seriously asking you to do that?"

Her brows knit and she takes a deep angry breath. "Be careful, Elodie. You don't want to make Alpha Tau Sigma your enemy. I can't believe him. What is Tariq thinking and here I thought--"

"Thought what?" I interrupt. "Should I not be doing this, Heather?"

Her head lowers and she exhales. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't. They should get in trouble for what happened, so yeah, I think maybe you should, but also... if they find out."

I'm officially freaked.

"Heather, what's going on?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

She steps back, holding her hands up. "Forget I said anything. You should go. Tariq will be with you and I trust he knows what he's doing. He'll keep a sharp eye on you from now on."

Heather's not the one I need to confront so I drop it with her... for now. "Of course he will. Tariq Araneo has become my own personal stalker."

Her shoulders sag with relief, then a grin replaces that firm line. "Sexy stalker. Have you put on lipstick for him yet? Is that why he's doing these cute things for you?"

"I should get going. I don't want to be late."

"See you for lunch still?"

"Yeah," I answer as I head out.

The minute I step outside the cold seeps into my jeans. Curse you Wisconsin! It's like the cold clings onto you until it becomes one with your clothing to the point it hurts to walk.

Tariq's jeep sits there rumbling, looking so inviting with the smoke pouring out from the back and the promise of warmth as soon as you open the door.

Screw it.

I'm taking that ride.

I whip open the door and jump in. My body cries in relief as the warm heat engulfs me. That gingery scent of him clings to the air in the car and circulates around me.

"Well, it's about time!" Tariq is drumming his fingers to the soft beating of the drums to a rocky blues song he's listening to.

He's lounging back, leaning against his seat, arm on the steering wheel stretched out and dark tattoos playing with muscles that bulge to every drum of a finger, and then there's that teasing shine to those dark eyes as he looks at me.

My heart does a weird kick.

"Can it, Araneo." I drop the bag in my lap and hold up the cheese danish. "There's only one reason I accept this."

"And that is?"

My eyes narrow. "You're going to explain to me what is going on between you and Alpha Tau Sigma and why it's so important I do this. You know about my money issues, so it's only fair."

The playful expression falls flat and his eyes darken with a tensed jaw. He turns away from me and his fingers stop beating, gripping the steering wheel instead.

"There's a lot of bad blood between us and them."

"That's not good enough." I'm pushing it, I know, but after what Heather had said, I need to know exactly what I'm getting myself in the middle of.

Tariq blows out a frustrated sigh. "Look, Blue, I can't tell you everything. It's a private matter and not just mine. The most I can say is that an ex-teammate of ours is dead because of Alpha Tau Sigma."

I jerk back and something cold slithers through me. "Are you serious? If that's the case how are they still--"

"Because no one believes us." His voice is harsh and this is a side of Tariq I've never seen before. Brows in a straight line and chest swollen from an angry breath, while veins in his arms appear the tighter he grips the steering wheel.

"There's been an ongoing investigation for almost two years now, but there's no proof. It's about to go cold since it's been pushed back to some idiot's desk to collect dust." Tariq is rigid all over, and not in a good way. His muscles are coiling to the point I'm wondering if rage can cause them to pull a muscle.

I turn in my seat and stare out the window. My eyes zoom in on a spec of mud on the windshield. "Why doesn't anyone talk about it?"

"They do, you just live in a box. If you ask around, you'll get bit and pieces of false accounts with some snippets of truth. I'm pretty sure Kyle was in the process of giving you some of the false rumors before Heather had stopped him."

I stare at his tense profile, arms flexing in restraint, brows furrowed down so hard that he'll probably get a headache from it.

"And how do you think me going to the dean about a tiny black eye is going to help?"

My body tenses when rough fingers touch the skin on my cheek. I glance back at Tariq, and when I do, his thumb traces the tiny remnants left of my football tragedy.

"First, it wasn't a little black eye, and second, every complaint against Alpha Tau Sigma helps. People have been going to the dean about them for years and he's building up files."

"Why doesn't he place restrictions on them?" I ask bewildered.

His hand drops and makes a fist, veins protruding. "The alumni are powerful people. They won't let Alpha Tau Sigma collapse. Guys who become members have doors opened to them. High paying jobs, CEOs, contracts with the NFL... NHL, which is why I tried to rush my sophomore year."

My eyes widened at that. "You did?"

"None of us are members, and never will be." Tariq puts the jeep in drive and takes a deep breath. "That's all I can tell you."

I swallow and I ask through a clogged throat, "Will you ever tell me? I don't want anyone's account but yours."

He stares out the window and takes a deep breath, his chest swelling, protruding with an answer for some reason I care too much about. "Someday."

The finality in his voice makes me drop it, mostly because I got a someday. And maybe someday I'll trust him with my demons. But for now, this is safe, doable and a perfect distance for us.

I take out my phone and open up the pictures. My thumb swipes until I find the one I'm looking for.

My black eye stares at me and looking at it now, all puffy, swollen shut, black and purple, I realize I had been really lucky glass shards hadn't scratched up my eye.

"Will a picture suffice?"

Tariq lifts a brow. "You took one?"

"Of course I did," I say with a snort. "It's my warrior wound and now I get to not only tell people about my black eye but also show them. I once had this friend who played softball, she was at practice and her dad was the coach. Liz, the best hitter on the team, got up and slammed a ball straight to Becca's face. Nose shattered, smashed to pieces. She had her dad take a picture of it so she could show everybody."

"Why on earth would she do that?"

"Don't know. People are weird like that. She got a new nose though, so she said as much as it sucked, she was glad to get a cute little button nose out of it."

"One like yours?"

My hand flies to my nose. "I guess. Do guys really notice stuff like that? Noses I mean?"

He chuckles and I'm happy that I'm able to relieve some of the tension. "Yeah, sadly we do."

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't my nose then."

Flicking on the blinker, he turns and we're almost to our destination. "Me too. I like it, especially how it twitches when you get annoyed."

I smack his arm. "Shut up."

He laughs, pulling into the parking spot. Turning off the car, he leans over and pokes the bridge of my glasses. "But my favorite are those big blue eyes of yours."

There it is again. That shift. Tension thick coiling around me and corrupting the friendly air between us. I clear my throat and back up, my hand gripping the door handle. "Let's get this over with."

I tense when Tariq's big hand wraps around my wrist, gaining my attention. His eyes search my face and he squeezes it. "I won't let anything happen to you, Blue. I promise."

My skin gets all prickly and I barely whisper out, "What would they do to me, Tariq?"

He leans in, serious dark eyes, strong and fierce. "Nothing, because I've got you."

All I can do is hope he means it. I want to do this. This frat needs punishment and even if what happened to me ends up being a slap on the wrist for them, at least it's something. These rumors aren't just rumors and if there's any way I can help, I will.

"Okay well, I guess wait here then. The dean has something he wants to talk to me about and I'll tell him after."

I get out before he can say anything else and scramble to the door. Nerves tingle all over me and I can't figure out if it's from what the dean wants to discuss with me, telling him about the incident, or Tariq's strong gaze.

Probably all three.

This is not good for my stomach.

Nope.

Not at all.

Sorry, no Rasheed in this chapter to all my Rasheed lovers out there hahahahaha! I promise he'll appear in future chapters again.

Alright, so I divulged some information and the ball is rolling. The plot thickens and things will get intense in later chapters. I hope you all are ready for this and for Elodie's relationship with Tariq to deepen to something so much more in the incoming chapters :)

I'd love to hear your theories about what happened, so if you'd like, comment and let me know :)

Guys, I am so blessed by everyone who is loving this story and following it! All of your reads, comments, and votes mean the world to me

If you enjoyed this chapter and are curious about what happened to Tariq's ex-teammate hit that star button for me. :)

Much Love,

~LivingRed