Miles From Kara Read Online Free Page B

Would you be angry?”
    His eyes swept down me, before returning to my face. “If you were mine, and you were in that pool with some bloke I didn’t know? Hell yes. I don’t play games.”
    My breathing had stopped at
if you were mine
, and now I was struggling to stop looking at his lips, all full and inviting. My eyes lifted back to his, and his expression said that he knew exactly what I was thinking.
    â€œWhy aren’t you in there? With them?” I asked.
    â€œBecause I’d rather be here. If that’s okay with you.”
    I considered him, wishing I had the gall to ask what he meant by that, when Ethan came barreling out of the pool, lifted me over his shoulder, and then tossed me into the water.
    I splashed to the surface and pushed my hair out of my eyes. “I’m not wearing a swimsuit!”
    Ethan grinned as he swam over to me. “I know. That’s what makes it so funny.” I glanced around to find everyone in and out of the pool laughing. Everyone except Colt, whose eyes were full of something else. Something very different than humor.
    I glanced down at my white tank top, and sure enough, my bra was perfectly visible for anyone to see. I ducked back into the water to shield myself, anger surging through me. “Get me a towel. Now,” I said. But it was Colt who showed up at the pool’s stairs with a towel held out.
    â€œThanks, man,” Ethan said as he helped me out. I wanted to jerk away from him, to go off on him properly, but I didn’t want to cause a scene. Instead, I gritted my teeth together and glared at him. Then sadness engulfed me as I realized that a year ago, maybe even six months ago, I wouldn’t have been angry. I would have laughed along with everyone else. Everything felt different now. Maybe Preston was right. Maybe I
was
angry with Ethan all the time.
    I didn’t want to think about what that might mean, at least not today. Maybe tomorrow I would. There was always tomorrow. Tonight was Sarah’s party, and for once I didn’t want to think about all the stress in my life.
    Or how it felt like I possessed the power to fix everything . . . but lacked the strength to actually do it.

Chapter Five
    That night, my crowd made our way down a floor to Sarah’s apartment. The door stood slightly ajar and music blared out from the crack, beckoning us inside.
    Sarah rushed up to us, tripping a bit as she walked. “Hey!” she squealed.
    â€œHey!” I said back over the music. “You look like you’re having fun!”
    She laughed. “Alyssa got into a study abroad program, so we started a little early.” Alyssa was Sarah’s roommate and a pharmacy major. She spent so much time studying that she made Olivia, the queen of studying, look like a slacker.
    Alyssa joined us then, her words slurring. “I’m going to Italy. It-aly. There’s bread there.”
    I grinned. “There is. Maybe you should have some now.”
    But she was already gone, disappearing back through their apartment to join the group dancing to some Justin Timberlake song. “I’ll get us some drinks,” Ethan whispered into my ear, and I nodded for him to go ahead, expecting Preston and Colt to go with him, but neither moved, their eyes locked on something I hadn’t yet seen. I followed their gaze to find Ethan hugging some other girl I didn’t recognize. He pulled away from her and they laughed, clearly excited to see one another. I turned away and Olivia leaned into me.
    â€œAre you okay?”
    I laughed. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? They’re obviously friends. No biggie.”
    Preston’s face scrunched up. “Uh, that’s not the Kara I know at all. Do you remember what you were like last semester?”
    I stared at him blankly. “What?”
    Olivia eyed me, sensing that I didn’t want to talk about this, and then grabbed Preston’s arms.