Isla had spent the entire day at The Red Wolf, helping Jeremy.
The campus pathways were quiet, and her footsteps echoed in the still air as she made her way back to the dormitory.
Her hand reached into her bag, fingers fumbling past her wallet and keys until they closed around her phone.
She pulled it out, the screen glowing to life.
Her thumb hovered over the notification icon as she walked, the familiar buzz of messages lighting up her lock screen.
She saw tons of messages, all from her class group chat.
Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she stopped walking.
Her thumb swiped across the screen to unlock the device.
The messages spilled across, and then she saw the link that had been shared many times and pinned in the group.
She also caught sight of Liam’s name being mentioned over and over again as she scrolled fast.
“Liam is trending again.” She breathed, the words escaping on a puff of condensation.
Isla clicked the link without thinking.
She saw the headline first.
LIAM’S GYM ROOM CONFRONTATION: Did He Sleep With Brandon’s Girl?
“Of course…” Isla muttered.
“Hooking up. So typical.”
The video loaded, revealing Liam standing face-to-face with Brandon.
A smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
Isla remembered Brandon.
The video played.
Liam’s voice crackled through the speaker, that infuriating casual tone she’d come to recognize over the past few days.
“Your girl had a great time with me. You should have heard her. She didn’t stop screaming my name. Saying your cock never made her feel good.”
Isla shook her head.
The movement made her hair brush against her cheeks.
The screen of her phone went dark, and she pocketed it.
She resumed walking, her pace quicker now.
As expected of the Star Quarterback.
She thought.
The image of Liam’s smug expression lingered in her mind.
Liam Douglas was careless.
That was the truth of it.
He attracted drama like a magnet, and he treated girls like they were temporary entertainment.
Something to be enjoyed and discarded, a pastime rather than people with real hearts and real feelings.
The whole campus knew it.
Everyone had seen the parade of girls trailing after him, each one thinking they’d have a chance with him.
Isla’s jaw tightened as she walked.
‘Trouble,’ she thought, the word a mantra in her mind.
“Liam Douglas is trouble. Stay away. Stay far, far away.” She mumbled.
Isla had spent too much of her life fighting to escape chaos.
She’d clawed her way out of a home that was nothing but noise and instability.
So she wasn’t going to let someone like Liam Douglas drag her back into it.
Her plans were simple: build something for herself and learn to protect it no matter what.
The dormitory building loomed ahead.
The security guard waved at her, and she just managed a small smile.
Isla pushed through the glass door.
She climbed the stairs, her legs aching from the long day, and pushed open the door to her room.
She met Jonna pacing.
Back and forth, back and forth.
Her face was pinched, her eyes red, and she was clutching her phone so tightly against her chest.
“Jonna?” Isla’s voice came out soft.
Jonna’s head snapped up as she stopped pacing.
She opened her mouth to respond, but she closed it.
Her gaze dropped to the floor before she resumed pacing again.
Isla walked further into the room to set her bag down on her bed.
“Hey. Talk to me, Jonna.” She crossed to Jonna, stopped her from pacing, and placed a hand on her arm.
“What’s going on?”
Jonna shook her head, a sharp, jerky motion.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She pulled away from Isla.
“It’s clearly not nothing.” Isla’s voice was firm but gentle.
“Come on, talk to me.”
Jonna sighed.
“I’ve been trying to reach Devin.” Her words tumbled out, rushed and breathless.
“He hasn’t been picking up my calls. I’ve called like…I don’t even know how many times. And nothing. Straight to voicemail every single time.”
Isla wrapped her hands around herself.
“Have you tried texting him?”
“Yes…more than ten times.” Jonna held up her phone, the screen lit with unanswered messages.
“He’s read them. He’s read all of them, Isla. He just…he isn’t responding.”
Isla studied her friend’s face, taking in the tremble of her lower lip, the way her eyes kept darting toward the door like she expected Devin to walk through it at any moment.
“If he’s not picking up,” Isla said slowly, “then you should go over to his place. Where does he stay? I could book you a ride.”
“No.” Jonna shook her head again, more violently this time.
“I can’t. I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
The question hung in the air between them.
Jonna’s hands twisted together, her phone pressed in between them like a shield.
Her gaze skittered away from Isla’s, fixing on some invisible point on the wall.
“Jonna.” Isla’s voice was gentle, coaxing.
“Talk to me.”
Jonna’s throat moved as she swallowed.
“Devin and I…we agreed. I would never visit his place. It was one of the first things we talked about when we started dating.”
Isla blinked.
The words didn’t make sense.
They landed in her mind like puzzle pieces that didn’t fit together, their edges all wrong.
“You agreed,” she repeated slowly.
“That you would never visit him at his place?”
Jonna nodded, her eyes still fixed on the wall.
“Does he have roommates? Like other guys he lives with who are not comfortable with having someone over?”
“No.”
Isla lifted her brows.
“Then why?”
“He lives with his family. He said his family values their privacy. And that he didn’t want to introduce anyone until…until he was sure.”
Isla’s head tilted.
“Sure about what?”
“I don’t know…maybe us.” Jonna’s voice cracked.
“He just said he wanted to wait. And I didn’t want to push, you know? I thought…I thought he would eventually feel comfortable enough to take me home. But—” Her voice trailed off.
“But what?” Isla’s brow furrowed, her lips pressing together in a thin line.
Jonna doesn’t respond.
Carefully.
“It’s been two years. We celebrated our anniversary last month.” Jonna replied.
“Two years…” Isla’s voice broke.
“Two years and you’ve never met his family. Never been to his place.”
Jonna’s shoulders sagged.
She blinked back the tears almost forming in her eyes.
“Never.” She muttered.
Isla understood wanting privacy.
She understood complicated family dynamics.
But two years?
Two years was a long time to date someone and still know so little about their life.
“It sounds weird, right?” She ran a hand through her hair.
“We always meet at this lake spot. Sometimes we meet at this motel downtown. He always has a reason why we can’t go to his place. Family stuff, he says. Or they’re busy. Or—”
Isla held up a hand, stopping the flow of words.
“Okay. Okay, I get it.” She stepped closer again, placing both hands on Jonna’s shoulders.
“Hey. Look at me.”
Jonna’s eyes lifted; a tear streamed down her left cheek.
She looked so vulnerable.
“Don’t worry about it right now,” Isla said, her voice soft.
“It’s late. I’m pretty sure you’ve been worrying all evening. Just try to rest, okay? And tomorrow, you can go to the basketball court to see him in person and talk to him.”
Jonna opened her mouth, then closed it.
Her eyes dropped to the floor.
“You’re not allowed to do that?” Isla asked.
Jonna’s silence was confirmation enough.
Isla squeezed her shoulders, then let her hands fall.
“Jonna, are you sure everything is okay?”
For a moment, something flickered in Jonna’s eyes.
Her lips parted to speak, trying to form the right words.
Confessions and fears and doubts, all of them straining to be released.
Isla waited patiently.
“It’s fine.” Jonna’s gaze shuttered.
She turned away, her movements stiff as she crossed to her bed.
Without looking back, she climbed onto the mattress, her body folding into itself.
She pulled the blanket over her head.
The room fell silent.
The weight of unanswered questions pressed against Isla’s chest.
She could feel the heat rising in her face, the frustration building behind her eyes, but she swallowed it down.
Pushing Jonna wouldn’t help.
She knew that better than anyone.
Instead, she crossed to her own bed and sat on the edge of it for a moment.
Her gaze stayed on Jonna’s huddled form beneath the blanket, and then she heard muffled sobs.
Something twisted in her stomach.
Her phone buzzed.
She reached for it—a message from Jeremy.
“Are you home safe?” Thanks for helping out.
It means a lot.”
Isla typed.
“I’m home. It’s nothing. Ready to help anytime.”
She let out a deep breath.
Isla stood up from the bed, pulled off her jacket, and then walked into the bathroom.