Free Until Alex by J. Nathan Page A

my exhausting day was curl up in bed and forget it. Hence my spot under my paisley purple comforter. The one that matched my purple walls still smelling of fresh paint. I knew my aunt wanted to make me feel at home. And I appreciated it.
    What I didn’t appreciate was feeling like a rag doll pulled in a million different directions. From the people who wanted to show me to my history class to the questions about UT and why I transferred, I felt suffocated.
    I knew I didn’t have to hide my past. But if people knew the truth—knew the real reason I’d come to town with nothing more than my dad’s car and a suitcase—I’d be forced to deal with the pity in their eyes and their empty sympathies when they had no clue how it felt to be me.
    A knock on the living room door pulled me from my thoughts. I threw the comforter off my head and listened for my aunt’s footsteps. The infinite silence indicated I was alone.
    Ironic .
    I dropped my bare feet to the hardwood floor and waited, hoping they’d give up and go away. But the knocking continued. 
    I glanced down at my wrinkled clothes, the ones I didn’t bother to change out of before jumping into bed. Ah well. I marched into the living room and peeked out the peephole, expecting to find a tenant with a leaky faucet.
    But it wasn’t a tenant with a leak.
    Not even close. 
    Anger bubbled in the pit of my stomach. 
    Standing in the hall with his head hanging low was the cause of my latest grief. At least he had the good sense to feign remorse.
    But d id he honestly expect to blow me off then show up at my door like nothing happened?
    My head twisted, my eyes sweeping over my aunt’s empty living room. I needed time to think. Time to rein in my anger. Time to consider my options.
    I had two.
    Open the door and let him explain why he turned into a prick over the weekend. Or take a page from his handbook and blow him off like he was nothing more than a passing distraction. 
    I inhaled a deep cleansing breath, feeling stronger than I had in days. Then, secure in my decision, I turned on my heels and headed back to my room eager to bury myself under a heap of blankets.
    Screw him.
    Hayden’s deep voice trailed in from the hallway stopping me mid-stride. “I could see your shadow.”
     
    HAYDEN
    I slammed my door, rattling the entire wall.
    I hoped Alex heard. She needed to know I was pissed. At her. At me. At Remy for showing up at school. At the world.
    I dropped down onto my sofa, letting my head fall back and my eyes squeeze shut. She didn’t even give me a chance to explain. She made up her mind about what happened on her own.
    I heaved a sigh.
    Who could blame her? I was a total dick. 
    And any notion of us hanging out at school got shot to hell the second Remy showed up on campus.
    He’d dropped out of high school, so college wasn’t even an option for him. But it didn’t stop him from tracking me down and showing up whenever he damn well pleased. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a tracker on my phone. He always found me. Whether I wanted to be found or not.
    And while he might’ve been my friend, he was still a tornado dragging me into all sorts of shit, not caring where it all ended up.
    That’s why Alex needed to stay out of my world. She couldn’t know the other side of my life. The side I wished I didn’t have to live when Remy and I took our weekend trips or rolled up outside suburban homes late at night. And no way in hell could she find out about what happened three years ago. No one knew the truth about that.
    No one except Remy.
    I knew she couldn’t see me tucked away in the corner of the dining hall at lunch, but I saw her. She seemed happy with Taylor and her crew. The way she’d been when she left the stage at Jake’s. Before I fucked everything up.
    Being at school put everything into perspective. Alex needed to be with people who’d take her to football games and frat parties. Shopping and out to eat. Clubs and formals. She’d get