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“Let go.” I pinch the skin under Lucas’s arm as hard as I can until he jerks his arm away, releasing his hold on me.

“Ouch, damn it!” He rubs the spot. “Come on, Kennedy. We dated forever and you wouldn’t let me slide it home, so there’s no way you’ll let some random dude hit it and quit it. You’re just trying to get under my skin.” He nuzzles my cheek with his cold nose. “I’ve got a much better idea for getting you under me.”

Throwing my weight behind the effort, I shove him away from me. “I’m not trying to get under your anything.”

Lucas’s eyes ice over. “If I’d known you’d change your mind, I would’ve waited a little—”

Jordan comes out of nowhere, slamming into Lucas and knocking him sideways into a lamppost.

“What the fuck, Keller?” Lucas shakes off his shock and collects his backpack from the ground.

“Oh, hey, sorry, man.” Jordan fixes his gaze on mine, his indignation worming its way to the depths of my soul. I wish I could tell him I’m not the one who wrote all those things about him, but I doubt he’d believe me if I did. “Guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Pay attention next time,” Lucas snaps, oblivious to the unspoken conversation going on right under his nose, or the animosity directed toward me.

“Sure thing.” Shifting his attention to Lucas, Jordan flashes his perfect white teeth in the frostiest smile I’ve ever seen. “Wouldn’t wanna come between you and your girl.”

“I’m not his girl,” I hiss, and both their heads whip toward me.

Jordan lowers the mask long enough for a genuine smile to peek through before snapping it back in place again, confusing me even more. “Like I care.”

“I didn’t say it for your benefit,” I snap before dragging my glare to Lucas. “I said it for yours. You can’t keep acting like we’re a couple. We’re not. You cheated on me, remember?”

Lucas backs up a step as if I slapped him. “I was drunk.”

“That’s not an excuse, asshole. But it’s okay.” I force a smile. “No harm, no foul. I’m over it. And I’m over you.” Since the lies keep tumbling out, I figure why not go for broke? I’ll be damned if I let Lucas know how badly he hurt me, or how long it took to get over him. “So don’t count on making it past the first round. You’re up against some pretty stiff competition.”

His ego thoroughly battered, Lucas turns and marches wordlessly through the quad with his tail between his legs. Long after he’s gone, I catch Jordan watching me, hands stuffed into the front pockets of those body-hugging red leather pants.

I force myself to focus on his face. “What?”

“Nothing.” He looks mad again, and I’m certain I’ll never understand this guy.

“Say it.” I cross my arms and wait. “Put me out of my misery already.”

He stares into the distance before shifting his gaze back to me. “Don’t you think your little plan is kind of dangerous? Even if you can get past the shades of prostitution, it’s still unbelievably stupid. What will you do when some guy takes your offer as an invitation?”

His words hit me like a hot brick to the temple, but I don’t tell him that. “I didn’t know you cared.”

“I don’t.” He glances away again before turning back to me, eyes blazing. “Why should I give a shit about the girl who said I was a freak of nature even his mother couldn’t love?”

The full force of his pain and humiliation knocks the wind out of me, especially knowing his mother died, and it takes me a second to find my voice. “Jordan, I didn’t write that—”

“Save it,” he snaps. “I’m not as dumb as you think I am.”

I want to throttle him, force him to believe me, but he won’t. Not when every horrible word is posted on the internet for him to read with his own eyes. Denying it only makes me look like a liar on top of everything else.

He presses his lips into a hard line, searching the distance as if looking for any excuse to walk away, but something has him trapped where he is.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, blinking back the threat of tears. It’s the only thing I can possibly say that might make any difference at this point.

“What are you sorry for?” Nicole appears out of nowhere, hip checking me. “You didn’t write any of those things.”

Jordan directs his attention to my friend. “This may be hard for you to comprehend, but I can read.”

“You’re right. I do find that hard to comprehend.” Nicole smirks. “But that’s not the point. I’m the one who wrote all that shit about you. All Kennedy did was sit across from me disagreeing about almost everything . . . like she always does.” She rolls her eyes. “Personally, I still think you’re a freak.”

Jordan ignores Nicole’s dig, and his gaze snaps to mine. “Is that true?”