After (The After Series)

A professor? Their fight wasn’t broken up by a professor—it was broken up
by Hardin’s dad. Either Landon lied, or . . . wait, I wonder if these guys even
know Hardin and Landon are soon to be stepbrothers. I look at Hardin, who now
looks worried. He lied to them. I should call him out on it right now in front of
everyone.
But I can’t. I’m not like him. I find it harder to hurt people than he does.

---

Except Noah, my subconscious reminds me, and I push her back.
“Well, I think the bonfire will be fun,” I say.
Zed looks at me with interest. “Maybe I will make an appearance after all.”
“I’m going,” Hardin adds randomly from the other booth.
Everyone turns to look at him, and Molly laughs. “Yeah, sure you are.” She
rolls her eyes and laughs again.
“No, really, it won’t be so bad,” Hardin softly insists, earning another eye-
rolling from Molly.
Hardin going because Zed said he was? Maybe I’m a better flirt than I
thought.
The server brings out our food and hands me my burger. It looks great, except
for the ketchup dripping off the side. My nose scrunches up and I try to wipe
some of it off with a napkin. I hate sending food back, and I’m already having a
hard enough time tonight. The last thing I need is to draw even more attention to
myself.
Talk of the party tonight circles the booths while everyone digs into their
wings and I pick at my fries. Eventually the server stops back and asks if we
need anything else.
“No, I think we’re good,” Tristan starts to say, and she begins to walk away.
“Wait. She ordered her burger with no ketchup,” Hardin says loudly, and I
drop a fry onto the plate.
The waitress looks at me with concern. “I’m sorry about that. Do you want me
to take it back?”
I’m so embarrassed, all I can do is shake my head.
“Yeah. She does,” Hardin answers for me.
What the hell is he doing? And how did he even know it had ketchup? He is
just trying to make me uncomfortable.
“Here, honey, give me your plate.” She smiles and holds her hand out. “I’ll
bring you a new one.” I hand it to her and look down while I thank her.
“What was that?” I hear Molly ask Hardin. She should really work on her
whispering voice.
“Nothing, she doesn’t like ketchup,” he simply says and she huffs before
taking a drink of her beer.
“So?” Molly says and Hardin glares at her.
“So, nothing. Just drop it.”
At least I know I am not the only one he is rude to.
My new food sans ketchup arrives, and I eat most of it despite my lack of
appetite. Zed ends up paying for my meal, which is both nice and awkward at
the same time. Hardin’s annoyance seems to grow as Zed puts his arm around

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me yet again on the walk outside.
“Logan says the party is already packed!” Nate says, reading a text.
“You should ride with me there,” Zed offers, then frowns when I shake my
head.
“Oh, I am not going to the party. Tristan is going to take me back.”
“I can take her back to her room since I drove,” Hardin says.
I almost trip over my feet at this, but fortunately Steph grabs hold of me and
smiles at Hardin. “No, Tristan and I will take her. Zed can ride with us, too.”
If looks could kill, Steph would be collapsing on the floor right now.
Hardin turns to Tristan. “You don’t want to drive drunk on campus; the police
are going to be looking for people to give tickets to because it’s Friday.”
Steph looks at me, waiting for me to speak up, but I don’t know what to say. I
don’t want to be in the car with Hardin alone, but I don’t want to drive with
Tristan when he has been drinking. I shrug and lean into Zed while they settle
this among themselves.
“Great, let’s drop her off and then go have some fun,” Molly tells Hardin, but
he shakes his head.
“No, you ride with Tristan and Steph,” he says forcefully and Molly shrinks.
“For God’s sake can we just get in the cars and go!” Nate whines and pulls his
keys out.
“Yeah, let’s go, Tessa,” Hardin says and I look up at Zed and then at Steph.
“Tessa!” Hardin barks again as he unlocks his car door. He looks back at me
and I get the feeling that if I don’t follow he will drag me to the car. But why
would he even want to be around me if he told Steph that I had better not come
around? He disappears inside the car and starts the engine.
“It’ll be okay, just text me as soon as you get back to the room,” Steph says,
and I nod and walk to Hardin’s car. My curiosity gets the best of me, and I have
to know what his intentions are. I just have to.

---

chapter forty
N
o matter how hard I tried to avoid seeing him all week, I somehow end up in
his car with him. He doesn’t look at me as I get in or while I buckle my seat belt.
I tug at the dress again, trying to pull it over my thighs. We sit in silence for a
moment and then he pulls out of the parking lot. One saving grace is his not
allowing Molly to ride with us—I would have rather walked home than watch
her fawn all over him.
“What’s with the new look?” he finally asks once we’re on the freeway.
“Um . . . well, Steph wanted to try something new with me, I guess.” I keep
my eyes fixed on the buildings passing by outside the window. His usual
aggressive music is playing quietly through the car.
“It’s a little over-the-top, don’t you think?” he asks and I ball my fists on my
lap. So this is his plan today, to insult me the whole way back to my room.
“You didn’t have to drive me home, you know.” I lean my head against the
window, trying to create as much space between us as possible.
“Don’t get so defensive; all I am saying is your little makeover is a little
extreme.”
“Well, good thing I don’t care what you think, but considering your distaste
for my usual appearance, I’m surprised you don’t think I look better like this,” I
snap and close my eyes. I am already exhausted from being around him and he is
sucking the little bit of energy that remained from me.
I hear him chuckle quietly and he turns the radio off completely. “I never said
there was anything wrong with your appearance. Your clothes, yes, but I’d much

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rather see the hideous long skirts than these clothes.”
He’s trying to explain but his answer doesn’t really make sense. He seems to
like when Molly dresses this way, only much skankier, so why not me?
“Did you hear me, Tessa?” he asks when I don’t respond, and I feel his hand
touch my thigh. I jerk away from his touch and open my eyes.
“Yes, I did. I just don’t have anything to say about it. If you don’t like the way
I’m dressed, then don’t look at me.” One good thing that comes from talking to
Hardin is that for once in my life I can say exactly what comes to my mind
without worrying about hurting his feelings, seeing as how he has none.
“That is precisely the problem here, isn’t it? That I can’t stop looking at you.”
The words leave his mouth and I consider opening the car door and hurling
myself onto the freeway.
“Oh! Please!” I laugh. I know he will say just enough nice, yet cryptic, things
to make it more painful when he takes them back and throws more insults at me
later.
“What? It’s true. I approve of the new clothes, but you don’t need all this
makeup. Regular girls wear tons of makeup to look as good as you do without
it.”
What? He must have forgotten that we aren’t speaking, that he tried to ruin my
life less than a week ago, and that we despise each other.
“You don’t expect me to thank you, do you?” I half-laugh. He is so confusing;
he is brooding and angry one minute and telling me he can’t stop looking at me
the next.
“Why didn’t you tell them the truth about Landon and me?” he asks, changing
the subject.
“Because you obviously didn’t want them to know.”
“Still, why would you keep my secrets?”
“Because they are not mine to tell.”
He looks over to me with hooded eyes and a slight smile. “I wouldn’t have
blamed you if you did, considering what I did with Noah.”
“Yeah, well, I am not you.”
“No, no you’re not,” he says, his voice much quieter. And after that he
remains silent for the rest of the drive, as do I. I have nothing to say to him.
We finally pull onto campus and he parks in the farthest possible spot from
my room. Of course.
I reach for the door handle and Hardin’s hand touches my thigh again. “You’re
not going to thank me?” He smiles and I shake my head.
“Thanks for the ride,” I say sarcastically. “Hurry back—Molly’s waiting,” I
add as I climb out. I hope he didn’t hear me; I am not sure why I even said that.

---

“Yeah . . . I better. She sure is fun when she’s drunk,” he says with a smirk.
Trying to hide the fact that I feel like he just punched me in the stomach, I
lean down to look at him through the passenger window and Hardin rolls it
down. “Yeah, I am sure she is. Noah’s coming soon, anyway,” I lie and watch his
eyes narrow.
“He is?” Hardin picks at his fingernails, a nervous habit, I assume.
“Yep, see you around.” I smile and walk off.
I hear him get out of his car and shut the door. “Wait!” he says and I turn
around. “I . . . never mind, I thought you, um, dropped something but you
didn’t.” His cheeks flush. He’s clearly lying, and I want to know what he was
going to say, but I need to walk away now, so I do just that.
“Bye, Hardin.” The words mean more than I let on. I don’t look back to see if
he is coming after me because I know he isn’t.
I TAKE THE HEELS OFF
before I even get to my room and walk barefoot the
rest of the way through campus. The second I get into the room I put my fuzzy
pajamas back on and call Noah. He answers on the second ring.
“Hey,” I squeak. My voice sounds too high-pitched. It’s only Noah, why am I