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some breakfast.”
    The entire way downstairs, I admired the view of her behind. What happened in the shower was seemingly forgotten. There was no trace of it in her eyes just now.
    But I knew better. I knew it was possible to hide stuff way down deep.
    I did it all the time.
    I had a feeling Ivy did too.

Chapter Five

    Ivy
    My favorite sport was shopping.
    But if anyone asked, I’d say football.
    Wouldn’t want to offend Braeden and Romeo, you know.
    Seriously, though, what was better than the thrill of finding the perfect outfit? A hot sale? Going into a store and seeing nothing but racks of possibility lining the walls was exhilarating.
    The colors, the fabrics, the shoes… the makeup.
    Yep, shopping was where it was at. I even liked grocery shopping.
    But there was one kind of shopping I didn’t like.
    It was basically the black sheep of the shopping world.
    Textbook shopping.
    Ew. Like who wanted to go into a stuffy old store that smelled like must and mold and sort through piles and piles of books that contained knowledge about chemistry? Or math.
    Now I’m not talking about a nice little bookshop with coffee and romance novels. Those were fun. I liked a fun beach read just as much as the next girl.
    But school books?
    Boring.
    And because I disliked the chore so much, I put off buying my books as long as humanly possible… so the campus bookstore was out of one of the ones I needed. That meant I had to go off campus to this little bookshop a few streets over from the boutique.
    At least Braeden went with me. Being with him made the task a lot less torturous. The place wasn’t busy, and it didn’t take long to get what I needed. Not like the campus bookstore. We’d been there for like two hours.
    The place was flooded with college students, some of them clearly freshmen, looking fresh faced and frazzled at the same time. But then there were the regulars. The students who’d been attending Alpha U just as long as I had.
    Seeing them all answered a question I’d had since classes ended last year.
    Would everything the #BuzzBoss said about me (aka Missy, aka my backstabbing friend) be long forgotten? Or would my unwanted status as a #slut still haunt me?
    The second I walked in, I’d known.
    People didn’t forget as easily as I’d hoped.
    And it seemed that me being on Braeden’s arm made me even more interesting.
    I caught the stares, the casual double glances. I noted the way a few cellphones came out and the people attached to them started typing furiously.
    Great.
    Just what I needed.
    Everyone sending Missy a report on my every move. I could only imagine what would show up later on the Buzzfeed.
    Braeden acted like he didn’t notice, but I knew he did. Just the way he angled his body toward mine while we were getting books and the set of his shoulders spoke volumes.
    He saw, he understood, and he didn’t like it. He acted like my personal living, breathing shield.
    Just knowing that caused two reactions within me:
    1) Safety. I felt safe because I knew with him in my corner, things couldn’t possibly get as bad as they did last semester. Now that Romeo was gone, Braeden had a lock on the most popular guy on campus. People would be more afraid to harass me, for fear of his retaliation. Not only that, but he loved me. It’s amazing what the love of the right man could do for a girl.
    And
    2) Fear. Yes, this was the complete opposite of the first reaction. What could I say? Braeden always had a way of bringing out extreme feelings in me. I liked— no —I loved knowing B was here for me. I loved knowing he was my anchor. But. He had a temper. I hadn’t always understood why, but now that I did… well, it wasn’t something I could just forget about. I knew Braeden would never hurt me. He’d literally injure himself first, but that didn’t bode well for others. He was extremely protective, extremely territorial… and he wasn’t going to just sit back and let rumors fly. I was honestly afraid he