Walking Disaster

small smile and nodded.
    We walked into the hall, and she sighed. “You’re not going to be mad if I flunk this test, are you?”
    She was worried if I was going to be mad at her? I wasn’t sure what I should think about that, but it felt pretty fucking awesome.
    “You’re not going to flunk, Pidge. We need to start earlier for the next one, though,” I said, walking along with her to the science building. I asked her question after
question. She answered most right away, some she hesitated about, but she got them all correct.
    We reached the door of her classroom, and I could see the appreciation on her face. She was too proud to admit it, though.
    “Kick ass,” I said, not really knowing what else to say.
    Parker Hayes passed by and nodded. “Hey, Trav.”
    I hated that douche. “Parker,” I said, nodding back.
    Parker was one of those guys that liked to follow me around and use his White Knight status to get laid. He liked to refer to me as a womanizer, but the truth was, Parker just played a more
sophisticated game. He wasn’t honest about his conquests. He pretended to care and then let them down easy.
    One night our freshman year, I took Janet Littleton home from the Red Door to my apartment. Parker was trying to get lucky with her friend. We went our separate ways from the club, and after I
bagged her and didn’t pretend to want a relationship afterward, she called her friend all pissed off to come get her. The friend was still with Parker, so he ended up taking Janet home.
    After that, Parker had a new story to tell his conquests. Whatever girl I bagged, he usually swept up my sloppy seconds by recounting the time he saved Janet.
    I tolerated him, but only just barely.
    Parker’s eyes targeted Pigeon and immediately lit up. “Hey, Abby.”
    I didn’t understand why Parker was so insistent on seeing if he could land the same girls I did, but he’d had class with her for several weeks and was just now showing interest.
Knowing it was because he saw her talking to me nearly sent me into a fury.
    “Hi,” Abby said, taken off guard. She clearly didn’t know why he was suddenly talking to her. It was written all over her face. “Who’s that?” she asked
me.
    I shrugged casually, but I wanted to tear across the room and beat his preppy ass. “Parker Hayes,” I said. His name left a bad taste in my mouth. “He’s one of my Sig Tau
brothers.” That left a bad taste, too. I had brothers, both frat and blood. Parker felt like neither. More like an archenemy that you kept close enough to keep an eye on.
    “
You’re
in a
frat
?” she asked, her little nose wrinkling up.
    “Sigma Tau, same as Shep. I thought you knew.”
    “Well . . . you don’t seem the . . . fraternity type,” she said, eyeing the tattoos on my forearms.
    The fact that Abby’s eyes were back on me immediately put me in a better mood. “My dad is an alumnus, and my brothers are all Sig Tau. It’s a family thing.”
    “And they expected you to pledge?” she asked, skeptical.
    “Not really. They’re just good guys,” I said, flicking her papers. I handed them to her. “Better get to class.”
    She flashed that flawless smile. “Thanks for helping me.” She nudged me with her elbow, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
    She walked into the classroom and sat next to America. Parker was staring at her, watching the girls talking. I fantasized about picking up a desk and hurling it at his head as I walked down the
hall. With no more classes for the day, there was no reason for me to stick around. A long ride on the Harley would help keep the thought of Parker sleazing his way into Abby’s good graces
from driving me crazy, so I made sure to take the long way home to give me more time to think. A few couch-worthy coeds crossed my path, but Abby’s face kept popping into my mind—so
many times that I began to annoy myself.
    I had notoriously been a piece of shit to every girl with whom I’d had a private conversation over the age of sixteen—since I was fifteen. Our story might have been typical: Bad boy
falls for good girl, but Abby was no princess. She was hiding something. Maybe that was our connection: whatever it was that she had left behind.
    I pulled into the apartment parking lot and climbed off the bike. So much for thinking better on the Harley. Everything I’d just unraveled in my head made no fucking sense. I was just
trying to justify my weird obsession with her.
    Suddenly in a very bad