Page 34 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

"Nobody you need to worry about."

"Harper."

“It’s nothing.” I flipped open my notebook. “You should see the other guy.”

“I’d like to.” The quiet promise in his tone made me look up. His jaw was clenched. “Tell me who it was.”

“No.”

“Then I’ll find out myself.” He said it like it was already decided. “And whoever it was just earned a problem.”

“You’re not going to find out,” I said.

His gaze didn’t waver. “We’ll see.”

I changed the subject. “Where did you get my number?”

A trace of amusement cut through the controlled anger. “Cassidy.”

I let out a slow breath. “I’m going to kill her.”

“She said you’d say that.” His mouth curved slightly. “She also said it was for your own good.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Debatable.”

Before I could respond, Professor Hartley walked in and the room settled. Ten minutes into the lecture, Jackson leaned closer, voice low.

“The other guy,” he said, eyes on the board. “You said I should see him. So where is he?”

“I said that so you’d drop it.”

“I know." A beat passed. "I'm not dropping it.”

“Jackson.”

“I’ll drop it for now.” We both knew what that meant. He turned to look at me. “But Harper… whoever it was is walking around thinking that’s the end of it.”

I held his stare.

“It’s not,” he said simply, and looked back at the board.

Ten minutes before the end of class, Professor Hartley held up a clipboard. "I'm assigning the semester project. Forty percent of your final grade." He let that sink in. "You'll work in pairs. Sign-up sheet's coming around now. I want teams confirmed before you leave."

“We’re partners,” Jackson said, without looking up from his notes.

“No.”

The clipboard reached our row. I reached for it, but Jackson plucked it from my hand before I could. He wrote his name, then mine, and passed it on like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.

“You signed me up without asking,” I said.

“You would have said no.”

“I did say no.”

“Before I signed us up,” he replied calmly. “Doesn’t count.”