We drove another six hours until we finally called it a night at some roadside hotel. The only downside was Sebastian waking me at five the next morning to ensure we pulled onto the campus by lunchtime.

Sebastian parked the Jeep at the curb outside my dorm. "You know, I still think us renting an apartment off campus is a better idea."

I gathered my magazines and an empty water bottle, stuffing them inside a plastic bag.

 "Um, and how is that going to work again?" I tapped my chin, adding a playful eye squint while not waiting for an answer to my rhetorical question. "Oh, let's see. While you're playing basketball nonstop, day in and day out, I'll be sitting in the apartment, bored out of my mind, not making any friends at all—"

Sebastian smirked and waved me off. "Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn't be all that, but whatever the princess wants, the princess gets, I guess."

"Well, I'm so glad you see it my way," I said and leaned across the console to give my giant a much-deserved kiss.

He cocked his head to the side; a hand of his slid up to my neck, holding me close. "Not like I really have an option, baby. Now do I?"

"Nope." I popped the "P" against his mouth, earning me my favorite Sebastian smile. "Now that's settled. Time to get all of this stuff unpacked, huh?"

"Ugh. If we have—" He was interrupted by the ringtone of "All I Do Is Win" that echoed inside the confines of the vehicle. "Hey, what's up?" he said to the person on the phone. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. What time?" His large hand held the screen far enough away to glance at the screen, and Sebastian huffed. "That's only twenty minutes from now."

The aggravation in his voice was overly apparent. Annoyed gray eyes met mine, and my giant wagged his head.

"What?" I mouthed.

Jaw clenched, Sebastian's mood changed in an instant. "Yeah, sure." He feigned his agreement. "Tell Coach I'll be there for the team meeting in now nineteen minutes." The call ended, and he turned to face me. "Shelby, I'm..."

Now it was my chance to huff. And I did. "Un-freaking-believable, Bass. My hands rose of their own accord. "You told me that you'd help me unpack all of this crap."

Sebastian clenched his eyes shut for a moment and breathed deep. "I know." An extended pause. "We can do it tomorrow morning if you." He stopped once my expression went cold.

I forced a laugh. He had to be joking. "Tomorrow? Like eighteen hours from now, tomorrow?"

He didn't smile. His lips stayed a hard line. "Yeah. That's what I said."

Throttle or yell? Funny, those were the two most logical options I had at the moment.

"Umm... Okay?" My brows furrowed as a bit of fury rose in my chest. "So, what is it that you're doing after your meeting? Couldn't we—I don't know—unpack everything then?" A tense shrug added to my display of utter irritation.

Sebastian raked a nervous hand through his golden locks and tugged. "I have practice at three." He avoided glancing my direction as he kept talking, and I ignored him anyways.

I sat back farther into the seat, focusing my attention on what appeared to be a middle-aged couple helping their daughter unload her car. I found myself doing that a lot lately; wondering it would have been like for my parents and Kyle to be here for occasions like this. And since this was my dad's alma mater, hopefully he would have been proud of me.

A hand waved in my line of sight. "Shelby. Did you hear me?"

"Huh?" I more or less grunted my reply. "What?"

Sebastian opened the driver's side door and tilted his head far enough to almost reach mine. "I said there's a practice scrimmage tonight at seven over at Lawrence U, so I probably won't get back until late."

A couple of speedy calculations ran through my mind, and still everything wasn't adding up. "Let me get this right." I raised my first finger to prove a point. "You have a meeting, pretty much right now?"

He nodded.

A second finger popped up. "Then there's practice at three?"

"Yep." Sebastian waved at a couple of guys that walked past the Jeep.

Then a third rose in its rightful position. "Followed by a scrimmage at seven?"

My giant shook his head. "Yeah, why?"

Was he that oblivious? I so wanted to reach over and facepalm his forehead for him, since apparently, Sebastian was too stupid to figure it out for himself.

"Why?" I said in a mocking tone and played it up by manufacturing a fake smile. The exact kind of smile Sebastian had been on the receiving end of a thousand plus times before now. "Because don't you have time in between all that to help me... like you said you would?"

He placed a hand at my chin, tipping my head back far enough to plant his lips onto mine. "I'm sorry." Sebastian lingered close; a mere inch separated us. "There's going to be a couple of reporters at practice that I'll have to do an interview with, I'm sure."

Wow. What a grand way to make a girl feel important. Even the press ranked higher than me on Sebastian's totem pole of importance, apparently.

It took all of my will to bite my lip and avoid saying something I'd undoubtedly regret later. I pushed back, extending my hand in his direction. "Just leave me the keys. You're going to be late."

The swift grin I flashed was to appear convincing. He needed to go to his meeting and practice and whatever the hell else before I let him have it. Each second that passed had my skin boiling and heart pumping the anger brewing inside of me at an accelerated rate. Yeah, Mt. Vesuvius was nothing compared to the degree that I was about to erupt.

Sebastian gave me the keys and slowly exited the vehicle. He bent over—staying both halfway inside and out—his eyes scanned the cramped backseat and trunk. "Leave all of this till tomorrow. You can just go to my dorm room and hang out. Spend the night. We'll deal with this... later."

Later. Better known as the definition of when it was convenient for Sebastian. Ugh!

His phone buzzed in his hand. "Oh, shit. I've got to go. Love you, baby," Sebastian said right before shutting the door and jogging away from my view.

I clenched my hands tight and breathed deep. My eyes closed, and it took a few minutes to calm myself. I probably would have stayed longer if the incessant heat didn't make it so ungodly uncomfortable to remain in the car.

A slamming of the passenger's side door with a little too much of my enthusiasm garnered the attention of a few bystanders heading to their dorms. Oops. I forced a smile, ignoring the unwanted attention of a small crowd as they crossed my path. Eyes landed on my legs, fully exposed from the dark jean shorts I wore, paired with a faded, tie-dyed tank top. Maybe it was my choice of neon pink Converse on my feet that they continued staring at? I snickered to myself. My stomach dropped, and I plastered a simulated smile to show my supposed indifference.

Of course, they had to say a couple of things about with the girl with the steel prosthetic leg. Like they'd never seen or let alone encountered an amputee before today. They kept their voices at a whisper, or at least they thought so.

Yeah, no.

For over two years, I'd dealt with the looks, the comments, the pitying expressions, one way or another. Not like it actually bothered me. Just another byproduct of being me. I wasn't dumb enough to assume things would have been different here at Dutton University. Or had I?

Pretty much the exact same way I assumed my boyfriend of over two years would have stayed and helped me get all of my things to my new dorm room. At my new school that I moved halfway across the country to be with that said boyfriend.

How silly of me.