Bryce's POV

Before punching Remy, I hadn't considered what Sophia's response to my impulsive actions would be. I didn't think she would congratulate me with a celebratory blowjob, but the cold shoulder she was giving me now in the car wasn't expected either.

A pat on the back would've been nice.

You would have thought I pummeled her grandfather with a cane from the way she was scowling me, gripping the steering wheel of Kelsey's car.

There wasn't much thinking behind the first punch. I fed off the rage and rod the wave of anger until it ultimately led me to ramming my fist into Remy's cocky little smirk.

During the drive to my apartment, I snuck glances at Sophia. Seeing her shaking with rage made me reconsider my initial thoughts. After the fight, I had said I didn't regret my violent outburst, but that was starting to change –and it was changing drastically fast the longer we stayed in that car.

I should've started with a shove. And then I could've worked my way up after that.

Progress. That's what I lacked.

No, composure. That's what you lack.

Those sensible thoughts seemed to belong to the shut-off region of my brain. Where was that part of my brain when I decided to knock Remy Annenberg out? It was nowhere to be found when I had Remy pinned under me, swinging punches into him.

"You're dripping on the mat," Sophia noted, scolding the open road.

Her first sentence to me weren't in regards to the fight, but the blood that was leaking from my busted knuckles. For some reason, that bothered me.

"You can say it," I insisted, hovering my wounded fist over my knee. I would have to tend to the cut when I got home. "I know you're thinking it."

Her nostrils flared. "Oh, yeah? Then what am I thinking?"

"You're disappointed, for one."

"You're awfully wrong about that, Bryce. I'm pissed off. Disappointed doesn't cut it." She fixed her eyes on me for a second, then shifted them back to the road. "Honestly, what did you think you were accomplishing? Do you have any idea who his father is?"

I snorted. "That's what you're mad about? Who his father is?"

"That's one of the reasons. But above all, I'm annoyed that you had to resort to violence –and for what reason? Because he decided to dance poorly in front of a crowd? You didn't prove anything by beating him up."

"You know that's not why I did it," I mumbled with tight lips, facing the window and suddenly finding an interest in the night sky. A long row of trees on Hope Street blocked the view of the moon.

"No, I don't know why you did it." She maintained her stern tone. "Why don't you enlighten me? Why did you exactly beat Remy to a pulp? Hmm?"

I strained a breath, observing the store names that came into view when she took a left. "I didn't do it for us to get in a fight."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have literally lunged at Remy if that's the case," she said briskly, veering like a madman into the single street that connected with my apartment complex.

I grasped for the oh-shit handle overhead, recuperating from her sharp turn. "When I got in the car, I didn't sign up for this discussion. If you think making you mad was my goal, then you're very wrong, Sophia. That wasn't what I was aiming for."

"Then what was it?" Sophia cocked her head to side. She had made a complete stop at the gate. She didn't lower her window to put in the access code, though. I held her full attention, not by choice may I add.

"What were you intending to happen, Bryce? Did you think I would fall into your arms and thank you a billion times for saving me from the wicked, evil villain? As if this is some kind of fairytale?"

"Fairytales are actually really twisted if you read the original versions," I diverted. Sophia's intensified frown stopped me from furthering my point with a rehash of the Sleeping Beauty.

Truth be told, I didn't know the original story. My sister Carter had told me about the sick versions of fairytales years ago. Despite the lack of knowledge, I thought I could've pulled random facts out of thin air until my time ran out.

Sensing no reason to continue the discussion, Sophia rolled the window down. I told her the code, in case she forgot it since her last visit. The gate split apart, allowing us to drive into the parking garage.

Awaiting a comment from Sophia, I paused with my hand on the door. "Are you coming inside?"

"I don't think I should." Sophia hesitated to turn the car off. She extended the same hand to me. "Can I use your mobile phone? I want to call Kelsey."

I dug out my phone, manually putting in her number, and handed it to Sophia. I couldn't tell why she needed to talk to her of all people, but we weren't at a stage where I could begin questioning her. 

"Hey, Kels. It's me, Sophia. I wanted to know if you were anywhere near Nicolas. Eh, that's great. Yeah, I just want to talk to him for a little bit. Thanks." Her voice lightened when Nicolas got on the line. There was a muffled sound on the other end, altering Sophia's emotionless, stoic facial features. "I'm sorry to hear that. I thought Hannah would've showed up. Oh, the fight made the party end early, huh?"

Sophia shot me a look of disapproval.

They shared a few parting words and then she gave me the phone. "Conner said he needs to talk to you."

Cautious, I took the phone and pressed it to my ear. "Hello? Did...your friend come?"

I was referring to Ernie, hoping Sophia didn't catch on.

"Yeah, Ernie did show up. I'll tell you what he told me. Wait, I need to get some privacy." After a brief pause, Conner said something I didn't think he would say. "Don't let Sophia go back to her dorm."

"Why? Did Kelsey tell you to –"

"Kelsey didn't tell me anything. I'm not playing her games when I say this." Conner clarified.

Given where he stood with my relations with Sophia, it came off as strange. Conner didn't give a shit about what went on with Sophia and I.

Clearing his throat, Conner spoke once more. "Ernie was late because there was a huge blockage near the East Side of campus. He told me there's a bunch of police tape on the Mary Warner dorm building."

With Sophia as a spectator, I swallowed the out pour of disbelief that was pooling at my feet. "That's where S...she lives."

Announcing that Sophia's dorm building had police tape on it wasn't up there in the list of "bright ideas." Leaving her in the dark about this - up until I got more information - was what I had to do.

A surge of pain simmered down to my bones, thinking how much of this was my fault.

"I figured it was her dormitory." Conner added in. "You're lucky you're not there. Ernie says cops are scoping the area for evidence."

"Evidence for what?"

"A murder." Conner revealed, leaving me silent as to who had died. "At least that's what Ernie said he heard. I can't confirm any thing. He didn't get much of a chance to see for himself. The whole street is shut off. He told me the precautions they took going into the building, before and after, made him think of a possible murder scene."

"Did they call up the coroner's office?"

Sophia's eyes snapped to me. "Coroner's office? Who died?"

"No one. It's nothing." I supplied, painting on a calm expression. I return to my call with Conner, asking in a hush tone. "Who...who was it?"

"I don't know the details yet. I can't tell you who it was or if it was someone we know, but I put my money on one of her two roommates. They could've been there at the wrong place, at the wrong time."

"Don't make baseless claims like that." I spat. "You don't know that for sure."

"What's going on?" Sophia intervened.

"It's nothing. Some frat guy fainted in the front lawn and the EMT arrived. Conner thinks he's dead. He probably just needs a stomach pump." The lie flew out of my instantly without thinking of any negative consequences if Sophia found out I wasn't being truthful.

The crease lightened between her brows. Only momentarily, until she realized she was still mad at me.

"Listen, I know one thing. You can't let Sophia come back here...not for awhile." Conner uttered. "I'm going to do some investigation on what occurred at that dormitory to see if it links to us somehow and then I'll get back to you."

"You sure you want to do that on your own?" I asked. "I'll call Grayson and Anthony for you if you need backup."

"I'll be fine." Conner said, noncommittedly. "Ernie is with me."

Ernie was the most least qualified person to go with Conner if things went bad. He hadn't yet proven to me that he could join operations where the stakes were high and the plausibility of surviving was low. That aside, I trusted Conner's judgment. He was my second-in-command. If he felt like he wasn't at odds with Ernie, then I was certain he knew what he was doing.

I had other problems to stress about. Until we learned why there were cops at her dormitory, Sophia's life was potentially in jeopardy.

Because of you.

You decided to go to that part instead of looking for Audrey. If Sophia dies, it's her blood that will be on your hands.

I shuddered off those thoughts. Not tonight. Nothing was going to happen to her tonight. I'd make sure of that.

I went to hang up the call, but the stopped. "Why are you doing it? Why are you going in depth on what happened there?"

Conner had the choice in not doing a investigation, but he chose to do it without me having to instruct him to. Sophia and I weren't dating, so that meant it wasn't mandatory by any means to follow leads and uncover the truth. I appreciate it and would've ordered one on my own. It came off as strange that Conner jumped on the case so early.

I was close to ending the call, thinking he had hung up on me because of the silence on his end.

Seconds before I did, Conner said, "I know I would've wanted you to do the same if the roles were reversed and it was Kelsey's dorm, wrapped in police tape."

"Kelsey doesn't live in a dorm." I stated the obvious. "She never has."

"You're ruining the point." He snickered bitterly. "I've got to go. I'll call you from my cell phone tomorrow."

"Okay." I took a breath, muttering, "Thanks."

"Is everyone alright?" Sophia inquired. "Nicolas sounded sad when I spoke to him."

"Everyone's alright." I retorted. Reaching toward the steering wheel, I snatched up the keys and jammed them into my pockets.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Sophia boomed, unbuckling her seatbelt to grab for the keys. "Give them to me. I'm going back on campus."

"Like hell you are." I popped open my door and leaped out, shutting it behind me.

Sophia exited out of the car, scolding me even harder than during our drive back to my apartment.

She had such skill. I only had three stages of pissed off, whereas she had twenty separate variations.

Sophia pointed at her extended hand, touching the center of her palm. "Hand them back to me. This isn't funny, Bryce."

"I'm not trying to be funny. You're staying here tonight." I concluded, beginning to walk backwards to the lobby and away from parking garage. "I'm helping you by doing this."

"Helping who? Yourself? I agreed to drive you home. I didn't, however, agree to stay with you overnight." She hissed, quickening her pace. "Bryce, give them back to me right now. I want to go to my dorm room, get some sleep, and pretend this night never happened."

I raised both my brows. "Which part do you want to forget? The part before or after you almost kissed me in the kitchen?"

"I didn't almost kiss you." She denied, crossing her arms to block off the cold gusts of wind. "We weren't about to kiss. We were talking."

"Talking would eventually lead to kissing."

"No, it wouldn't have." She gnawed her lip, huffing at me. "You're delusional if you think that's how the night would've ended."

"Confess to your feelings, Sophia. No ones going to judge you. I knew you couldn't resist me forever."

"You've really lost it!" She snarled. "Give me the keys."

"Nope." I spun back around, facing forward, and swung the lobby door open. Irritating her and getting under her skin just enough could trick her into staying. Hopefully.

It was a childish, wild attempt, but it was better than no plan at all. I pressed the button for the elevator, placing a hand on my pocket to prevent from Sophia sneaking up on me to steal them.

"I get it. You're not that clever. I know exactly what you're trying to do. You haven't fooled me." Sophia croaked, gasping for air as the bell for the elevators chimed. "I thought you'd be different."

"What are you talking about?"

I was perplexed as to what she meant - and even more so as to why she was on the verge of tears.

What did I do?

"Brooklyn was right about you." A shade of red blossomed on to her cheeks while she stared at me in the empty lobby. Sophia's index finger stabbed into my shoulder, jabbing at me again for a second time and then a third. "I'm not sleeping with you, Bryce Matthews."