Page 9 of Campus Fake

Since when, indeed.

The truth was, I’d been pulled into Sam’s orbit from the moment we met at a music festival back when Foster and Abby were still dancing around each other. She’d taken me completely by surprise because she was unlike anyone I’d ever met. She was drop-dead gorgeous—something she knew all too well—but more than that she was sharp, witty, clever. Strong.

But as Pop would say, she was a wild horse who needed freedom, so I’d watched her while she hooked up with other guys who I knew meant nothing to her. She was loyal to her friends but didn’t date seriously. I’d been biding my time because I knew—I knew—that once I made my move, that was it.

She was it.

She just didn’t know it yet.

She hadn’t been ready, but maybe after this trip, she’d see she could let her guard down. And if she didn’t…well, I wasn’t going anywhere.

I could be patient.

I didn’t know what she was hiding. Didn’t know why the mention of her family made her shoulders tense or why she said she went home for breaks, but clearly hadn’t gone home.

But I knew she was carrying something heavy, and I knew she was doing it alone.

And last night, when her brother had shown up like a ghost from whatever past she was running from, I’d seen the fear in her eyes. Real fear, the kind that bypassed all her defenses and left her exposed. I hadn’t thought about what I was doing when I stepped forward—hadn’t calculated the consequences or considered what it would mean to claim her in front of everyone. I’d just seen her drowning, and I’d reached.

I’m her boyfriend.

The words had come out before I could stop them. And the moment they did—the moment I saw the relief flood her face, the way her whole body seemed to exhale—I knew I’d do it again. A hundred times. A thousand.

Whatever she needed me to be, I’d be it.

Vivienne

Hello?? Harrison??

You’re being very suspicious right now

Is this friend a GIRL friend??

I turned off my phone.

Viv would figure it out eventually. She always did. But I wasn’t ready to share Sam with my family, not even my sister.

Boarding started and we all stood up. Jordan kept darting glances at us, and Sam looked paler than I’d ever seen her. Without thinking about it, I reached over and held her hand, giving it a squeeze.

Her bright blue eyes met mine, gratitude filling them as she squeezed my hand back.

Whatever waited in Seattle, she wasn’t facing it alone.

I’d make sure of that.

FOUR

Sam Lowe was the best liar I’d ever met.

And I’d grown up surrounded by people who lied for a living—politicians, executives, socialites who smiled through their teeth while calculating how to use you. I’d watched my own mother host charity galas for causes she couldn’t name, my father shake hands with men he’d privately called incompetent, and my sister charm investors while plotting their demise in her head because they were chauvinistic pigs. The Gordon family had turned deception into an art form.

But Sam? She was in a league of her own.

The transformation happened the moment she’d squeezed my hand and looked back at her brother. One second she’d been pale, her hand cold in mine. The next? She’d flipped some internal switch and become someone else entirely.

She’d tossed her hair over her shoulder with a flick I’d seen her do a hundred times, sauntered down the jet bridge like it was a runway at Fashion Week, and boarded the plane like she was royalty, moving to the window seat with the casual elegance of someone who flew first class every day of her life. Her smile was bright and her posture perfect. She would’ve given my own mother a run for her money, and my mom had been a debutante from one of the wealthiest families on the East Coast. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe she was fine.

But I did know better.