"Don't let him touch you," Landon snapped as two students made out by the stacks.
Annika pressed her back to the cold shelf and tried to disappear between the biographies. Her fingers tightened around a paperback that had no business feeling like armor.
"He—" Marcelo's voice was low and lazy. "Come on, Tessa."
Tessa laughed. "Shh. Some of us actually like risk."
"You're on my floor," Marcelo said. "It'll be fine."
"Fine for who?" Landon asked.
A hand landed on Marcelo's shoulder. Landon was calm in a way that made the silence louder.
"Move," Marcelo said.
"Leave her," Landon said. "Leave her and go."
Marcelo scoffed. "Or what? You going to make me?"
There was a slap so sharp the books near Annika shivered. Marcelo's cheek flushed. He rubbed it, open-mouthed.
"You cheater," someone muttered from a nearby table. Phones angled. A slow, hungry hum of attention shifted toward them.
"Annika?" The name scraped her ears. She didn't move.
"Are you okay?" Landon stepped forward like a shield, not taking his eyes off Marcelo. "You should get out of here."
Annika's mouth went dry. "I—" She tried to form words and only a broken sound came. She had rehearsed a hundred ways to confront Marcelo. None of them involved witnessing him with someone else.
"That's Marcelo?" Tessa whispered, stunned. "From Thayer Hall?"
"Yeah," Marcelo spat. "So what if I—"
"You lied," Landon said. "You told her you were single."
"I
