After

The next day, Tessa has her first full day at Vance, and she meets some of her coworkers: the secretary, named Kimberly, and a young man named Trevor. Hardin surprises her by taking her out to lunch, making sure she isn’t having regrets about having sex. When they pass Trevor back at Vance, Hardin immediately becomes aggressive, grabbing Tessa’s wrist and accusing her of flirting with Trevor. Tessa calmly reassures Hardin that she loves him and wouldn’t flirt with someone else, and they end up almost having sex in her office before Kimberly calls to say Mr. Vance is on his way in.

When Tessa gets back to the dorms after work, Hardin comes by. He has reluctantly agreed to attend his father’s wedding this weekend, but both he and Tessa need something to wear, so they head to the mall. While there, they see Zed, Logan, and another guy Tessa’s never met before: Jace. When Hardin introduces Tessa as his “friend” (453), Tessa hides her anger until they leave. She can see from Hardin’s face that Hardin doesn’t like Jace, yet he accepts his invitation to a party, explaining later that, “Jace isn’t one of those guys you say no to” (456). Once they walk away from Hardin’s friends, Tessa and Hardin argue; Hardin is upset because Tessa hugged Zed, and Tessa accuses him of hiding their relationship from his friends. Hardin tries to explain that he was protecting her. If Jace knew they were dating, “he would turn [her] into a game” (456). Even though Tessa can see that Jace is not a nice guy, she still feels hurt.

Back at Tessa’s room, Hardin sincerely apologizes, telling Tessa, “You’re the only constant in my life…I don’t know what I would do if you left me” (458). Even though Tessa knows they are so different from one another, she likes the person she has become because of him, and she can tell that her influence has helped him “open up” and be happy (458). Tessa packs a bag so that she can stay with Hardin for the next few nights, and Hardin continues to ask her to move in with him, saying he would pay for everything. Tessa considers the possibility more than she’s let herself before, and after convincing Hardin to let her pay for cable and groceries, she agrees to move in with him. As they pull up to Hardin’s frat house, they see there’s a party happening and decide to head straight to Hardin’s room. However, before they make it upstairs, they see Jace.

When Jace sees them, he tells them they should stay downstairs for the party. Hardin speaks on Tessa’s behalf, saying that she doesn’t drink, but he agrees to come downstairs after taking her to his room. He tells Tessa to stay in the room; he’s only going down to the party for a little while to pacify Jace. Once Hardin leaves, Tessa can’t help but wonder whether they’re playing Truth or Dare downstairs, or if Molly is throwing herself at Hardin. She starts to walk down to the party, but Jace spots Tessa before she finds Hardin. Jace steers her towards his friends outside, where Hardin is also sitting. The group decides to play Suck and Blow, and when Tessa finds out Molly is playing, she agrees to play, too, not even knowing what the game entails. She soon finds out that players sit in a circle and pass a piece of paper using their mouths. If the paper drops, they kiss. Tessa is seated next to a guy named Dan, and when it’s her turn, the paper falls. Before Dan kisses her, Hardin has his hands around Dan’s neck.

Hardin slams Dan’s head on the grass and punches him. Instead of breaking up the fight, Jace and his friends just watch. Tessa is scared that Hardin will kill Dan if the fight continues, and spotting Zed, she frantically asks his help to stop the fight. Hardin finally lets up, but anger still emanates from him when he meets Tessa upstairs a few minutes later. Hardin is angry with Tessa for leaving the room like he told her not to and calls Tessa’s worry about Molly a “crazy obsession” (478). He also tells her that if she’s going to worry about Molly, she might as well worry about every other girl at the party, since he’s slept with pretty much all of them. He tells Tessa to leave, but as soon as she gets downstairs, he comes after her and apologizes. Even though they’re driving each other crazy, they end up kissing roughly and passionately.

This time, Tessa takes control in the bedroom at first, until Hardin starts to finger her. He uses sex to make her agree to listen to him, saying, “Tell me you will listen to me or I won’t let you come” (484). When it’s Tessa’s turn to please Hardin, she does the same thing, saying “Apologize, and I will give you what you want” (485). After having sex, they make plans for tomorrow to go look at an apartment that Hardin found.

Tessa drives Hardin’s car to Vance the next morning, since her car is still at the dorms. She gets a call from Noah, who heard about her fight with her mom and wants to make sure she’s ok. When Tessa meets Hardin at the apartment complex after work, he pulls into the parking lot in her car; he has paid to have the car painted, and it looks amazing. The apartment is perfectly suited to Tessa’s taste; it has brick walls and bookshelves and is furnished. As she and Hardin go to sign the lease, Tessa ignores the voice in her head telling her it’s too soon to be moving in with Hardin.

After signing the lease, Hardin and Tessa make a trip to Target to get a few things they need. Hardin already brought Tessa’s clothes from her dorm room, and as they unload some clothes from his car, Tessa sees that he still has the bloody sheets in his trunk from when she lost her virginity. Hardin seems uneasy when she asks why he still has them, so she doesn’t press him about it. Hardin gets upset when he finds out Noah called Tessa earlier, saying, “I won’t let him try to take what is mine!” (502). Hardin apologizes later, and they make up.

Hardin and Tessa have sex before falling asleep in their new apartment. As Tessa falls into a routine over the next few days, she enjoys the freedom that comes from having an apartment. She’s busy with her internship and wonders how Hardin manages to work and keep up with school when she never sees him working or studying. One day, he comes to visit her while she’s working at Vance, and they have sex in her office. Tessa can’t believe how much she has changed since meeting Hardin. Before, she never would have even thought about having sex, let alone doing it at work. After work, Tessa and Hardin go to the mall to get outfits for the wedding, and Hardin pays for Tessa’s dress and shoes, despite her protests. That night, Hardin leaves for the library to do some work, telling Tessa he won’t be home for dinner. Tessa stays up waiting for him, but it starts to get late, and she doesn’t hear anything back when she texts him. 

When Tessa wakes up the next morning, Hardin still isn’t home. As much as Tessa tries not to worry, she can’t help but think, “he is doing something he isn’t supposed to” (512). At work, she goes to lunch with Kimberly, the secretary, and they talk about Hardin’s behavior. Later that night, a drunken Hardin finally returns home. Tessa chews him out and grows worried when she can tell from his bloody fist that he’s been in another fight. Tessa tells him to get out of the apartment, but Hardin reminds her of his power: he’s paying for the apartment, and his father is the one who got her the internship at Vance. 

During the night, Tessa hears Hardin screaming from another nightmare and goes to comfort him. In the morning, though, she’s still not ready to forgive his behavior; she wants an explanation for the secrets he keeps, for why he has nightmares, and why he gets in fights, but he tells her, “it’s not that simple” (520). When Tessa gets home from work that night, Hardin has made her dinner and seems nervous. He’s vulnerable with Tessa about a moment in his childhood that he’s never spoken of before; his father got into a bar fight while drunk, and the men he fought with came to his house looking for revenge. When they found Hardin’s mother asleep on the couch, the men gang raped her, and Hardin witnessed it at just seven years old. Tessa’s attitude toward Hardin immediately shifts; she now understands better why Hardin is so closed off emotionally, and she promises not to leave him.

After making up with Hardin, Tessa gets a call from Noah. Tessa’s mom found out she moved out of her dorm and is en route to the college campus to confront Tessa. To save Steph from her mother’s wrath, Tessa calls her mom and gives her the apartment address. When Tessa’s mother shows up, looking perfect as usual, she accuses Tessa of throwing her life away and says, “you aren’t the same Tessa that I dropped off at college three months ago” (530). 

Tessa’s mother is stunned when she hears Tessa say she’s moved in with Hardin. She can’t believe Tessa would give up what she had with Noah for someone like Hardin. The argument escalates as Tessa defends Hardin until her mother slaps her across her face. Hardin steps in, threatening to call the police, and Tessa’s mother leaves. Thinking about her mother’s opinion of Hardin, Tessa tells herself that Hardin is changing because of her. Hardin gives Tessa an orgasm before they go to bed. In the morning, they get ready for the wedding together and even take a few pictures, which normally Hardin avoids. They stop for gas on the way to the wedding, and Tessa sees Zed with bruises and cuts all over his face. Tessa realizes Hardin must have fought Zed, but Hardin asks to talk about it after the wedding, and she agrees.

Tessa notices more changes in Hardin as he plays The Fray on the radio rather than his usual metal rock bands. He’s also changed his phone’s background picture to the photo they took earlier, and Tessa notices a new life and warmth in their faces in the photo. The wedding goes smoothly, and Tessa meets Hardin’s grandmother—Gammy—from England. She greets Mr. Vance and Kimberly, and makes small talk with Trevor from work, learning that Vance and Kimberly are dating. 

Tessa notices a tension between Hardin and Gammy, who asks Tessa privately if Hardin has been drinking lately. They all talk with Ken and Karen, and Hardin reveals that he and Tessa moved in together. Things remain peaceful between Hardin and his father, and Karen and Ken both express gratitude to Tessa for how much she’s influenced healing in their relationship. Hardin takes Tessa upstairs because he needs a “distraction” (555), and they have sex. Back at the reception, Hardin reveals that Gammy took his father’s side during his parents’ divorce, and they haven’t spoken since he was 12. Surprisingly, Hardin ends up dancing with Karen after Ken asks Tessa for a dance. He possessively pulls Tessa away from Trevor before they leave, but Tessa refuses to let his jealousy spoil the great night they’ve had. 

Back at their apartment, Tessa slips into Hardin’s sweats, loving the way his clothing makes her feel close to him. Hardin invites Tessa to come with him to England over Christmas break, which is coming up soon. She thinks about it as they fall asleep, but is awakened during the night by Hardin’s phone, and she sees a message from Jace pop up. In the morning, Tessa tries not to worry about why Jace would be texting Hardin, but when she asks Hardin about it, he gets defensive. They argue, and Tessa knows there’s something he’s keeping from her. When Hardin storms out, she calls Zed to try and find out why he fought with Hardin, but he won’t say anything. She drives to campus and all of Hardin’s friends’ usual haunts until she spots Steph and Nate at a bar.

Tessa realizes she hasn’t really seen Steph or any of Hardin’s friends since moving in with Hardin. Steph is under the impression that Tessa changed dorms, so Tessa tells them the truth that she and Hardin are living together. Steph and Nate are both surprised to hear that Hardin is living with someone, and at that moment, Hardin walks in with Jace and Molly. Hardin looks worried as he pulls her aside and says they should leave. When Molly hears Tessa and Hardin are living together, she laughs and says, “You’re really taking this whole thing a little far, aren’t you?” (573). Molly makes it clear there’s some kind of secret the whole group—Hardin especially—has been keeping from Tessa.

Tessa has to force Hardin to tell her the truth as her confusion and sense of dread grows. He explains that when they learned she was a virgin during Truth or Dare, he and Zed made a bet: whoever took her virginity first would win. Hardin used the bloody sheets from Tessa’s first time to prove to his friends that they did it. Even Steph knew about it, but never told Tessa. Tessa looks back on her entire relationship with Hardin, now feeling that everything was orchestrated just for Hardin to win his bet. Hardin is clearly apologetic and maintains that he truly did fall for Tessa, getting on his knees and begging her to forgive him. Tessa is consumed with embarrassment and hurt, and when Zed says he will drive her home, she agrees because she knows it will hurt Hardin. Tessa feels unbelievable pain, but also feels brave; she asks Zed to tell her everything; “Every single detail” (582).