“Oh stop with your bullshit. You look like death, and you’re covered in blood. What’s going to happen when someone sees you like that in your building, huh? The least you can do is shower here before heading back to your dorm.”
She stands only inches from me and crosses her arms over her chest. She’s glowering at me, but that’s nothing new, and I know she’s internally battling with herself on what to do, so I make the decision for her.
She’s weak, so she doesn’t see me coming when I charge her and grab her around the thighs, picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder before heading across the backyard and into the house.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she whispershouts as we head past the kitchen and towards my room. Thankfully, the guys are nowhere to be seen this time around.
“Taking charge.”
She wiggles in my hold, but my grip on her is too tight for her to fight me right now and she mutters, “Asshole,” under her breath.
Yeah, I’m an asshole. An asshole who just shot and killed a man for her. You’d think she’d be a little more grateful.
Ilie on the bed with my arms crossed beneath my head as I wait for Lana to finish showering. I stripped down to just my boxers when we got in here, and she adamantly refused to let me in the bathroom with her, so I’ve just been lying here, staring at the bathroom door for the last ten minutes, waiting for it to open.
I’m gonna give her another five minutes before I break the door down to check she’s actually alive in there, since God knows what damage that asshole Dominic did.
I have so many unanswered questions, so many pieces of the puzzle that is Lana James, but none of those pieces fit together in a way that can make sense.
She knew those guys, and it was obvious that she was surprised that they were after her, but I can’t make sense of why they would be, and the conversation they had just doesn’t make sense to me.
From what I can gather, it all came back to her father. That, and her father is dead.
Where was she before she came here? Who was she? They called her A, so is Lana even her real name? Have I been getting to know her,fallingfor her, and it’s all been a lie?
The bathroom door flies open, and she stands in the doorway wearing nothing but one of my T-shirts that falls to mid-thigh. Fuck, it looks good on her.
“I asked to borrow some clothes and all you gave me was this?” she says and dramatically tugs on the end of the shirt.
I lift one shoulder in a half shrug. “It’s all you need. Now, get in here.”
“I’m not staying here, Cole,” she says with a sigh, and I roll my eyes.
“Just get in the damn bed, Lana.”
She thinks it over for a moment, and I take a minute to catalog her face. She has a cut running along her left temple, and I can see a black eye forming on that same side. She has a busted lip, and bruises marring her skin, but other than that, she seems fine and I don’t think she has any long-lasting injuries.
Still, it pisses me off that she even has minor injuries. If she didn’t knock me out with an elbow to the head, I could have helped her sooner.
But no, she’s too damn stubborn and hardheaded for that.
Lana climbs into the bed beside me, making sure to put as much room between us as possible, and I scoff.
“What, scared I’ve got cooties? I hate to tell you this, little menace, but we’ve fucked already. Sharing a bed should be the least of your concerns right now.”
“I don’t snuggle,” she grunts.
“I don’t kill people,” I retort. “Guess what, baby? Today has been a clusterfuck, so get your ass over here and cuddle with me.”
I don’t give her a chance to refuse. I reach over and pull her to me, and she tenses as her body lines up against mine and her head lands on my chest.
Her entire body is stiff for a few moments before she relaxes into my hold and goes lax against me. I stoke my fingers through her still-damp hair, twirling a lock around my finger.
“You shot someone for me,” she whispers, her voice featherlight in the otherwise silent room.
“I did,” I murmur softly.
She tilts her head up to look at me. “And are you… okay?” she asks, her eyes searching mine.
