She mock salutes me, and I laugh to myself as I leave the room, finding all three of the guys standing around the kitchen chatting to themselves.
“Someone’s in a better mood today,” Noah observes as I enter the room, a smile still sitting on my lips. It immediately drops as they all turn to look at me, and I growl under my breath, muttering, “I should have just roomed in the dorms. At least then I’d have some damn privacy.”
“True, true. But you wouldn’t have nearly as much entertainment,” Harley boasts with his arms wide in a ‘look at me’gesture.
Idiot.
I shake my head and take a seat at the breakfast table while Noah gets to work on making breakfast, since he declared himself the group cook, and Harley passes me a coffee before leaning against the counter beside me and taking a sip of his own.
“So, are you going to threaten me again today?” he asks, and I raise a brow.
“Are you going to piss me off again?”
“Well, that depends… Are we going to talk about how much of a psychopath your girl is?”
I school my features, waiting for what’s about to happen.
“That psychopath is right behind you,” Lana says in a cool tone, and I snicker to myself.
I may not have been able to see her enter the room from where I’m sitting, but I could tell by the reaction of Noah that she’d made herself known to him.
Harley jumps, splashing coffee all over himself, and spins around to face Lana. He sets his mug down and puts his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt me. I meant psychopath in a nice way… like you’re, uhm—” He looks to Logan for help, though I’m not sure why, because he’s the last person who would help him out.
Defeated, he turns back to Lana. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, and even though I can’t see his face, I know he’s wearing that pleading expression he usually does when he wants something.
Lana just raises a brow, takes his cup of coffee from the counter and takes a drink of it, shrugging when she deems it suitable and takes a seat next to me.
“So, are you two like… together?” Noah asks, and I tense at the same time Lana chokes on her drink.
“What would give you that idea?” I ask innocently.
“Well, she stayed the night,” he says, pointing his spatula towards Lana. “You don’t have people stay over. Ever.”
“There were… extenuating circumstances,” I admit, and Lana kicks me under the table.
Relax, little menace. I’m not about to tell them we killed three guys and burned their bodies in a park.
“And do those circumstances have something to do with the bruises and swelling on her face?” Logan asks, speaking for the first time since Lana entered the room. I look over at him, but it’s not his usual blank expression I expected to see. Instead, he’s glaring at me in a way that he would when he’s about to throw down on the ice.
“Uhhh, yes?” I say, confused about why he’s looking at me the way he is, but before I can ask him, he turns to Lana, his expression softening.
“Did he do that?” he asks, or more like barks, before lilting his head in my direction.
Hang the fuck on.
“You thinkIdid that to her face?” I ask, genuinely shocked, because what the fuck?
“Well, did you?” he grunts, his tone back to the cold one it was before.
“Jesus Christ,” Lana mutters. “No, Cole did not do this to me. Some asshole I used to know did, and then Cole and I took care of the problem. Good enough of an answer for you, or do you want all the dirty details?”
Logan stares at her for a moment longer, probably to make sure she’s telling the truth, before nodding and going back to scrolling on his phone.
It was only a few weeks ago he had her pinned against a tree in the woods, and now he’s going all protective over her? What the fuck?
“As much fun as this has been, I’m out,” Lana announces, pushing back from her chair and giving us all a finger wave. I watch as she leaves, wearing a pair of my sweats and one of my hoodies. She looks good in my clothes, and I need to figure out a way to get her to wear them more often.
It’s only fair, her giving me a way to claim her just like she’s done to me. Only, I won’t stake my claim by carving into her skin.
