“I didn’t have much of a choice! The idiot killed a man for me. What was I supposed to do? Say ‘Thank you, have a good night?’”
“Wait… he killed someone? Did you leave the campus when I told you not to?”
“Yeah… Virtus is after me,” I say with a cringe, and his face pales. He, like me, knows exactly what his means.
He gulps audibly, and the room goes silent.
“So, we tell my friends that something is wrong with your room, and when you went to administration, they said there was nothing they could do, so I graciously offered to let you stay with us while it gets fixed. That should stop them from asking questions for a little bit, at least. As for this Virtusthing or whatever, which I’m assuming is the place you were before this all went down, then they can’t get to you here, and I’d like to keep it that way. But we also need to make a plan to get you out of this shit, because you can’t hide forever,” Cole says, taking control of the situation, and fuck me, it’s hot.
“We?” I ask.
He nods assuredly. “We.”
“Are you sure this is everything?” Cole asks as we approach the steps to his cottage. I have two bags, that’s all. All of my belongings fit into two bags, and he can’t grasp the fact that I don’t have three suitcases full of shit I don’t need.
“It’s everything,” I grunt and look around, trying to spot whatever Dare had put in while everyone was out of the house.
Cole unlocks the door, and we both head inside. He takes the bag I was carrying from me and puts them in his room.
“You have a guestroom. I’ll stay in there,” I say from behind him as I follow.
“Sorry, no can do. That room is reserved for Gracie in case she ever needs it.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
He shrugs. “Them’s the rules, little menace. Or should I say…roomie,” he says with a wicked smirk, and I glower at him.
“Okay,” he says, heading back towards the front door. “I have class. You gonna be okay here on your own?”
Oh, fuck me.
“Gee, this whole cottage to myself? God help me,” I saydramatically and shove him out the door, locking it behind him.
Finally, I might get some peace.
I’ve only been lying on the sofa in the theater room for around ten minutes when that peace comes to an end. I sense someone enter the room, but I don’t take my attention off the TV until a throat clears, and I look up to see Logan hovering over me from behind the sofa.
“Why are you here?” he asks.
“Me? Why wouldn’t I be here? I live here,” I deadpan, and his jaw tics before he rounds the sofa and sits on the table in front of me.
“Explain.”
“Water leak. The place is fucked until they can get it fixed, and the admin said there’s nowhere for me to go, so Cole offered to let me stay here.”
He stares at me, his deep brown eyes drilling into me before his lips twitch. “You’re lying,” he states.
Damn, he’s good.
I pop a shoulder. “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.”
“There’s more to you than meets the eye.”
I tap a finger against my chin. “When did you figure that out? When you had your hand wrapped around my wrist a couple of weeks ago as you backed me up against a tree, or this morning at breakfast?”
“I never would have hurt you, you know.”
I chuckle. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did. But just know…” I sit up, swinging my legs around so I’m facing him head on, and lean forward. “If you ever pull that shit again, I’ll tie you to a chair and waterboard you, okay?”
