She ducked around a corner, that corn silk hair trailing a split second behind her. I heard the sweep of a door and a harsh, bright light spilled into the hall.
I almost laughed when I realized where I was.
If she didn't want to be followed, she shouldn't have led me straight to the most secluded girls' washroom on the entire campus. It was smaller than most and had a hairpin entrance that gave the occupants ample notice before anyone came in. An ideal spot for ditching classes when going off-campus wasn't an option.
I strolled inside, calling out, "Fuck gremlin, huh? How long have you been waiting to use that one?"
Audrey heaved out a breath, her hands flat on either side of the sink and her eyes screwed shut. Her chest rose with quick, gulping breaths that had nothing to do with sprinting through the halls.
"I haven't been waiting," she snapped. "I don't have to store up my thoughts like acorns for the winter, you know."
"Never suggested you did." I slipped my hands into my pockets. Safer in there, for everyone. "Listen, we need to talk."
"Oh my god." She dropped her chin to her chest, sucked in a shuddering breath. "Can you please just give me like five minutes to?—"
Laughter blasted in from the hall. Audrey's hazel eyes popped open and a choked squeak sounded from her throat. Imet her gaze, her cheeks flushed and eyes shining with unshed tears.
Of all the blades to throw at me, her tears were the most deadly. Any amount of resolve I'd walked in here with disintegrated by the second. I pointed at her as I closed the space between us, whispering, "Stop that."
"Right, because I'm the one intruding on your attempt at experiencing a moment in privacy," she whisper-snarled. "Let me makeyoumore comfortable here in the girls' room."
I exhaled through my nose as the voices closed in, on the other side of the door now. "Just remember, I asked you nicely."
Her face twisted into a murderous glare. "You didn't ask?—"
I hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her into the far stall, the one nobody ever used because it was the size of a small coffin. What it lacked in elbow room, it made up for as an unmatched hiding place. The partition walls extended to the floor and the overhead lighting barely reached this corner, leaving us concealed in the shadows. Even if we did have to stand with our legs braced on either side of the toilet and we were never more than an inch away from putting an eye out on the coat hook.
It also left us tangled together without so much as a breath between us. I was painfully aware of every knob of her spine, every gentle curve of her hips, every strand of her hair where it brushed my cheek. Of her body tucked against mine, no daylight between us, and the muscle memory that came with it.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she seethed.
I could feel the anger humming through her body, the tension pulling her shoulders tight. It was wrong, and not at all my objective tonight, but I wanted more of that. More of anything she'd give me. All of it. I wanted to suck it off her fingers, wanted it to drip down my chin, wanted to wake up withit wrapped around my throat. And I fucking hated it. "If you don't settle down, you're going to make this much worse."
She shot a bony elbow into my side. "You're the one making this worse."
"All right, that's enough." I banded my free arm over her chest as the door creaked open and those voices poured inside. My lips at her ear, I breathed, "Stay still for a damn minute."
She aimed a side-eye glare over her shoulder that leveled me like an axe to the gut and followed it up by shifting her foot just enough to bring her heel down on my toes.
"Fuck," I gasped. Red, bleating pain radiated out from under that heel. My forehead fell to her shoulder. Barely resisted the urge to bite her.Barely."You've made your point."
"Have I? Because?—"
I closed my hand over her mouth. I felt it the second her anger switched from the entry-level shit we'd started with to straight-up, fire-wielding fury.
Again, not my objective, but fuck, it was fun. Almost enough to make me forget why I was here and what I needed from her, and how it would be great to leave with all of my toes. Almost enough to forget everything.
And those heels. Those were new and posed many threats.
"Either you settle the fuck down in here," I said, "or I open this door and give our friends something new to talk about."
I felt her weighing these options, her body rigid against mine. She sagged in resignation but wasn't interested in admitting I was right, and put some more heat into shattering my toes.
"…hasn't been the same since moving to the new firm," one of the voices said. "I can take off a month for vacation in the summer no problem but I'm a lazy bitch if I leave the office before nine every night. Like, there's no logic to it."
"No actual balance," another voice said. "Yeah, it's bullshit. They all say they're family-friendly but when it comes down to it, it's still an hours game."
"At least your dad is your managing partner," First said. "There's gotta be some advantage there."
