True Blue (Imperium Coast #1)

Chapter 6

6

A xel raps his knuckles on my door, leaning against the opposite side of the door frame. “You ready yet?”

I nod, saying, “Yeah, one sec,” and go back to putting on my socks and shoes.

Gen-eds make up most of my schedule this semester, with one business communication course that counts toward my degree. The first night, Axel and I compared schedules and found out we have three classes together. On Monday we headed to MATH-144: Elements of Statistics together and sat next to each other in the back, not really speaking much while the prof went over the syllabus and handed out a general assessment quiz. Afterward, we hung out on the patio near the coffee shop and it just kind of became a silent agreement that we would go to our mutual classes together.

I slip on my shoes and grab my bag, following Axel as he pushes off my doorframe and heads out of the suite. We walk over to the elevator, and I sling my backpack over my left shoulder. Axel stands beside me, rocking back and forth on his heels, backpack on his back and hands resting on the straps under his arms. The posture makes his chest look defined against the black undershirt underneath his open pink and green short sleeve Hawaiian shirt. The pattern should be too loud, but for some reason it works for him.

“Think King Arthur will be on the syllabus?” Axel asks, stepping into the elevator and pushing the lobby button. I follow after, leaning against the back of the metal box to try to add some distance between us so I don’t brush up against him.

“Pretty sure King Arthur is fictional.” I pull out my phone and load up my schedule, double checking the room we need to find for HIST-156.

“For real?” Axel’s face scrunches up, looking like he just bit into a lemon. “That was like 75% of the reason I picked this class. I was hoping we’d get to dress up as knights or something.”

I laugh, stepping off the elevator when the doors open. People cover the sidewalk outside, moving between the buildings to get to their next class. We push open the heavy glass paneled doors, entering the fray and moving around Ring Road toward the seminar building we need.

“Probably going to be more about the Magna Carta and the Black Plague.” I sidestep some people stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, all bunched around one person’s phone looking at the campus map and arguing about where Siegal Hall is.

“Bubonic Plague,” Axel says when we step back together, his shoulder hitting mine and making my feet falter for a moment.

“What?” I turn right, checking the sign on the corner to make sure we’re still heading toward Riggs Hall.

“It was the Bubonic Plague or Black Death, not the Black Plague.” Axel chuckles, strolling down the sidewalk like he knows exactly where he’s going. I raise an eyebrow when he glances over at me, probably feeling me staring. “My sister Layla is really into true crime podcasts. Her room is right across from mine at home and we both left our doors open most of the summer.” He shrugs. “Guess I picked up some shit. Want to hear about how BTK was caught?” He grins when I shake my head, not even sure what that means.

We walk up to Riggs, heading up the stone steps to the front door. Axel reaches the door first, grabbing the handle and waving me ahead as he holds it open. I walk in, holding the second set of doors open for him. Air conditioning greets us as we make our way to the stairwell in the center of the building. “Charlamagne was a knight. I’m pretty sure he was in the Medieval Age.”

Axel grins as we start climbing the stairs. “Maybe I’ll get to rent a suit of armor after all.”

I shake my head, gripping my bag strap tighter. His grin always makes me want to do something stupid, like reach out and touch him when I shouldn’t.

We make our way to the third floor. Room 331 sits right across from the stairwell, and we pass it, heading down the hall and around the corner, looking for 353. When we walk into the open double doors, we find ourselves at the top of a stadium-style seating arrangement with at least a hundred seats across five tiered levels all leading down to a large desk and whiteboard area at the bottom. Twenty or so students already sit in patches around the room, some people quietly chatting while others stare at their phones or look around nervously.

Axel double taps the back of his hand against my chest, pulling my attention from surveying the room to nod at some seats to the right of him in the back of the room. I nod, unable to speak, and follow him into the row, tossing my bag in the seat next to me after we sit and pulling out a notebook and pen. Throwing my bag onto the floor at my feet, I lean back, going back to surveying the room as more people walk in and grab seats.

A ponytail of light brown, tight curls sitting in the front row snags my attention. Smooth amber shoulders sit tensely underneath the hair, a mechanical pencil gripped tightly in the hand attached to the end of her arm. Janette turns her head to the right, her profile on display and showcasing her angular bone structure. She’d been cute with the tight space buns and little wispy curls around the back of her neck when we’d met in Mira’s dorm. Her pretty green eyes had been wide and rimmed with thick black lashes when she’d appeared in the door, looking up at me with her lips slightly parted. It was when they opened further and unleashed the dismissive attitude toward not only me, but Mira as well, that had turned me off.

She chews the inside of her cheek, eyes glancing around at people as they settle into seats, only two others in the front row, but on the other side of the center aisle. Janette cranes her neck back further, eyes finding mine and widening before sliding over to Axel on my left. He wears a smirk, waving at her when she sees him. She glances back over at me before waving back, turning around quickly once the interaction ends.

“You know her?” I whisper. An older looking Asian man walks into the room, kicking the door jamb out and walking down the center aisle to the desk at the bottom while the doors swing closed behind him.

“She’s Layla’s best friend,” Axel whispers back. The prof pulls some papers out of his messenger bag on the table and hands them to Janette, telling her to take one and pass them around. “We should sit with her next time.”

I stay silent, not sure what to say.

He looks over at me, bumping my shoulder with his. “She doesn’t bite.”

I roll my eyes and take the stack of papers from the girl passing them back from the row in front of us. She smiles, hand lingering on the stack longer than she needs to. I smile back, whispering, “Thank you,” as I take them. I pass a syllabus over to Axel and take one for myself, getting up and walking the stack over to the guy sitting at the end of our row.

The prof pulls down the overhead projector screen, plugging in his laptop and starting a PowerPoint going through the syllabus and introducing himself. I sit back, jotting down notes on the different papers and deadlines we have throughout the year.

“You’ll have a semester long research project that will account for thirty percent of your grade for the year.” I underline the project twice on my copy of the syllabus. “I’ll break you up into groups next week and your research topics will be due by next Friday. There is a list of possible topic choices on the last page of your syllabus, but you can choose any historical event that falls between the 5 th and 15 th century.”

Axel looks over at me and points a bullet point on the last page. The reign of King Charles the Great (Charlemagne). Axel winks and mouths “suit of armor” and my stomach knots at the gesture. I force a grin back, turning to face forward again and immediately finding Janette in the front row. She hunches over her notebook and syllabus, writing hastily over the top of both. Her hand flies over the paper like she can’t get the words out fast enough. I watch her, unable to look away as Dr. Howards continues going over the class schedule and midterm expectations.

Axel shifts next to me, his thigh pressing against mine once he settles. I grip my pen a little tighter, the contact and warmth making my dick twitch as I stare at the back of Janette’s head. Her ponytail fell to the side when she started scribbling and I suddenly picture kissing the back of her neck. The thought makes me jolt and I try to play it off, shuffling in my seat. Axel glances over at me and I move my leg over so that it no longer touches his.

Breathing through my nose, I force my eyes to stay on Dr. Howard for the rest of the class, only half hearing the end of his introduction to the medieval period. When he finally wraps up, everyone starts packing up, throwing their stuff into bags, and rushing out of the room.

The girl who passed back the stack of syllabi turns around again before I have the chance to toss my stuff into my bag.

“Hi, I’m Cassie.” She shoves her hand out toward me, and I look at it for a second before shaking it, glancing over at Axel who smirks at me.

“Bentley,” I say, smiling at her politely.

“Axel,” he says beside me, making her turn her wide eyes toward him and off of me for a moment. “Nice to meet you.” Axel flashes her his white teeth and she swallows, looking kind of owlish with light blonde, pixie cut hair and big dark eyes.

“Are you guys history majors too?” She shoves her stuff in her side bag, slinging it over her head and standing rapidly as we pack up at a more normal rate.

Axel shakes his head. “Business,” he says, tapping his chest. “Big guy over here is on the pre-law track.” Axel points toward me, already standing with his hands on both backpack straps again. “This just seemed like the most interesting history class to satisfy the gen-ed requirement.”

Cassie nods, walking out her row at the same pace as us and rushing up the center aisle to walk beside me. “I love the Middle Ages. Such an interesting time period. I don’t know what I'm going to pick for the research paper. There’s too much to choose from.” She shakes her head like the decision is already weighing on her. Then her eyes are on me again as we pause outside the classroom door. “We should volunteer to be the three-person group next week when Howards makes the group assignments.” She stares up at me with a hopeful smile and Axel starts to snicker, covering it with a cough beside me.

“Yeah, maybe,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. Janette emerges from the double doors, looking between the three of us as she passes.

“Hey, J. Long time no see,” Axel calls, nodding to her as his eyes light up. She pauses, looking over at me and Cassie quick before looking at him again. Cassie stares at her, eyes roving her short frame with a worried look.

Janette walks over, stopping close to Axel, but angling her body away from Cassie and me. “Hi, Axe. I’ve got another class, but we should get together with Lay this weekend.” The top of her head can’t come to more than my shoulder height and she’s wearing an off the shoulder blue blouse with black denim shorts. My eyes slide down her legs unwarrantedly, stopping at the curl of ink around her ankle, half hidden under her black sock. I can’t make out what the tattoo is, but I have the urge to reach out and run my fingers over the spot.

Axel nods, reaching out and pulling her in for a quick hug. He whispers something to her and she beams, a shot of white-hot lust running south through my body at the sight of her smile in his arms. I continue watching, unable to look away as she lets go of him, nodding, and walks off, not even glancing back at Cassie or me again.

What the fuck was that?

Axel watches her go as well, turning back and looking directly at me before his eyes slide down to Cassie. She’s stepped closer to me since Janette walked up and I want to take a step back.

“See you on Friday?” she says a little too softly.

I just nod in return, and she hesitates, waiting for me to say more before giving me a tight smile and heading down the hall.

Axel laughs lightly once she turns the corner, looking up at me with his eyes open wide and batting his eyelashes mockingly. “Looks like you’ve made a new friend.” He bumps my shoulder and chuckles again.

“Shut up.” I shoulder him back, feeling a jolt of the lust from earlier, before we walk in the opposite direction down the hall toward the stairwell again.

He shrugs. “She’s cute, if not a little over-enthusiastic. Probably be a really good partner for the research project.”

I nod, remembering Janette rapidly writing notes during the beginning of class. “You’ll have to convince her to let you dress up as a knight though and that might be a tough sell if she’s taking the class seriously.”

“Hey, I’m taking the class seriously!” Axel argues, slapping a hand against my chest again. My heart thumps from the touch. “I just think it’d be more fun to present in costume.” His sly smile makes me roll my eyes, but my stomach flips at the look. Maybe having Cassie as a distracting buffer will help me get through spending even more time with Axel outside of just living together.