39. Cassian
39
Cassian
“ W here’s Milo?” Landon looked shifty when he appeared from his bedroom, hair wet from the shower.
“With Thea.” What the fuck? “What is it with this girl? You’re all obsessed with her!”
Landon shrugged. “She was badly hurt. Someone needed to take care of her.”
My eyes snapped up. I’d not long got back from a visit home. Father had insisted on wheeling me out for another interview. He had a journalist and photographer there doing a feature on him for the Sunday Times. Lucian Forsyth: His Meteoric Rise to Power , or some such nonsense. Dad liked to play happy families in public. His PR guy said it was good for his image.
“What do you mean? How was she hurt?”
“Someone beat the shit out of her. No idea who - she refused to say.”
It made no sense. I’d seen the video of her taking down several guys much bigger than her. Had she been ambushed? My stomach clenched uncomfortably at the thought. She was good, but even Kyril would struggle if he got jumped by ten or more big bastards.
“Is she OK?” Landon smirked at my question, recognizing I was invested in his reply.
“Her ribs are likely cracked and her body is black and blue, but she’ll recover.”
Of course, he was fucking her. I should have known. Not that it explained why Milo was there. “Why is Milo with her and not you?”
“He’s…” Landon hesitated, which meant he was hiding something. Shit. I was spending too much time away from campus. What was going on? Milo had been good since the Haley incident. We didn’t need a repeat of that shitshow.
“Spit it out, Lan. What’s going on?” I was tired, hungry, and hung over. Dad had invited Camilla and her family over for lunch once the news crew had left. The only way I’d got through it was by drinking myself into a coma. Camilla, predictably, had refused to leave me alone. She had doubled down on the idea we should sleep together before the wedding. To make sure we were sexually compatible or some such nonsense. I didn’t need to have sex with her to know we weren’t compatible. One look told me that.
Even with a bag over her head and the lights off, there was no way I could stick my dick in her without vomiting. Our wedding night was going to be fun. I might have to roofie myself to survive. It was that or leap off the roof and pray for a quick end.
“Milo is…somewhat obsessed.”
Dear Lord. This was bad. “How obsessed?”
Landon shifted uncomfortably. “He’s been sneaking into her room and spending hours there.”
“Does she know?”
“I’m not sure. She’s been out of it a lot since the incident. The pain meds Kyril gave her are strong. But she was asleep when I left her and Milo took over.”
“I don’t get it. Why are you three all over this girl? Especially you!” Landon went through women like other guys drank beer. There was a permanent revolving door in his bedroom. I mean, I wasn’t much better, at least before my father effectively nailed my balls to the wall, but I wasn’t as bad as Landon.
“She’s different.” He stalked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator.
“Get me one,” I called. Hair of the Dog might help.
He reappeared and handed me a bottle of craft beer with a fancy label.
“She’s pretty, I get it, but so are lots of other girls.” OK, so she was a lot more than pretty. I wasn’t blind. I understood Thea’s appeal. But what I didn’t understand was why all three of my friends were obsessed with her.
Kyril barely gave any female a second glance unless he felt like fucking. And Milo had… issues . He didn’t like anyone touching him, which was why, so far as I knew, he had no experience with girls.
Landon swallowed some beer and stretched out on the sofa. He said nothing for a while, but just as I was about to give up and go catch some sleep, he spoke.
“She’s beautiful, and don’t deny it, Cass. I’ve seen you watching her too. But it isn’t just her looks or banging body. It’s more than that.” My jaw dropped. This was more serious than I thought. Milo wasn’t the only one who was obsessed.
“So what, you’ve caught feelings for this girl?”
“No, of course not!” he scoffed, but the way he refused to meet my eyes told me he was half-way there, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself or me.
“And what about Kyril? Is he crushing on her, too?”
“What about me?” Kyril growled. I turned to see him standing in the doorway, gleaming with sweat and a gym towel slung around his neck.
“Are you in love with the psycho as well?”
He smirked. “My zlobnaya gadyuka ? Maybe I am.” Then he strode off into his bedroom and shut the door.
“You better get with the program, dude, or you’ll end up left out in the cold.” Landon dropped his empty bottle on the coffee table and left, leaving me sitting alone to nurse my hangover.