Chapter Eighteen #2
My breath snags as Clay’s shadow falls over me, his fingers plucking the paper from my grip.
Addy shifts uneasily, the bright smile she had this morning a distant memory.
We were so excited to be back, spending last night unpacking our duffles and sorting out our backpacks for a fresh, new semester.
Now, we’re straight back in the midst of someone else’s game.
Peering over my shoulder, I watch Clay’s expression darken as he scans the message.
His fingers twitch slightly, crumpling the paper without meaning to.
Rhys moves closer to read it too, his jaw ticking once before his gaze flicks to mine.
We’ve spent long enough together to know what the other is thinking, and Rhys is contemplating murder. He just doesn’t know who’s.
The same gossipers from before have huddled nearby, pretending to shuffle books into their bags, their ears pricked and eyes wide.
I scan their faces one by one, looking for a flicker of guilt, a curl of a smile, anything that gives them away, but they’re all too practiced in feigning innocence.
Phones are already out, ready to capture a new post for the student forum, giving a front row seat to my reaction.
I’ll be damned if I give them the satisfaction.
Slowly, I inhale, forcing a calm I don’t feel to take over. Then, deliberately, I place myself between the two gorgeous men either side of me, Clay on my right and Rhys on my left, before plastering on a nonchalant smile.
“I don’t know about you two,” I say lightly, plucking the note from Clay’s hand and tossing it aside like the trash it is, “but I’m ready for my third coffee of the morning.
” They both eye me curiously, but don’t question my behavior.
Addy stares as if I’ve grown another head, but I sign that I’ll catch her later.
Together, we walk through the crowd without a care in the world, or at least that’s what I want everyone around us to think.
Inside, though, my pulse thrums like a warning siren.
Because if that note was hand-delivered, someone knows exactly where I sleep, what I’ve been up to and when I would have been out.
Approaching the exit, I reluctantly click my receivers into place.
Another benefit to the winter break was the silence, giving me a reprieve from the loud hustle and bustle of campus life.
There’s nothing quite like a thinly-veiled threat to bring me back down to reality.
“I hope you haven’t unpacked. We’re getting your shit and you’re staying with me from now on.” The authority in his tone makes my head jerk up. I gape at him, looking to Clay for backup, but finding none. He watches on silently, his arms crossed.
“I can’t leave Addy to fend for herself,” I protest. “They were at the dorm, Rhys.” Not humoring this conversation any further, I move in the direction of the cafeteria.
Rhys grabs my forearm and drags me into the shadow of the building.
Clay is by his side, glaring at me as if they are actually in agreement for once.
“This isn’t up for negotiation,” Rhys growls. The tic in his jaw is all aggression, but the flicker of worry in his eyes gives him away. I lift a brow, standing my ground.
“And what about Clay? He’s also the focus of these taunts.
You planning to offer him a cozy spot in your bed too?
” The mental image of the two of them arguing over who gets to be the big spoon spreads a grin across my face.
They both make the same strangled sound of disgust perfectly in sync, suddenly jerking away from each other.
Patting Rhys’ bicep, I brush off his concern as if I can manifest the same within myself. Someone is playing pranks that are, admittedly, going too far, but I can only put it down to jealousy. We just need to see it through, show we won’t be bullied and they will grow bored. Eventually.
“Look, I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine.” Rhys’ face contorts, his rage rising to the surface.
“For once in your goddamn life, Harper, do as you fu—” Clay halts Rhys’s words by shoving his shoulder aside and stepping closer to me. His hand cradles my cheek, forcing my eyes up to his.
“We just want to make sure you’re safe. If something were to happen to you because of me, I would never be able to forgive myself.
” The fight drains from me at his gentle words, my hackles lowering as logic overtakes defiance.
I guess I hoped if I kept denying the truth, I could diminish the seriousness of it all.
“Okay, fine. I’ll agree to an escort when moving around campus, but I’m staying in my own dorm and continuing my routine like normal. I came here for freedom and independence. I won’t be stopped from going to classes and studying in the library on weekdays.”
“No fucking way!” Rhys barges his way in between us once more.
His hands close around my shoulders and his chest brushes mine, halfway between a hug and a cage.
“The library’s a goddamn maze, too many dark corners for creeps to hide.
You can study at my place. I’ll get pizzas, go down on you as you type, whatever the fuck you want but there’s negotiation on this. ”
I can see he’s trying, and a tiny part of me is swooning for it, but keeping me from a library is like cutting off a limb. The smell of pages and the millions of words waiting to be devoured sooth my soul. It’s the only place I can silence my thoughts and truly escape.
“Rhys,” I breathe, pleading with him to see it from my perspective.
He wouldn’t be told where to go and what to do, and I’m equally as stubborn.
“I’m not going to hide away, and I need access to all of our source material that’s in there.
I doubt you have books on the clinical correlations of biochemistry stashed beneath your bed. ”
Clay reaches for my hand, brushing my knuckles reassuringly. I’ve missed his presence, the feeling that someone always has my back.
“Clay will look out for me during our study sessions and I promise I won’t wander off.”
I take Rhys’s huff as acceptance, leaning up to place my lips on his cheek but he steps away. I blink at him in confusion, seeing none of the worry he couldn’t hide a moment ago.
“I see how it is,” he nods, distancing himself from our quiet conversation.
Spreading his arms wide, he walks back into the cold like a lone soldier fighting a solitary battle.
“You have your loyal protector back now, so what the fuck do you need me for?” He levels Clay with a stare that could melt iron, the rigid edge to his jaw back like an old friend.
“Rhys, wait,” I call after him, but he’s gone, his retreating footsteps like nails piercing my heart.
I stand there for a moment, suspended in the silence he leaves behind, doing all I can to resist leaning on Clay for support.
The last thing I want is to create a situation where one is always stepping in when the other can’t, but Clay doesn’t have the same inclination.
His arms wind around me, his chest supporting my cheek as a bitter chuckle escapes me.
The first day back, a day that started with such optimism, has fallen flat on its face.
Not the best omen going forward, but even without the note, it wasn’t going to be easy going.
Nothing ever is when Rhys and Clay are close to one another.