Chapter 11
R en
This was stupid. Why was I waiting for Nash in the first place?
I looked outside at the rest of the buildings, and the wind chose that moment to blow harder and rattle the doors.
Great, this was going to be a fun walk. The sun still wasn’t up, but the extreme darkness was gone, announcing that the sunrise was coming soon.
“You behaved yourself and waited. I’m shocked.” I looked up at Nash as he stepped up beside me.
“I was getting close to leaving. What took you so long?”
The moment his lip curled up, I no longer wanted to know. “Let’s just say my shower needed a little longer than normal. Twice as long actually.”
I held up my hand and glared at him, horrified. “Did you…did…to me…ugh…I can’t even. Can we go now? I want this morning to be over.”
He snickered. “I did, and your ass looked phenomenal in my mind as you rode me.”
“I’m out of here.” I pushed on the handle to the door, but Nash grabbed the long metal bar and held it in place.
“Put this on,” he said, and I looked down at the leather jacket in his hand.
“I don’t need that.”
He sucked in a deep breath, his chest puffing out.
“Put the jacket on, or I’m going to throw you back in the pool, and this time, I’ll think twice about saving you.
You are not going out there without it on.
The last thing I fucking need is Myles all pissed off with me because you got pneumonia or some shit.
Not only that, but you shouldn’t be walking around alone.
Even if this place has guards, there are always blind spots. ”
Snow swirled by the door, and I really didn’t want to walk out there damp and alone. “What about you?”
“I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m still hot and hard from your little strip show. I could use the cool air since I don’t have time for round three in the shower.”
I jerked the jacket out of his hand as he smiled.
“Maybe next time don’t come into the girl’s changeroom, and you won’t have an…
issue,” I said, flustered. I didn’t think there was a level above mortification.
But Nash walking in and seeing me ninety-five percent naked and knowing he probably just touched himself to the image was alarming for a variety of reasons.
Then again, he could just be saying it to annoy me. Both were possibilities.
Stuffing my arms into his way too large jacket, I hated to admit that it was warm and smelled good. Why did it have to smell good? I grabbed my backpack and tossed it over my shoulder as Nash pushed open the door.
“Myles said you train every morning.”
“Twice a day, every day,” he said, and I glanced up at him.
“Can I ask why?”
“Because my goal is the Olympics. You don’t make them unless you train consistently, including in the off-season.
Besides, I love to swim. I feel free,” he said, and I stared at the side of his face, shrouded in shadow.
Did The Nash Collier just have an emotionally open moment with me?
I took in more water than I thought because I couldn’t have heard him correctly. “Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m just trying to picture you in the Olympics.”
He looked down at me. “Don’t think I can do it? I’m more than the son of a Don, you know.”
“Actually, I was thinking that you’d look right at home on top of the podium with a gold medal around your neck.”
“Thanks, but I won’t make it anywhere if I can’t get a top-level coach to look at me and take me on. I refuse to use my money to get me noticed.”
I grabbed for the front door of the school, but Nash put his hand on the wood and held it closed. What the hell was with him doing that?
“Tell me why you give a shit about Blake,” he said, and I crossed my arms.
“Because I’m a decent person who sees he is obviously hurting. I think the better question is, why don’t you?” I was going to get tossed in a snowbank. I could see it coming as Nash’s glare turned dark, but instead, he yanked open the door without a word.
I was supposed to meet Myles shortly in the library, but I wanted food first and walked to the cafetorium beside Nash.
As soon as we stepped foot inside, I regretted every single one of my decisions.
Myles, Theo, and Liam, along with Vicky, Jennifer, and Raquel, were all sitting at their usual table.
The one I only sat at if Myles guilted me and begged until I said yes.
All heads turned in our direction. Fuck my life.
I got in line as Myles jumped up and walked over, my heart pounding faster with each stride. Vicky was hot on his heels, and I could already see this going off the rails. I grabbed a tray and squeezed it hard.
“Why the fuck are you wearing Nash’s jacket? I don’t even have one of his jackets,” Vicky snarled like a rabid dog.
I looked up at Nash and then at Vicky before pointing at him. “Why don’t you ask him? He is literally standing right beside me,” I said before shrugging it off. “And he didn’t give it to me. It’s a loaner.” I held it out to Nash, but he just looked at me. What the hell was he doing now?
“What are you talking about? I told you to keep it. You know, for that thing you just did?” What the fuck . “It looks better on you than me anyway,” Nash drawled, and my eyes went wide. Had a portal to hell just opened? The sound that came out of Vicky was like a demon screaming.
“Nash! That’s your swim team jacket.” She stomped her foot.
“I’m aware of what it is,” he said. I shook it, trying to get him to take it, but he was ignoring me.
Vicky pointed at me, her long nail coming an inch from my face.
“I’m your girlfriend. I should get your team jacket.
” Nash crossed his arms. “You won’t even let anyone touch it.
Are you fucking her?” I covered my face as the handful of people sitting around gasped.
Typical Nash only shrugged and smirked, enraging her to the point of vibrating on the spot.
Myles pushed Vicky’s hand away from me. “Get yer claws away from her face,” he said and wrapped his arm around my waist. Vicky continued to lose her shit on Nash, who looked completely zoned out.
“You smell like chlorine,” he said, kissing my cheek. “And why do you have X-men showing from under your kilt?”
I looked down. “Oh shit,” I mumbled as I grabbed the top to try and roll the boxers up more.
“The boxers are mine,” Nash said and smiled wide. “Princess here got good and wet for me, so I gave her a set of mine to wear.” He smiled as all the blood rushed from my face, and my mouth fell open.
Panicked, I looked at Myles. “It’s not what it sounds like, I swear.
” But Myles didn’t seem bothered at all and kissed me.
Not the response I was expecting, but I opened for him and kissed him back even though I wasn’t a fan of PDA.
I could hear Vicky losing her mind, but I stayed focused on Myles, the feel of his soft lips and his hands holding me close.
By the time he was done kissing me, my head was light, and I smiled stupidly at him.
“Don’t worry. I know Nash is purposely trying to mess with Vicky. He has that look in his eye,” Myles whispered in my ear, and I relaxed. “But I would like to know how you ended up in the pool.”
“I told Nash what I thought of him cutting Blake out of his life, and he didn’t like what I had to say.” Myles snorted and started to laugh so hard that I ended up punching him in the arm. “Don’t laugh, it wasn’t funny.” But he just kept laughing.
“Aww shite, I wish I had that on film,” Myles said.
“No, you don’t, trust me. It was humiliating.”
The jacket was suddenly jerked from my hand, and I looked at Vicky as she sneered at me. “This belongs to me.”
Nash ripped it away from her. “No, it doesn’t.
” I expected him to try and give it to me again, just so he could start a war, but thankfully, he put it on himself.
“We are not a couple like that. Stop trying to make us one. And don’t ever fucking tell me what I should do with my shit.
Get it through your head,” he yelled before turning and stomping out.
Vicky’s raptor gaze turned to me. Oh crap. “This is all your fault.”
“Back the fuck off, Vicky,” Myles said, tugging on my arm so I was behind him. I hated that he thought I needed that, but I loved the gesture. It was nice having someone stick up for me, so I didn’t have to do it all the freaking time.
“You better watch your back, Davies.”
“I don’t want Nash,” I called after her, but Vicky and her entourage of minions stormed out, and I knew I would have to sleep with one eye open. I looked at Myles. “I think Nash is trying to get me killed.”
He smiled wide and kissed me again. “Trust me, if he wanted ya dead, ya would be. Naw, he is accepting ya into the group, and that, my Snowflake, makes me very happy.”
This was acceptance? Jesus, what did rejection look like?