CHAPTER TEN
Layla
I rub my temples and will the headache forming behind my eyes to go away.
I’ve had a full day of Pathology, which has been an info dump for our midterm next week, and I’ve barely slept because every time I close my eyes all I can see are the intense green eyes of the man who looked at me like I belonged to him.
I tossed and turned all night wondering if he will in fact show up at work tonight, and I’ve already planned out some possibilities of what I’ll say to hopefully get him to move on.
I don’t date.
I’m focusing on school.
I have a husband and four kids.
You scare the shit out of me.
My phone buzzes on my desk as my professor finishes up his lecture.
CHANTEL
Amber’s gonna be late. Can you come in at six?
Fuck. I check the time. It’s three now. All I want to do is go home for an hour and take a hot bath before I have to put heels on for the night. I’m not scheduled until seven. I breathe out a tired sigh.
Sure.
Only a few more nights of work until I actually get a day off. A day I will spend on my sofa in my PJs, eating ice cream while I work on my assignment.
“I’ll see you next week. If you have any questions, you can email Gloria,” my prof says, motioning to the TA in the front row.
I make it outside and immediately feel like I’ve been slapped in the face by the sun. It’s a damn scorcher again. Humid as hell, and the idea of getting on the sweltering bus makes me want to call an Uber, but I know that’s a luxury I can’t afford.
I pull my sunglasses out of my crossbody bag and pop them on, glancing in the direction of the bus stop. But I stop dead in my tracks, because that’s when I see him, and I swear my soul almost leaves my body.
Parked directly across the street, leaning back on a monstrous matte black and deep bronze Harley, once again dressed in all black, wearing aviators and his club cut, is none other than Sean.
He pulls his sunglasses off and looks at me in the same devastating way he did last night. Like he can’t look away. His thick arms are ripped and folded over his chest and his brow is furrowed in that mysterious scowl, like a million thoughts are running through his head.
You are stronger than how good he looks, I repeat to myself as I sort through all the questions running through my brain.
Should I pretend I haven’t seen him?
How the hell does he know where I go to school?
What does he really want?
Why do I want to know?
All of them fly right out of my head as he stands and begins to walk directly toward me in an even stride with his long lean legs.
Sean’s moves are calculated, like even the cars coming down the street would stop and wait until he’s safely across.
As he places his sunglasses inside his cut I watch him carefully; he just has this powerful confidence about him that I don’t think anyone questions.
Well, I know one thing, he better be ready, because I’m about to fucking question him. I should run in the other direction, but instead I head straight for him, my annoyance at him digging into my life, however he was able to do it, taking over.
It takes us a moment to meet in the middle of the busy sidewalk, but then I grip his arm and pull him toward the shade of a tree, away from the campus pathway, ignoring how his skin feels against mine.
Summer classes means the campus isn’t as busy as it would be throughout the school year, but I still don’t need anyone from my classes watching me argue with this gorilla of a man.
“What the hell are you doing at my school?” I glance over his shoulder toward where I know the bus that’s due in five minutes will be coming from, and then look back up at his searing green eyes, which are now brighter with the sun.
“Did you follow me? Because, if so, you’re fucking unhinged,” I tell him louder than I should.
We’ve garnered some attention; he’s clearly out of place here, and a few passersby have turned to look over their shoulders at him.
He pays them no mind and ignores my shock.
Instead, Sean moves his hands up and loops the first two fingers of each hand into the front pockets of my light, ripped jeans, and pulls me forward until I bump into his chest.
“You have no idea.” He looks down at me with a dark chuckle.
“Is that supposed to make me feel safer?” I hate how much my body likes touching his.
“It’s irrelevant if you feel safe, but just so we’re clear, you are safe with me.”
“I somehow doubt that,” I lie.
Sean narrows his eyes at me, and I realize I haven’t pulled away from his hold. In fact, I’m leaning into him, gripping his shirt. I let go suddenly and push away.
“The biggest problem you have is that you try very hard not to want me when you actually very clearly do,” he says, assessing me like he can read my thoughts. “That takes way more energy than just giving in.”
“I don’t even know you!” I whisper-yell.
“That is my biggest problem. I met you less than twenty-four hours ago. In that time, you’ve invited yourself into my work cooler”—I use air quotes around invited—“you’ve followed me to my school, and you’ve obviously dug into my personal business or you’ve just been stalking me all day!
” I bite out between clenched teeth, a new thought occurring to me.
“I hate to break it to your gigantic ego, but when a girl says that what happened with you was a one-off, it is not an invitation to keep trying.”
Sean chuckles. “I didn’t hear you complaining about the lack of invitation when you were coming all over my hand.”
He nods toward his bike. I shift nervously from one foot to the other.
Good. He’s leaving, and just in time as I see my bus round the corner—
“Let’s go,” he bites out.
My eyes widen and I look from his bike back to him.
“I’m not going with you,” I tell him, putting my hand on my hip. He sighs, lifting his eyes upward before looking back at me. I can see his wide jaw tic from a foot away and I just know I’m pissing him off.
“Yes, you are. One, because we both know the last thing you want to do is get on that bus in this heat.”
His eyes trace the lines of my face as I watch the bus approach.
“Two, you want to ride with me.”
His voice reaches a lower octave, one that hits me in all the right places.
I want to follow him, but because I refuse to give into him so easily, I move to push past him, heading toward the bus stop.
I don’t even get two steps before a deep growl sounds behind me and I’m being picked up and hoisted over Sean’s shoulder.
“And three, because I fucking said so, woman,” he growls.
My breath catches in my throat and I hit his upper back. “Put me down!”
Sean carries me the rest of the way, and everyone in the vicinity is watching us as he sets me down beside his bike. My chest heaves as I push my hair back off my face and look up at him.
“Now,” he commands, passing me a helmet and climbing onto his bike.
I wait all of five seconds before I take it from him, like an absolute fucking lunatic who clearly needs her head checked.
Then I huff out a breath and clip it onto my head, because I do want to get on the back of his bike instead of on that bus … I just don’t want to admit it.
“You don’t even know where I live,” I fire at him, but then I hear the deep rumble of his chuckle again as he ignores my comment.
Right. Of course he knows where I live.