19. Myles #2
I snap my mouth closed so I stop stammering like an idiot.
“You sure?” the twin who now has a pocket full of bullets asks. “You look like you’re gonna keel over on us.”
“Come on,” Felix waves for me to follow him as he pulls Killian away from the gate.
I stumble after them and try to get my brain and mouth connected again.
“You good?” the other twin asks.
I have no idea who’s Jace and who’s Jax, and I can’t stop myself from looking between them a few times.
They’re as identical as two people can be, but somehow also look different.
One of them is wearing their hair pushed to the side, and the other has his back from his face.
They’re both dressed in jeans and black hoodies, and even the way they stand and carry themselves is identical.
But the biggest, and the only, difference I can see between them is their eyes.
Not the shape or color, but the actual look in them.
The one who disarmed the guard has the most intense stare I’ve ever seen, but it isn’t hostile or intimidating. It’s observant and calculating, and there’s an intelligence in it that’s undeniable.
The other twin’s eyes are no less intense, but there’s a wild, chaotic energy to them that’s just as intelligent and calculating as his brother.
It’s also weird how a flutter of butterflies explodes in my stomach every time my gaze flicks to the twin who disarmed the guard, but the only thing I feel is curiosity and a bit of awe at how damn beautiful he is when I look at the other twin.
How is that possible when they’re the most identical people I’ve ever seen? How can one of them make me feel like an awkward nerd who’s never talked to a hot guy before, and the other just makes me feel like a two among tens?
“Yeah,” I scrape out belatedly. “Fine. Thanks.”
“Are you sure?” Felix asks, giving me a sympathetic look. “That was insane. I’ve never seen one of them pull a gun on a student before.”
“Bro’s obviously a newb,” the twin who doesn’t make my stomach wobble says.
“Otherwise he’d know that little stunt is gonna land him on the unemployment line.
” He holds up his phone. “I got some nice shots of him waving his penis extender around. He’s about to enter the find out stage of fucking around. ”
“What the hell did you do to make him freak out like that?” Killian asks me bluntly.
“Nothing?” I shrug the best I can with the pile of books I still have tucked under my arm.
“I stopped to answer a text and didn’t realize I was in front of the gate.
” I show him my phone, as if that somehow proves what I’m saying.
“Then the next thing I know, he’s yelling at me to get my ID, but then he’s yelling and telling me not to move. ”
My mouth goes dry as the twin who does make my stomach wobble comes to stand between me and Killian.
He’s so close our arms brush, and I feel that touch down in the deepest parts of my body through the material of my sleeve.
“I mean, how am I supposed to get my ID if I don’t move?” I babble as notes of spicy cologne tickle my nose, making thoughts a bit fuzzy. “So I didn’t move, but he was like, ‘ID, now,’ and I couldn’t, but he’s pointing his gun at me and telling me to not move but to move at the same time.”
I snap my mouth closed as my cheeks heat with another blush.
Usually I have trouble talking around new people and can barely get any words out, but I turn into a stammering mess and have a hard time shutting up when I’m around people I find attractive.
All the men around me are drop-dead gorgeous, but the twin with the intense stare is somehow on a level that’s even above his brother, and I can’t stop from squirming as he studies me with that intense stare that really should come with a warning label.
“I still can’t believe it,” Felix shakes his head. “All that because you stopped for a few seconds in front of the gate?”
“I believe it,” Killian says. “It’s not the first time one of the Belmont guards has gone off the rails like that, but it’s been a while.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” the twin beside me asks in a low voice that has a slight rasp to it that’s entirely too hot.
“Yes?” I croak. “I mean, I’m fine. Or at least I will be when my brain starts working again.
” I clear my throat and offer him a weak smile.
“I’m just flustered. That’s only the second time I’ve had a gun pointed at me, and it kinda scrambled my brain for a bit there.
I thought the second time wouldn’t be as bad, but I guess you never really get used to having guns pointed at you.
Or at least I can’t seem to get used to it,” I say quickly.
That little smile is still tilting his lips, but he doesn’t look exasperated or annoyed by my babbling.
I wince as what I just said replays in my mind. These guys are Rebels, and if the rumors are true, they’ve had lots of guns pointed at them over the years. I’d bet my savings account that none of them almost wet themselves from fear any of the times it’s happened to them.
Felix might be different. He’s under Rebel’s protection, and he has the protection of the Hawthorne family through marriage—and through Killian, if they really are together—but from the research I did on him while I was being blackmailed into trying to kill him, Felix didn’t grow up in the same world as Killian and his cousins, and until recently, didn’t seem to have anything to do with either the family business or the frat.
But that didn’t stop him from stepping in front of a loaded weapon to protect me, and he isn’t even flustered.
Amazingly, none of them laugh or make any indication that they think I’m lame for freaking out.
“Do you want us to go with you to report it?” Felix asks.
I shake my head. I don’t trust campus LEOs, and I’d rather not get on their radar, considering everything I’ve got going on right now.
“I think I just want to forget about it.” I shift the books under my arm and transfer my coffee to my free hand so I can get a better grip on everything.
I make the mistake of glancing at the twin beside me again. He’s still looking at me, but it’s the smirky smile tilting his full lips that catches me off guard, and my brain goes offline again as a snippet of a memory hits out of nowhere.
A strong jaw and full lips under a dark hood.
I’m so taken aback by the mental image that I knock my coffee right out of my hand. I make a desperate grab for it, but the sudden move destabilizes me, and the armload of books I’m carrying slips out of my grasp.
The twin beside me reaches out with more of those lightning-fast reflexes and somehow catches my cup in midair, keeping it upright so not a single drop spills.
My books aren’t so lucky, and they hit the ground one after the other in a series of loud thwaps , but I’m so stunned by the insane catch that I barely notice them.
“How the fuck did you do that?” I ask incredulously as he hands me back my cup.
Our fingers brush as I take it, and a shiver rips through me as my stomach clenches at the simple touch.
“I’m good with my hands,” he says, and a weird sense of déjà vu hits me.
A deep and raspy voice in my ear as strong arms wrap around me and pin me against a rock-hard body.
That same voice talking to me through the camera and helping me get through the breakdown I was on the verge of when I reached out to him.
My neck and chest flush so hot my skin burns with embarrassment as I try to shove those thoughts right out of my head before I do something stupid like convince myself that one of the Hawthorne twins is my stalker.
Hastily, I drop to my knees to pick up my books, giving me an excuse not to look at any of them while I attempt to get my head in order.
The twin next to me kneels as well and helps me gather my books, which only makes my skin flame hotter and my brain get stuck in a loop of don’t say something stupid, don’t say something stupid as I fumble and drop the books I’m trying to pick up.
“Don’t worry about reporting that fuck nugget,” the other twin says. “I sent the pics I took to the head of Belmont security. That’ll be enough to have his ass fired and escorted out of here.”
“Thanks,” I say for what feels like the dozenth time.
“No prob.” He grins. “I never miss an opportunity to fuck over a Belmont guard. Those assholes need to realize that they’re the equivalent of human scarecrows and meant to scare us big, bad boys away and not an actual force with any power.”
“That guy definitely didn’t get the memo,” I say with a shaky smile as his brother places the last of my fallen books on the pile I’m clutching.
“He did not,” he agrees. “One day they’ll get their heads out of their asses and realize what their role is here. Until then, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they have the days they deserve.”
There’s something truly magnetic about his smile that has nothing to do with how insanely hot he is. It’s confident and a bit cocky, but big and bright with some of that chaotic energy I noticed in his gaze.
My cheeks flush even hotter as I stand and try to focus on the pile of stuff in my hands instead of the gorgeous men around me.
I end up bobbling the books and coffee cup as I get to my feet, but the twin next to me helps me steady them so they don’t go tumbling back to the ground.
Our fingers brush again, and another of those weird feelings detonates in my stomach as my entire body seems to light up like a fireworks display.
Jesus fucking Christ, this is getting ridiculous. I need to get a grip before I do something really embarrassing.
I mumble a quick thanks to him and clutch the pile of books against my chest, still feeling off kilter from having a gun pointed at me, and also from having the guy I helped my blackmailers try to kill rush to my rescue and put himself between me and that gun.
Does he know who I am? Do any of them know what I did?
“We’re going to be late for class,” Killian says to Felix in a voice that’s full of tender affection.