Chapter 19 #2
Though, maybe we were. Either way, my heart squeezed seeing the downright sullen look flash across his face.
I didn’t have time to spiral too deep before he cleared his throat. “Two weeks, right before fall break. First race kicks off on the second Friday in October and goes all weekend.”
“That’s the day of the MCATs! My mom says it’s an auspicious day,” I stated brightly, unable to fight the urge to tell him something to make him feel better, even though he didn’t seem to care that his family had no plans of showing up.
“Well, auspicious or not, I’ll still have to train for two hours later today,” he said through a short yawn.
“Yikes. I’ll take studying in a dark cubby over cardio in freezing water any day.”
“Oh.” He blinked a couple of times. “Speaking of studying in a dark cubby.”
He maneuvered on the bench and reached into his pocket, his chest momentarily pressing against me. An armada of tingles set sail along my skin.
He pulled out a key and dropped it in my hand.
“What’s this?” I registered its weight and closed my fingers around the cool metal. It looked like the one he had in the catacombs that night.
“It’s a key,” he answered flatly. “You know, breaking into things isn’t the only way—”
“And this key unlocks…?” I interrupted, the jitters making it all the way to my fingers.
“The mausoleum’s back entrance. It’s mostly empty when there isn’t a party. May be a good spot to study if hiding under a desk like you’re waiting out an earthquake isn’t working for you.”
My body fizzed. I ran my fingers over the bronze carvings. “This is Sabrina’s?”
“Yeah.” He leaned an arm on the back of the bench again, the already limited space between us disappearing. “Make sure she gets it?”
“Is that breaking a rule?”
He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
My stomach tumbled at the glimpse behind the impossibly charming smile or the reserved, sometimes biting humor. He was sweet. This was sweet. “I can go alone?”
“Don’t take anyone with you and don’t steal anything.” His mouth curved, inching closer. “And don’t go into the catacombs.”
My heart beat erratically. “Can I read the books in the mausoleum?”
“Sure.” His fingers played with the hem at my shirt’s collar, and my skin pebbled beneath.
The Amherst Building had some strange power over us because it drew us into the same loop over and over again.
At first, it was that night after discovering the unsealed door, coming up here to this section and then…
that kiss. The one I couldn’t help but replay at all the wrong times.
Then a week later, on the other side of this exact building, shoved in a closet with professors and alumni and his father down the hall.
The familiar feeling—like mild electrocution—kept sparking between us. And all I wanted to do was let it.
“Careful…” My face warmed and I bit my cheek to tamp down the nerves swirling in my stomach. “Someone might think you’re enjoying my company.”
“I’ve never cared much for what other people think,” he replied quietly.
His fingers brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
The playfulness faded, and the look in his eye concentrated into something different.
His lips, just inches from mine, pulled up on one side in a smirk.
His voice lowered. “But… they’d be right. ”
A need blossomed between my thighs at the same moment his lips brushed over mine.
I leaned forward, chasing the feeling, and closed my ey—
“Gloves,” barked a voice behind the bookshelf.
With a sharp inhale, I jolted in my seat, my nose knocking against his mouth. I scrambled to gather my things together on the desk, letting my hair fall over my shoulder to hide the furious blush on my cheeks.
Eyes dilated and unfocused, Conrad shook his head slightly, like he was snapping out of a dream.
“Sorry, Abby.” I swallowed against the desert in my throat. Abigail, the hawkish librarian, crossed her arms and pushed her glasses—the ones attached to a beaded gold chain around her neck—up the bridge of her nose. “I’ll put them on.”
“I don’t think so,” she said in a huff, gloved hands grabbing the two rare books off our desk. “I expect better from you, Malena.”
“Sorry.” The reprimand yanked me back to reality as something I struggled to name crested over me. “I forgot, honestly.”
I didn’t know what I was feeling—hazy and lustful, sure, but there was more. The warmth that blanketed my chest was new.
And I didn’t have a game plan for that.
“Well, thanks.” I tapped Conrad’s shoulder, motioning for him to move so I could get the hell out of here. Maybe douse myself with cold water while I was at it. “For the help.”
“Oh.” His chest caved with a sigh as he slid over and got up. “I… uh…”
“I have to get to class, I’ll see you later.” I hurried away, gaze pinned to the floor, and navigated between the narrow bookshelves that fortressed the study cubby in seclusion.
Not letting myself look back, I beelined out through the airy atrium.
It flooded my mind with memories from the president’s fundraiser—not the hallucinogenic kind from the storage closet, but the fun ones out here when this space was transformed for a posh dinner.
I replayed the light banter. The relaxed smiles. The hypnotic ease.
I sped to the exit, my lungs begging for fresh air.
It was this building. That was all.
Reactive ingredients, proximity, and a catalyst. This building was our proximity and maybe everything we found in common, the catalyst.
I pushed the heavy doors open. The crisp autumn air moved through my nostrils and filled my lungs. I brushed off the tightness in my chest as nothing more than a fluke.
It was chemistry. Plain and simple.
Nothing more.
It couldn’t be anything more.