Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
COLE
I lean against the wall, my hands in my pockets while I wait for Lana to come out of Dean Barraclough’s office.
As soon as Lana left the lecture to come and see the dean, I got up and followed.
Why would the dean need to see her? Did he find out about whatever she did that resulted in her being covered in blood?
Is it about the pictures that those freshman assholes hung up all over the school?
Did she do something else? It honestly wouldn’t surprise me, since this girl seems to find trouble wherever she goes.
The door to his office opens, and Lana walks backwards, still talking to the dean.
I’m not quite sure what she says since I’m not close enough to hear, though her tone sounds…
friendly? Warm? What the fuck? I swear, if I find out this girl is fucking the dean of the university to get a place in this school, I’m going to lose my shit.
I clear my throat, and Lana’s head snaps towards me before she closes the door behind her and clenches her jaw at the sight of me. Oh, my pretty little menace is so beautiful when she’s angry.
“Lana,” I drawl, kicking off the wall and stalking towards her. “What was that about?”
“None of your fucking business,” she snaps and goes to storm past me, only I grab her arm before she can get too far.
“Didn’t seem that way to me. In fact, it seemed like you know the dean a little more personally than the rest of us.”
Her eyes widen as the words leave my mouth, and a group of students pass us, not being subtle about the curious looks they’re giving us.
She shrugs out of my hold, and I expect her to storm away from me.
Of course, my little menace would never do what I expect her to do and instead grabs my arm and pulls me through the nearest door, which just so happens to be the guys’ bathroom on this side of the building.
Once we’re inside, she closes the door behind us and checks to make sure we’re alone before locking the door. Her gaze meets mine once more, and I swear if she clenches her jaw any harder, her teeth will crack.
“I knew there was something about you that was different to the other girls that go here, but I never took you for a whore.” I sneer and take a step towards her.
“Is that why you brought me in here? To offer to suck my dick in exchange for me keeping my mouth shut? Gotta say, I wouldn’t mind seeing you on your knees for me. ”
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” she spits, and I reward her for the adorable scowl on her face with a shit-eating grin.
“You’re right, baby. I have no idea what I’m talking about, so why don’t you enlighten me?”
“Oh yeah? You want to know about me? About my past? You want to know what I’m doing at this school full of all of you rich assholes when it’s clear I don’t belong here?
” She steps towards me as she continues with her tirade, giving me no choice but to move backwards.
“You want to know who my family is? Why I was in the alley the other day?” She keeps stalking towards me, and I keep taking steps back.
“Tell me,” I murmur as my back hits the wall and she’s only a breath’s width in front of me, staring up at me with fire in her eyes. How the fuck do we always seem to end up in this position?
“How about you mind your own business before you get yourself killed?”
That makes me raise a brow, my cock hardening in my slacks as I smirk down at her. “Oh yeah? You’d kill me, little menace?” I ask with a chuckle and she smiles sweetly, her hand finding my chest before running it up past my thundering heart and wrapping her hand around my throat, squeezing.
“In a heartbeat,” she purrs, and my control snaps.
I don’t have a single conscious thought as I slam my lips to hers, as though my body just responded to her before my brain had the time to catch up, and the next thing I know, I’m devouring her mouth with mine.
Her lips part with a gasp as my mouth attacks hers, and I use the opportunity to swipe my tongue across her bottom lip. When she makes no move to stop me, I push my tongue between her plump lips and move my hand to her hip, squeezing it in a punishing grip.
Fuck, she tastes so good.
Sweet, like honey. And there’s a hint of danger in there too.
She would either be the best damn fuck of my life, or she’d ruin me completely. And not in a good way.
I’m not sure how it happens, but the distance between us diminishes until our bodies are pressed to one other, not an inch between us as my free hand goes to the back of her head, holding her in place as I tilt my own and take the kiss deeper.
Unwilling to think about what the fuck I’m doing, I don’t think about the consequences of my actions or what will happen from here. All I can do is fucking feel.
And goddamn, does she feel amazing.
I’m so enraptured in everything that is my little menace that I don’t register her hand moving from my chest to my hair.
It’s only when she pulls on it with a punishing grip before smashing my head backwards against the tile behind me that she pulls her mouth from mine, nothing but vitriol in her gaze.
My head swims from the pain, and I have to blink a couple of times before I can focus on her properly. But when I do? Jesus Christ. Her eyes are blown wide, dark with need, those pretty lips even pinker than usual.
“You really are kinky, aren’t you?” I can’t help but mutter as she glares at me. A therapist would have a field day if I described to them how much her glares, grunts, and anger turn me on.
And it’s not like I have some deep seated childhood trauma to blame it on. I just had the usual upbringing… if usual upbringings include mansions, yachts and billions of dollars in our bank accounts.
She shakes her head wordlessly before her hand finds the back of my head once more, and I feel a sharp sting as her fingers brush over the tender spot on the back of my skull.
She pulls her hand back, grinning as she sees my blood on her fingertips before bringing them to her mouth.
She sucks on her fingers, slowly and oh-so fucking sensually before releasing them with a pop.
She hums. “You taste good, pretty boy. ”
I balk at her, not knowing what the hell to say to this entire encounter, but she just grins at me. Before I can muster up a single thing to say, she blows me a kiss and leaves the bathroom without a backwards glance.
I swear, this girl is testing my patience. And don’t even get me started on the hard-on I’m now sporting from seeing her suck my blood from her fingers.
Jesus Christ, I think I need an intervention.
A fter the shitshow that was this afternoon, there was only one thing I could think to do to get my mind off of Lana, and that was to come to the church.
I wait for my turn, and Jerry—the guy who organizes and announces the fights—turns to me to let me know it’s my turn.
I pull off my jacket and step into the ring, stretching my neck as I wait for my opponent.
Jerry usually has a handful of fighters on standby for if anyone like me decides to just randomly show up rather than scheduling the fight in advance.
I glance around the room, taking in the faceless crowd of people who have gathered around to watch. The lights in the ring are blinding compared to the darkness surrounding the rest of the room, and a shudder rolls up my spine when I think about the last time I was here.
Fuck, I really need to cut it out with thinking about her.
She’s in my damn head, and I can’t get her out. If I carry on like this, I’m going to go insane.
My attention snaps to Jerry when he begins to announce my opponent, my breath halting when I see the girl I can’t stand, the girl I can’t stop fucking picturing, join me in the ring with a taunting smirk painted over those pretty lips of hers.
My own lips curl into a sneer, and the roaring of the crowd around us is drowned out as I stare at her. Just like last time, she’s wearing leggings, a hoodie, and those stupid boots of hers.
She looks hot as hell, and if the glimmer in her eyes when my gaze finally meets hers is anything to go by, then she knows it, too.
“Fancy seeing you here, pretty boy,” she says, and it lights a fire inside of me.
“Following me again, little menace?”
She laughs, a wide smile taking over her face. “Nope. For once, this was just a happy accident.”
I believe her. If she followed me here, she’d have been upfront about it. I smirk at her, because she’s just given away so much more than she meant too.
“Aww. Were you so amped up from our little tryst in the bathroom earlier that you had to come here to let off some steam?” I say with a laugh, and she scowls at me.
I mean, I’m here doing the exact same thing, but whatever.
“Get on with it,” someone in the crowd shouts, and I heave a breath.
“You sure you wanna do this?” I taunt, even though I’m the one having doubts.
I hate her, yes. But do I want to physically hurt her? Not really, no.
She tilts her head from side to side, staring at me with those observant eyes of her. “What’s wrong, Cole? You scared of little old me?”
“Never. ”
“Then fucking fight me.”
This girl.
This fucking girl.
She has the ability to turn me inside out, push all of my buttons and drive me crazy all in one breath.
I’m so damn sick of her shit, and maybe this is one way I can get her back for everything she’s been doing to my head lately.
I don’t bother with theatrics; I just pounce.
I rush her, grabbing her around the waist and throwing us both to the floor.
We land with an umph, and I don’t even have time to catch my bearings before she’s swinging for me, hitting me in the side of the temple and throwing me off of her.
She straddles my waist and I glare up at her, trying to fight my body’s reaction to having her so close while also trying not to just fling her away from me, wanting her nowhere near me.
But I don’t do that. I’m too interested in seeing what she’ll do now that she has me here.
She’s a fighter, I know that already.
But will she react differently when it’s me, someone she openly hates, compared to Tyger, the guy who is a complete stranger to her? Someone she has no connection to?
She stares down at me with an impassive expression, but she can’t hide the fire burning behind her eyes. She can’t hide the slight tic in her jaw or the way her chest heaves as she takes a breath, and I know in that moment that she’s not going to take it easy on me.
Of course, she isn’t. She’s Lana fucking James.