Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
COLE
I wake up with a dead arm and hair in my face.
It takes me a moment to realize why, and when I do, a smile sneaks its way onto my face at the notion of having Lana in my bed, at the fact that she stayed here all night, and I managed to wake before her.
When I went to sleep last night, I figured she’d sneak out at some point during the night or early hours of the morning before I woke up so that she didn’t have to face me this morning.
But she didn’t. She’s still here, breathing softly as she sleeps in my hold.
Everything she told me last night comes back to the forefront of my mind, and my head throbs as I think about everything she’s been through.
I don’t know all the details, but what she did tell me sounded bad .
My uncle and cousins on my mom’s side of the family are the opposite side of the law to my father, but they have always, always protected the innocent, and they vowed a long time ago not to hurt women and children.
They’re feared, and dangerous, yet it sounds as though they’re nothing in comparison to whatever horrors Lana grew up around.
Contrary to what she believes, I’m not na?ve.
I know there’s a lot of darkness in the world.
I’ve never been told otherwise, but I have been protected from it.
That’s one of the exact reasons my mom moved away from New York as soon as she was old enough to do it, because she didn’t want me growing up the way she did.
Her sister stayed because she fell in love with my uncle, and she had a good life while she was still with us.
But that’s neither here nor there when it comes to whatever Lana is involved with, because if it’s as bad as it sounds like it is, then there’s a whole other level of darkness out there.
I’m not scared of the dark.
I thrive in it.
And she’s going to have to try a lot harder to scare me away if that’s her intention.
Lana tenses in my arms before going lax, and I know she’s awake while pretending to still be sleeping.
“I know you’re awake right now,” I murmur, and she huffs out a breath.
“I was planning to leave early,” she admits, and I grin to myself.
“Well you fucked that up, little menace.”
“No shit,” she mutters and rolls over to face me. Her hair is a tangled mess, and her tired eyes meet mine. An unspoken conversation passes between us, both of us agreeing not to bring up the events of last night, at least for now.
“You in pain?” I ask, taking note of the bruises covering her skin, and I want to bring Dominic back to life just to kill him all over again .
She shakes her head. “I told you, I’ve had worse.”
“Exactly how worse are we talking?”
She smirks. “Oh, pretty boy, it’s best you not know if the glower on your face is anything to go by.”
I shake my head and climb out of bed, stretching my arms as I head to the bathroom. I take a quick shower and head back into the bedroom to find Lana lying where I left her.
Huh.
“What, you spend the night and now you expect breakfast?” I deadpan, and her eyes widen.
“Shut up,” she grumbles. “I’ll leave in a minute, but your bed is comfy.”
I snort. “I don’t want you to go anywhere. I was kidding, you dick. But you might want to put some clothes on before we go get coffee, because if one of the guys sees you like that, I’ll have to kill them.”
She groans dramatically. “God, you shoot one guy and now you’re a serial killer. What have I done?”
“You created a monster. Now, get up. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
She mock salutes me, and I laugh to myself as I leave the room, finding all three of the guys standing around the kitchen chatting to themselves.
“Someone’s in a better mood today,” Noah observes as I enter the room, a smile still sitting on my lips. It immediately drops as they all turn to look at me, and I growl under my breath, muttering, “I should have just roomed in the dorms. At least then I’d have some damn privacy.”
“True, true. But you wouldn’t have nearly as much entertainment,” Harley boasts with his arms wide in a ‘look at me’ gesture.
Idiot .
I shake my head and take a seat at the breakfast table while Noah gets to work on making breakfast, since he declared himself the group cook, and Harley passes me a coffee before leaning against the counter beside me and taking a sip of his own.
“So, are you going to threaten me again today?” he asks, and I raise a brow.
“Are you going to piss me off again?”
“Well, that depends… Are we going to talk about how much of a psychopath your girl is?”
I school my features, waiting for what’s about to happen.
“That psychopath is right behind you,” Lana says in a cool tone, and I snicker to myself.
I may not have been able to see her enter the room from where I’m sitting, but I could tell by the reaction of Noah that she’d made herself known to him.
Harley jumps, splashing coffee all over himself, and spins around to face Lana.
He sets his mug down and puts his hands up in a surrendering gesture.
“I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt me. I meant psychopath in a nice way…
like you’re, uhm—” He looks to Logan for help, though I’m not sure why, because he’s the last person who would help him out.
Defeated, he turns back to Lana. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, and even though I can’t see his face, I know he’s wearing that pleading expression he usually does when he wants something.
Lana just raises a brow, takes his cup of coffee from the counter and takes a drink of it, shrugging when she deems it suitable and takes a seat next to me.
“So, are you two like… together?” Noah asks, and I tense at the same time Lana chokes on her drink.
“What would give you that idea?” I ask innocently .
“Well, she stayed the night,” he says, pointing his spatula towards Lana. “You don’t have people stay over. Ever.”
“There were… extenuating circumstances,” I admit, and Lana kicks me under the table.
Relax, little menace. I’m not about to tell them we killed three guys and burned their bodies in a park.
“And do those circumstances have something to do with the bruises and swelling on her face?” Logan asks, speaking for the first time since Lana entered the room.
I look over at him, but it’s not his usual blank expression I expected to see.
Instead, he’s glaring at me in a way that he would when he’s about to throw down on the ice.
“Uhhh, yes?” I say, confused about why he’s looking at me the way he is, but before I can ask him, he turns to Lana, his expression softening.
“Did he do that?” he asks, or more like barks, before lilting his head in my direction.
Hang the fuck on.
“You think I did that to her face?” I ask, genuinely shocked, because what the fuck?
“Well, did you?” he grunts, his tone back to the cold one it was before.
“Jesus Christ,” Lana mutters. “No, Cole did not do this to me. Some asshole I used to know did, and then Cole and I took care of the problem. Good enough of an answer for you, or do you want all the dirty details?”
Logan stares at her for a moment longer, probably to make sure she’s telling the truth, before nodding and going back to scrolling on his phone.
It was only a few weeks ago he had her pinned against a tree in the woods, and now he’s going all protective over her? What the fuck ?
“As much fun as this has been, I’m out,” Lana announces, pushing back from her chair and giving us all a finger wave. I watch as she leaves, wearing a pair of my sweats and one of my hoodies. She looks good in my clothes, and I need to figure out a way to get her to wear them more often.
It’s only fair, her giving me a way to claim her just like she’s done to me. Only, I won’t stake my claim by carving into her skin.
Or I could?
Or maybe I could make her get my name tattooed on her?
Harley’s fingers snapping in front of my face bring me back to reality, and I look up at him.
“What?” I ask.
He just shakes his head and shares a look with Noah and Logan.
I have no idea what that look means, and I’m not about to dissect it right now. I have more important things to take care of.
T he halls are quiet as I make my way to the dean’s office. I intentionally came during a time most students would be in class to avoid any rumors flying around.
Lana will probably kill me if she finds out about this, but I’m doing this with her in mind, so hopefully she’ll see my side of things.
Then again, I’ve never known that girl to be rational, so who the hell knows how she’ll react?
I knock on the door and pace impatiently while I wait for it to open .
Seconds later, a woman opens the door, and I recognize her as the dean’s secretary.
Does she know? Does she know that Dean Darren Barraclough has an alias as Dare and is some fucking military, mercenary, serial killer? Or whatever he is.
She frowns at me before closing the door in my face.
I can hear a hushed conversation on the other side of it before she reopens it, wider this time.
I step inside the room and take it in as she exits the room and closes the door behind her.
I’ve never really spoken to the dean before.
Sure, I’ve chatted with him a few times at fundraisers and things when my father was present, but other than that I’ve never been called to his office.
I tend to keep my less-than-stellar activities away from the university.
“Mr. Aston,” he says from behind his mahogany desk. “What can I do for you?”
I stare at him for a moment before taking a seat in the opposite chair. He’s wearing tweed—fucking tweed. Just how far has this guy gone to disguise himself?
“Lana James,” I say, meeting his eyes. He shows no outward reaction to hearing her name. He has no expression on his face whatsoever as he waits for me to continue.
This guy is good.
“I know you’re some uncle type figure to her, and I wanna know how you’re keeping her safe.”
He sighs and sits back in his chair, dropping the holier-than-thou persona and acting like an actual human.
“She told you,” he mutters, looking at me with a mixture of confusion, irritation, and utter bewilderment on his face.
“She told me enough.”
He tilts his head, his eyes perusing me. “And why would she do that? Lana never talks to people about her personal life. Ever.”
I shrug. “I guess I’m not people .”
“And why exactly are you here, Mr. Aston?”
“Good God, Dare. Mr. Aston is my father. Please, call me Cole.”
He raises a brow at me mentioning the name that Lana uses but doesn’t voice any complaints.
“I’m here because I’m worried about her, okay? I’ve seen the shit that she’s been dealing with and I want to make sure she’s safe. I need to make sure she’s safe.”
His lips twitch and his eyes dance with humor, but he doesn’t let his smile free.
“You care for her.”
No shit, I care for her. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.
“I do,” I admit.
He nods slowly, his eyes analyzing me for a moment before he sits forward, his hands clasped on the desk in front of him.
“Then here’s what we’re going to do.”