Chapter 38 Kai #2
Haven drops her entire weight, tearing out of my grip, and scrambles up with a such a foul glare directed at me, you’d think I was trying to abduct her.
Suppose I was, kind of.
“Miss Lee!”
We both turn at the voice. Nora waves at Haven, the bangles on her arm clattering. “Over here, sweetie!”
Haven’s expression shuts down immediately. She sends a last glare my way, ignoring Nora as she changes direction and speed walks to the restrooms beside the cafeteria.
“Haven!” Nora calls again.
Haven doesn’t even break stride as she ducks into the women’s bathroom, the door swinging shut behind her.
I hesitate, glancing back at Nora. She’s frowning in confusion, and even looks a little peeved.
Weird.
“I need to speak with you, Mr. Jordan,” Rooke’s voice sends an icy shudder through my body. I don’t dare look back at him.
Fuck.
Before I can think twice, I’m moving toward Nora, putting as much distance as possible between myself and Bastian fucking Rooke.
Because he wouldn’t try anything in front of her...right?
“Hey, Nora,” I say, forcing a smile as I approach her desk.
She gives me a surprised look. “What can I do for you, Mr. Jordan?”
“You’re looking for Haven?”
Nora’s lips purse. “That girl’s been avoiding me since the start of the semester,” she grumps, and then adjusts her glasses like she shouldn’t have said anything, glancing away furtively. “But that’s neither here nor there.”
“Yeah, she’s kinda not feeling well.”
Nora’s eyebrows lift. “Oh? That’s unfortunate.” She glances over my shoulder, and I can feel Rooke’s eyes on my back as he passes through the lobby.
But he doesn’t approach, thank God.
She watches him for a moment, and I’m not sure if it’s her annoyance with Haven, but she gives him a brief scowl before putting back her usual smile.
“You know, maybe you can help,” Nora says.
I force a grin. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You said you two knew each other,” she says, bobbing her head toward the restrooms.
I shake my head. “I did?”
Her eyes narrow. “That’s what you told me when you asked for her number.” She grabs the two halves of her cardigan, drawing them closed over her wide bosom. “I don’t just go around handing out student’s contact details to anyone, Mr. Jordan,” she says in a lower voice.
As if I don’t know. Took a handful of candy bars to sweeten the deal.
“I thought you meant we were fu—dating.” I clear my throat. “We’re…friends.”
“Well I don’t know why, but you’d swear what I have is catching, because I cannot get that girl to talk to me.”
“About what?”
Nora blinks at me through her glasses. “It’s her father. I’ve been trying to get hold of him since the start of the semester, but the number I have must be wrong.”
Despite everything, my stomach coils uneasily. “You need to speak to her dad?”
Nora frowns. “Not me. The dean. The meeting should have been scheduled weeks ago, but I suppose everyone had the same number I did.”
No shit.
Bobby Lee probably doesn’t have a phone anymore. Or he’s changed his number again to avoid whichever drug dealer he owes money to.
Jesus, Haven, what’s holding your popsicle stick house together anyway?
Haven comes out of the bathroom, drawing my eyes away from Nora.
“Oh, Haven!” Nora’s bangles make my ears ring as she waves in Haven’s direction.
I thump my fist on the counter. “Gotta go. She needs my help with something important. I’ll have her call you, okay?”
“No, but, Kai, please—” Nora calls after me. Then, as a last resort, comes charging around the reception desk at a surprising speed for an old lady. “Miss Lee!”
Haven spots her coming and makes a break for the exit.
As in she literally fucking runs.
And I go racing after her, because she’s headed straight for Rooke, and he could just scoop her up and toss her in his car, drive her away, and do whatever the fuck he wants to her.
Again.
I skid out of AHC’s front door, spot Haven, and glance up to see Rooke a few yards away. Like the fucking shark he is, he smelled blood in the water. He slows down as he heads for his car, watching her get closer.
Her head is down.
She hasn’t seen him yet as she angles over the parking lot, headed for Greek Row via the shortest route…like she always does.
Never mind the dangers she might pass without realizing.
Never fucking realizing.
I knew Rooke was trouble.
I knew, and I said nothing.
I did nothing.
What was the point of protecting her all those years ago, only to abandon her when a wolf is circling?
Rooke calls out to her, and after a second’s hesitation, she veers and storms over to him.
I stop in my tracks, because fuck she looks pissed.
Good.
Let her punch him in the kidneys, see how he likes it.
I’m grinning as I strut closer, my eyes flickering between them as she goes off at him. Whatever she’s saying is too low to carry, but from the way he tenses, it’s not pleasant.
He turns to walk away, disappearing behind the boulder where he usually parks his car.
Haven isn’t having any of it. She shakes her head, mouth moving a mile a minute as she lunges after him.
“That’s it, Miss H. Tear him a new one. Fucker deserves it.”
I angle to the side so I won’t miss her chewing him out. Screw punching him in the kidney, I hope she knees him in the groin like she did me on Saturday night. I’m still shocked I wasn’t peeing blood after that. Girl kicks like a fucking horse.
Soon as they’re in sight again, I stop walking to watch the fireworks.
Rooke throws Haven a dogged look, shaking his head, mouth moving as he speaks. Her back to is to me, so I can’t see if she replies, but he looks away to laugh, and when he faces her again, she slaps him.
Fucking slaps him.
His head snaps to the side, a hand lifting but never reaching his face. It curls into a fist and drops to his side instead.
Haven’s hands are in fists now, too. I can see her body trembling from here, hear a word or two, but nothing that makes sense.
Rooke laughs again, drops his head a little, shakes it.
Like he’s telling a kid if they behave, they’ll get ice cream.
His lips move, but I don’t know what he says.
I wish I did.
Then I could say it to her.
Because one second she looks ready to claw his eyes out, then she’s grabbing his shirt and pulling him down for a kiss.
I blink and rub my eyes, because this can’t fucking be happening.
But sure as fuck, he’s kissing her, and she’s kissing him. And it’s no fucking peck on the cheek. He snatches her hair. She leans into him like her legs have gone lame.
Heat flushes through me, because I can feel their lust all the way across the fucking parking lot.
My jaw clenches so tight, my teeth squeak against each other.
This can’t be real. We were just tag-teaming Rooke’s pretentious ass in that lecture hall, now this? I didn’t imagine that spark of connection between us when we locked gazes.
…stay the fuck away from me…from us…
Christ, I actually thought there was a future for us. Something beyond the spite and resentment.
“You pathetic piece of shit,” I mutter to myself, hand ripping through my hair as my brain scrambles to make sense of what my eyes just witnessed.
There’s no hope.
…we don’t gotta do fucking nothing…
There’s no us.
And I can’t accept that.
I’ve never been able to accept that.
Haven Lee is mine.
Mine.
And if I can’t fucking have her, then no one can.
I turn back to the main campus building, walking on automatic, each breath landing with a sharp jab inside my chest. But with every step, calm resolution flows into me.
Shock is replaced with something darker, more focused.
I’m glad Haven ripped out my heart and stomped on it. Now there’s nothing holding me back.
I step into AHC’s foyer, my heartbeat slowing as I walk up to the reception desk.
“Hey, Nora?”
She glances up from her computer monitor, blinking owlishly at me from behind her glasses. “Back already?”
“Yeah, turns out Haven didn’t need me after all.” I try to sound glib, but Jesus those words scorch my chest like desert air.
Nora blinks at me expectantly. “And?”
…yeah, and…?
“And…” I rest on my forearm, leaning in to smile at her. “I think I can help you after all.”
The rage hasn’t disappeared. It’s simmering below the surface, ready to explode.
A smile ghosts across my lips as I head for my next class.
I was going to declare a truce with Haven. Let her live her best college princess life while I go about my goddamn business.
But to hell with that.
This is motherfucking war.