Chapter 37
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
Rory
“Who knew college would require so much studying?” Kenna breaks the long silence between the three of us. We commandeered a table in the library hours ago and have been studying ever since.
It’s been two weeks since we got back from break, which required a lot of explaining on my part to Kenna, and filling Li in on the Mascen situation. I told them about growing up beside him and how we’d both been surprised to run into each other here. They thought it was romantic, some kind of once in a lifetime thing. I wasn’t sure about that but I did know my hatred for Mascen had reluctantly melted into like.
“Well, it is college.” Li nibbles on the end of a Twizzler she snuck in.
“I was being sarcastic.” Kenna tosses a Sour Patch kid at her. “Even with snacks I’ve lost all motivation.”
Closing the textbook, I rest my elbow on the table and my head in my hand. “Motivation left me about an hour ago. My eyes are crossing.”
“Finals are a bitch.” Kenna slides her laptop away from her like maybe the distance will give her clarity.
“And we have three more years of this.” I point out.
She narrows her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”
Li finishes her Twizzler, turning her dark gaze my way. “Tell us more about Mascen. You guys are still talking, right?”
I wave a dismissive hand like it’s really not that big of a deal. “A few texts here and there.”
More than a few but I want to keep that information to myself. We haven’t seen each other in person since he dropped me off. Thanks to classes and both of us studying non-stop it’s been impossible to meet up. He did show up at Marcelo’s one evening and sat at the bar nursing a glass of whiskey. The way Heather kept eyeing him and then me I’m thinking he bribed her for my schedule. I’m also certain she’s planning our wedding and she doesn’t even know our past or that I went home with him for Thanksgiving. If she did she’d move from wedding planning to naming our kids.
“Sexy texts?” Kenna waggles her eyebrows. “Please tell me they’re dirty.” Heat rushes to my cheeks and she gasps. “Oh my God, they totally are! Ugh, tell me about them.” She reaches across the table laying her hand on mine. “I need to live vicariously. I’m lonely.”
“I-I they’re not—I?—”
“Oh, Kenna, leave her alone. They’re still figuring things out.”
Kenna frowns. “But we’re friends. I need details.”
I swipe one of her Sour Patch kids. “There’s really nothing much to tell. We’re flirting, but I haven’t seen him since we got home from break.” I mean, I have at the restaurant, but I know she’ll read more into that than there is.
“God, you’re boring and I need to get laid.”
I try not to smile in amusement and open my textbook back up. “Enough goofing off, we have work to do.”
By the end of the week I’m walking out of my final exam. I feel confident I passed everything, but since you can never really be certain I won’t feel better until I know for sure.
I don’t get far when a hand wraps around my wrist. A squeak flies out of my throat as my body collides with a very solid chest. My eyes dart up to meet Mascen’s. We’re around the side of the building, tucked into an archway. Still anyone passing by might see and recognize us. He does have his hoodie up, which blocks his face for the most part.
“You are such a stalker—a true Edward Cullen.”
“Don’t diss the bloodsucker.”
I arch a brow. “You know who Edward Cullen is?”
“My sisters made me watch the movies.” He shrugs like this information is no big deal.
“Since you’ve went out of your way to pull me aside you must want something.”
A little smirk dances on his lips. He lifts his hands to either side of my head, boxing me back against the brick archway. I narrow my eyes and his smile only grows larger. When he leans forward his hoodie shadows both of us. Anyone that looks over will see what they think is a couple kissing.
His nose glides along the side of my cheek until his lips are at my ear. “Maybe I missed you, Princess.”
A small sound threatens to pass through my lips. I don’t want to admit it out loud but I’ve missed him. Three weeks with minimal contact has been a hell I didn’t expect. It’s weird, since it’s not like we’re a couple, we’re not even friends, but this ‘something’ that we are I like a little too much.
“Did you now?” I finally find my voice.
“Only a little. But don’t tell anyone. I have my street cred to think about.” He brushes his lips against mine, there and gone too quick to be a real kiss.
I weave my fingers into his shirt. “Are you going soft for me?” I arch a brow, fighting a smile.
He growls in my ear, the sound making my stomach dip. “There is nothing soft about me, Princess.” To get his point across he presses his body closer into mine, all his hard lines against my soft curves.
“So, you’re still an asshole?”
“Yes, but I’m your asshole.”
“There’s a difference?”
He wets his lips. “Definitely.”
I wrap one of his hoodie strings around my finger. “What was it you wanted again?”
“Winter break starts this weekend.”
“And?” I wait, wondering where he’s going with this. He mentioned during one of his evenings at Marcelo’s that his family was spending the holiday in L.A. and he didn’t want to go.
“Stay with me.”
The three words catch me off guard. “Where?”
He rolls his eyes. “My place, Princess, where else?”
“Your townhouse?”
The last time I was inside I was fleeing from Cole’s room and yanked Mascen’s towel off and the last time I was there at all I was dropping a heartbroken Cole off.
“That is where I live.” He presses his lips together. “If you don’t want to stay I’m sure I can find someone else to fill your spot, but they won’t be you, Princess.”
“Don’t even play me like that.” I push playfully at his shoulders.
“What will it be? Yes? No? Or, my favorite, fuck you, Mascen—as in the literal sense of fuck me please, baby, I miss your pussy.”
Laughter bursts out of me from the unexpected turn of events. I let the string go and it unwinds from my finger. “Yes—to the staying and the fucking.”
His grin is nearly my undoing. He places a tender kiss on my nose, the gesture sweet and surprising, and starts backing away. “If anyone was ever going to be my girl it had to be you, Princess.”
He pulls his cigarette pack from the front pocket of his hoodie, finally turning away from me. I stay in the archway watching him walk away and the slow furl of smoke billowing behind him.
I think I’m in love.