Chapter 19
NINETEEN
NOAH
Gracie yawns and stands from the sofa, stretching her body and I have to fight to hide my reaction when her hoodie rises and shows off a strip of her bare stomach before things get really fucking awkward.
And really fucking dangerous, seeing as her brother is right next to me.
Not that he’d notice, since he’s half asleep. I think he’s been waking up earlier and earlier every day trying to catch Lana before she sneaks out each morning.
Fuck knows what time that girl is getting up and where she’s going so early every morning, since Cole hasn’t successfully managed it yet.
She tiptoed in a while ago, but only I clocked the movement. When I glanced at her from the corner of her eye, she put a finger to her lips and urged me with her eyes to keep quiet, a glare on her face that promised danger if I opened my mouth.
It’s fair to say I didn’t breathe a word about knowing she was here.
Nope, I kept my mouth shut and my eyes averted so no one would pick up on me looking at her.
I like Lana, I do, but I’m pretty sure that girl has a screw loose.
Logan went to bed a while ago, and Harley is sleeping peacefully in the armchair.
How long that will last, I don’t know, since the position he’s in looks uncomfortable as hell with his head basically hanging off the side of the seat and his arms bent at a weird angle.
“I’ll walk you back to the dorm,” I murmur to Gracie and stand as well, making Cole’s eyes shoot open.
“I can walk her,” he mutters, and I snort.
“You’re half asleep already, man. I don’t mind walking her.”
Please, please, please don’t push me on this.
It was bad enough earlier when he was suspicious of us doing literally nothing but watching a movie, if he starts to doubt my intentions too early then things really will go to shit.
As if trying to prove my point, he yawns and quickly agrees before fleeing to bed, probably hoping to see if Lana is there, and hoping she’s awake. I have no doubt that Lana is either fast asleep already or will be pretending to be for Cole’s benefit.
Gracie shoots a quick glance around as we head out of the theater room, as if making sure she won’t be overheard before whispering, “You don’t need to walk me back, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen.
I’d never miss out on having one on one time with her.
I shake my head, shooting her a pointed look. “Not gonna happen, little one,” I say sternly, using the nickname for her that I’ve used for years.
It’s strange, how I feel the need to use little one when we’re in friend mode, but love or babe when we’re more… intimate. The thought of calling her little one when we’re having sex just doesn’t sit right—probably because that’s my platonic nickname for her? I don’t fucking know anymore.
I grab my jacket from the hook near the front door before sliding on my shoes while she does the same. “We talked about this earlier. No going anywhere on your own if you can help it.”
She sighs a long, drawn-out sigh but doesn’t argue and I take that as a win. I open the door and wait for her to exit before following behind her, since I’m a gentleman and all that.
Would a gentleman stalk a girl and scare the shit out of her?
I don’t really care for the answer, since nothing will stop me now that everything is in motion.
I used to be overly conscious about acting on my feelings for Gracie, since I didn’t want to fuck up my friendship with Cole, or her relationship with him. But there’s no going back now.
I can’t keep denying myself.
She’s written into my DNA and like hell am I ever going to let her go.
I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
Or if she wanted me to.
It’s too late to turn back now, I’ve had a taste of her and that’s it, she’s in this with me whether she wants to be or not.
Obviously, I’d prefer her to be with me willingly, but I’m not above playing dirty if I need to.
I walk next to Gracie, close enough to calm the raging need I have to be near her but not too close that she would find it weird.
I don’t take my eyes off her as we walk, and I have to hold back a laugh as she warily glances around as though she’s waiting for someone to jump out at us.
As if she’s waiting for me to jump out at us.
I could tell her that it isn’t physically possible for him to approach us right now, but that would ruin the game.
“Relax, little one,” I say softly. “He won’t come near you while you’re with me. He’s only ever approached you when you were alone, right?” I ask and she nods, her eyes wide as she looks up at me.
Fuck, I’m dying to put my arm around her shoulders and pull her to me, but I can’t.
“Well then, it’s fair to say that he won’t come near you while you’re with me.
If he’s a student here, then he’ll no doubt recognize me and know exactly who I am.
Who my best friends are. People might not be scared of me the way they are the others, but they know we come as a unit, and he won’t want to risk that. ”
How I managed to get through saying all of that with a straight face, I have no clue.
But I’m starting to see how fun this can be.
I’m dangerously toeing the line of what I can say and what I can’t, and it’s even more challenging to stay in character while I spout shit like this, which just makes it even more exciting.
Maybe I have a danger kink or something?
“Thank you,” she says softly and gives me the most heart stopping smile I’ve ever seen that my breathing actually stops for a second.
This.
This is why I’m doing what I’m doing, because seeing her smile like that in my direction is everything I’ve ever wanted, and I want to be the one that puts a look like that on her face.
“You don’t need to thank me, l-little one.”
Fuck.
Breezing past the awkwardness of me almost calling her love and giving myself away, I go back to making the small talk we were doing before the guys arrived home and before I know it, were standing in the doorway to her building.
The doorway where I got her off only days ago.
The way she so clearly wanted to fight me but immediately gave in as soon as I touched her was hot as hell, and the noises she made, the way she was so obviously at war with herself, not wanting to like what I was doing to her while also trying her hardest not to come…
Fuck, it was beautiful.
And I can’t wait to do it again.
I can’t wait to take things further.
I can’t wait to sink myself inside her again, feel her pulse around me as she comes, feel how goddamn wet she is and have her come all over my dick.
The thought has been on a constant repeat in my mind and it’s driving me insane.
I’d love for a repeat right now.
Making her come is the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced, but it’s not on the cards for tonight.
I’m giving her a false sense of security for the time being before I come back to her while wearing the mask.
“Thank you for walking me home,” Gracie says, and I give her a lopsided smile before pulling her into a friendly hug.
It’s nothing out of the usual, and I figure she won’t mind after the way she all but threw herself into my lap this morning. I’ll take all of the little scraps of her that I can get.
It doesn’t last long, but it’s enough to ease the itchiness in me and quieten the voice that is constantly screaming at me to take her, have her, keep her.
“I’ve got your back, always,” I murmur and force myself to take a step back without pressing a kiss to her forehead—or worse, her lips.
Somehow, I don’t think that would go over well.
I stay frozen to the spot until she’s inside the building where I know she’s safe before jogging back to the cottage. I pull my hood up over my head to ward myself from the chill, since nights are getting colder now and I really should have thought ahead and put on a thicker jacket.
Fuck, Gracie was only in a hoodie. Was she cold? That thought irks me more than it should and I want to punch myself for letting my girl feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable.
It’s okay. It’s fine. Next time, I’ll make sure she’s bundled the hell up so there’s no chance of her catching a cold.
It only takes me a few minutes to get home, and I’m thankful that the guys and I had the foresight to make sure Gracie was placed in the building that she was, because being even this far away from her is killing me, so fuck knows how out of my mind I would be right now if she was on the other side of campus.
To my surprise, the lights are on in the kitchen when I head inside, and I find Logan sitting at the island nursing a beer while scrolling through his phone.
I don’t know what the fuck he’s always looking at on it, but it must be important since he barely takes his eyes off the screen for longer than five minutes at a time.
But I don’t think any of us have ever asked.
Logan is private. More private than all of us put together, and he’s so full of secrets I honestly don’t know what he gets up to most of the time when he’s not here or on the ice.
You’d think being a hockey player would mean having team spirit, but he’s barely ever with his teammates, and he’s also rarely here, so fuck knows where he is.
He’s never bothered to tell us much, either.
“Hey man, you good?” I ask and he pulls his attention away from the phone long enough to give me a cursory glance and a quick nod.
Knowing he’s clearly not in the mood to talk tonight, I head towards my room, but I only make it a few steps before he calls my name. “Noah?”
“Yeah?”
“Gracie make it home okay?” he asks, but there’s something in his tone that has my hackles rising and the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
Fucking fuck fuck fuck.
“All good,” I say as casually as I can, though my voice breaks a little on the end.
I’m a good liar, I swear.
But even I’m man enough to admit that Logan sometimes intimidates the hell out of me.
Maybe it’s because I know what he’s capable of.
Or maybe it’s because I know that there’s a side of him that he does everything in his power not to show us.
“Good. It seems her security system’s been playing up lately. We might need to look into it if it carries on.”
His tone is indifferent, and he’s so damn hard to read that I can’t tell if he’s onto me or not. Even if he was, he probably wouldn’t say anything, he’d rather play games with me to try and make me lose my shit.
I clear my throat. “Yeah, we should definitely do that.”
Not.
I flee to my room, having had enough excitement for one day already and not wanting to have it out with Logan. I head to the bathroom for a shower but before I do, I pull my phone out and text Gracie, replying to her question from earlier.
It’s risky.
Far too risky.
But I can’t help myself.
My answer is my best friend’s sibling.