Chapter 5 – Dakota
COME ON IN AND GET TRAUMATIZED
DAKOTA
“Alright, I’ll give you a few minutes to find a partner.”
Professor Hawkins gathered the small stack of papers from his lectern and made his way to his desk in the corner of the room. I leaned back in my chair and watched the students scurry around and pick their partners.
It would be pointless to try and find a partner. Not a single person here would ever willingly come near me, and besides that, this class had an odd number of students.
That was fine with me, I didn’t mind having to do this project alone.
After ten minutes passed and everyone had obviously chosen their partners, the professor took his place up at the lectern again and told everyone to quiet down.
He began writing down each pairing, and when it was my turn, I told him it was just me.
“What?”
I shrugged. “It’s fine, I can do it alone.”
Professor Hawkins shook his head. “No, no, this is a group project. Can I have two students volunteer to work with Dakota?” He looked around the room where not a single person raised their hand. Everyone was looking down at their desks or in the opposite direction.
It was kind of funny.
The door burst open and every head turned to watch a flustered Reese come barreling into the room. A wave of excitement rolled through me, and I sat up straighter.
He looked a little out of breath as he scanned the sea of faces staring at him, and when his eyes locked onto mine, my heart skipped a beat.
Reese stared me down as he stood just inside the doorway. A million different emotions seemed to clamor for dominance—shock, fury, hopelessness, irritation, disbelief. The one that won in the end was irritation, and he dragged his feet to the only available seat in the room—the one next to me.
“Hey,” I said as he tried to scoot away from me. He ignored me, and my skin started to prickle.
“Young man,” the professor called to Reese. He picked up a packet—the one he’d passed out earlier—and walked over to us. “Please try to arrive on time.”
“Sorry, I got lost,” Reese said, looking sheepish and offering our teacher a small, apologetic smile.
“Everyone in class has already paired up for a group project. You can find the details here, and you can also partner with Dakota since he’s the only one without a partner. While I’m not happy you arrived late, you seem to have solved this little problem, so welcome.”
I kind of resented being called a problem when I hadn’t even done anything, but whatever. Now Reese was my partner and there was no way he’d be able to ignore me anymore. I smiled and rested my head on my hand, letting my gaze drift over my new partner.
Reese paled as the professor turned around and headed back to the front of the room. His wide eyes flew to mine, and I didn’t like the mild panic in them. What was there to be afraid of?
He pulled his chair closer to his desk and grabbed a notebook from his bag, not looking in my direction again.
I leaned toward him and whispered, “Hey. I don’t bite, you know. I think that’s more your thing.”
His jaw ticced, but he said nothing. I studied his profile, a little disappointed that I couldn’t see the mark on his face from this side, which was disappointing because I was slightly obsessed with it.
Because I couldn’t see that pretty mark, I let my gaze drift over what I could see. He had the softest-looking skin and wide, full lips that were pulled down in a frown at the moment.
I leaned even closer. “What are the chances that we’re roommates, and now we’re partners in the same class? Feels like fate, doesn’t it?”
Reese set his elbow on his desk and covered the side of his face with his hand, blocking me from view. He had a small, dark pink mark on his wrist that looked similar to the one on his face. Were they birthmarks?
I scooted closer to Reese, whose shoulders went up. “Hey, are those—”
“Mr. Voss, please pay attention.”
Ah, damn it.
I gave the professor an apologetic wave. “Sorry.” My shoulders slumped as I faced forward and picked up my pen, fiddling with it.
“Get your textbooks out and turn to page fourteen, please.”
Reese had been scribbling something in his notebook, but froze when the professor mentioned textbooks. He flushed and hunched lower in his seat.
The sound of pages being flipped filled the room, but he didn’t reach into his bag to get a textbook.
Did he not have one?
I picked mine up and slid it over to his desk. “Here.”
He glanced at me, then pushed it back my way. “It’s fine.”
I shoved it back. “Just take it, Reese. Professor Hawkins deducts points if you don’t have your book to participate.”
His gaze darted to the professor, who was writing something on the board, then back to me.
“I didn’t know there was a textbook for this class,” he whispered. “It wasn’t on the list.”
I shrugged. “You can just keep it, I’ll get another one.”
He looked at me like I was absolutely insane, then shook his head. “No. It’s yours.”
“What, you don’t want it because I touched it?” Amusement flickered through me as he frowned.
“No,” he said with a scowl. “It’s just that it wouldn’t be right. I’ll go buy my own la—”
“Boys, is this going to be a problem?” Professor Hawkins raised a brow, and the whole class turned to look at us.
“No, sir,” I said loudly. “I was just asking Reese if I could share his textbook since I forgot mine today.”
The professor sighed. “Make sure you bring it next time or I’m taking points off.”
“Yes, sir.”
He turned back around and started talking again, so I leaned in toward Reese and whispered, “No give-backs.”
He was squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing his forehead.
He was so fed up with me.
Class dragged by and I barely paid attention to anything other than Reese.
When we had to take notes, he was forced to move his hand away from his face, but he still ignored me.
I watched him scribble notes in his extremely messy handwriting, watched his face slowly relax like he was forgetting I was right here.
Watched him chew on his bottom lip over and over again.
When I shifted in my chair because watching him was making me hard, his eyes shot to mine, and he frowned.
I winked at him, and he scoffed and looked away, angling his body away from me. But not before I saw the redness of his cheeks.
Damn if all his reactions weren’t amusing and arousing.
That blush looked so pretty on him, and I wanted to lick it. Bite it. Kiss it. Rub my face all over his. Was the mark on his face as soft as the rest of him looked? Or did it feel different? I wanted to find out.
I was fucking weird, wasn’t I?
When class was about to end, Professor Hawkins said, “Please make sure you exchange phone numbers with your partner and carve out some time this week to work on the project. I want the first general plan for your composition by the end of class next week!”
Reese was up and out of his chair the moment the professor was finished talking, making a beeline for the exit.
I grabbed my bag and jogged to catch up with him. Why was he so damn fast?
“Reese!” I followed the back of his head for all of ten seconds before he disappeared into a throng of students that poured out of a different classroom. I pushed my way through the crowd and caught sight of him again right as he stepped through the door to the courtyard.
I burst through maybe ten seconds after him and didn’t see him anywhere.
He was a fast little fucker.
Well, I’d see him soon enough. I’d let him get away this time.
I mean, I had to, because I couldn’t even find him, but still.
I shoved my hands into my pockets and walked toward the cafeteria.
I’d forgotten to bring my snacks with me today and I was starving—but should I get Reese something too?
I hadn’t seen him eat at all, and I wondered if he was having trouble affording it, although that wasn’t really my business but I kind of wanted to make it my business.
I just hoped he came back earlier than he did last night because he hadn’t returned until after I was asleep. I waited up until midnight but he still wasn’t back, and I’d just drifted off at some point after that.
He hadn’t said anything about the night light, which was good. My last roommate hated it. He would always unplug it or steal it and hide it somewhere and I’d have to buy a new one, but he just kept taking them.
So I kept buying them.
Reese didn’t appear to mind it, though. He only seemed to be bothered by me.
I wasn’t sure exactly what it was about him that had caught my attention so thoroughly, but I hadn’t been able to get him out of my head since that first day at the cemetery.
Was it because he was interesting to look at? After all, it was that big mark on his face that had initially caught my eye. Or was it the fact that he was so different from everyone else here?
And those eyes of his…
They were such a strange combination of colors that kept changing; green, gold and brown framed by long, dark lashes. Eyes that were always narrowed at me, full of hostility. And then there were those soft, pouty lips that were always pulled down in a frown.
The way he ignored me only made me want to try harder to get his attention. I hadn’t wanted to get anyone’s attention in years, had fully given up on my family—except for Val—and didn’t really care about anyone else.
But Reese was pretty and vicious and…well, I’d never thought of another guy as pretty before, but that didn’t really matter, did it?
There was one image I couldn’t get out of my mind—when he’d grabbed for my knife and I’d pinned him to the ground.
Seeing him laid out beneath me like that, looking so pissed off…it had turned me on. I’d gotten so hard so quickly while straddling him—this literal stranger beneath me—that I’d jumped up and walked away to go cool down in a confused state because fuck.
I’d liked it way too much and I didn’t know why.