5. Rae
RAE
This migraine’s hangover was worse than the others. It had hung around all weekend and was still clinging today. I’d had to cancel plans with Pax, but he’d still shown up with a worried look on his face and bags of takeout and groceries so I wouldn’t have to cook all weekend.
He was a good friend. The best. I just wished he’d let me be there for him in the same ways.
But as bonded as we were, there were things he didn’t talk about—like his family or childhood.
I understood that, given what his parents had put him through.
But it wasn’t only that. He’d never once had me over to his apartment, even for one of our eighties movie nights.
It was as if he still held something back from me.
Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I shut the door to my Subaru and beeped the locks. As I started across the parking lot, a buzz lit beneath my skin—the kind you got when you sat up too quickly and all the blood rushed from your head.
Crap. Was I getting another migraine?
A quick survey told me I didn’t have any of the other signs. But that was weird. I hadn’t stood up too quickly.
As I walked, the feeling intensified, like a million little sparks beneath my skin. But it wasn’t only that—I felt a tug, too. Like some invisible rope had been tied around my rib cage.
What the hell was happening to me?
My gaze tracked the sensation, colliding with a tall, dark figure. I nearly swallowed my tongue. Going to this university, I was no stranger to encountering wealthy individuals and people who radiated power and authority from their very pores. But this was different. This was more.
The man looked like he was part biker and part billionaire. He was massive, nearly six and a half feet tall, with broad shoulders encased in a leather jacket that looked both incredibly soft and intimidating. Thick, black stubble covered a jaw so angular it looked like it could cut glass.
His olive skin only made his amber eyes seem more golden, but those eyes were currently pinned on me. And furious.
I nearly stumbled back at the anger I saw there.
I’d never seen the man before in my life and had no clue what I might’ve done to piss him off.
I did a quick memory check. Had I cut him off in traffic?
The sleek sports car he drove looked astronomically expensive, but I didn’t remember committing any driving faux pas.
I swallowed hard and adjusted my grip on my bag, wishing I remembered where I’d put the pepper spray Pax gave me. I was pretty sure it was in the junk drawer in my kitchen. A lot of help that would be.
Still, I pressed forward, giving the stranger a wide berth. But his gaze didn’t leave me. I felt that probing stare all the way across the parking lot and deep onto campus.
So when Nisha appeared at my side, I jumped.
She laughed. “Watch too many scary movies this weekend or something?”
I sent her a wobbly smile. “No, I just…” I glanced over my shoulder, but I didn’t see the stranger anywhere. I should’ve been relieved by that. Instead, I felt…disappointment. Even grief. What the heck was going on with me?
“Hey.” Nisha touched my arm gently. “Are you okay?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Sorry. There was this guy in the parking lot—”
“Not Simon the Sleaze.” Her expression hardened as she spoke.
Simon was—unfortunately—in our cohort, and despite a few women complaining to faculty about his pushy advances, he remained a member of it, likely because there’d never been enough evidence to kick him to the curb.
I shook my head. “No, not Simon. I hadn’t seen this guy before.”
“Wait.” Nisha brightened. “Hot-guy vibes?”
A laugh bubbled out of me as we picked up our walk and headed toward the greenhouses again. “Hot, scary vibes.” That was the best way I could describe it.
She made a humming noise. “Depending on the level of hotness, I could put up with the scary.”
I grinned at her. “A definite one hundred out of ten.”
Nisha let out a low whistle. “Maybe he’s a new student.”
“He looked older.”
“Professor?”
My skin buzzed again. I wasn’t sure I could handle an entire class with that man’s gaze on me, so I hoped not. “I think my brain would short-circuit.”
“Now I’ve got to meet this dude,” she muttered.
We found our way to the massive greenhouse, stepping inside to our class milling around. Some were already at work on the assignment, others chatted. Sleazy Simon’s gaze was on Nisha and me in a flash.
“Okay, I’d take the hot prof over Sleazy Simon.”
Nisha giggled. “That’s my girl.”
“Who’s the hot prof?” Pax asked, looking confused.
“Our girl here had a unicorn sighting,” Nisha explained.
“A unicorn…” Pax parroted, even more confused.
Heat hit my cheeks. “Hot, scary guy in the parking lot. That’s all.”
“What do you mean…scary?” Pax demanded.
“Simmer down,” Nisha ordered. “Just a hottie alert. That’s all.”
Pax didn’t look convinced.
“It’s nothing. Really,” I assured him. “It was just this brooding, golden-eyed god, who looked supremely pissed off while standing in front of his sports car.”
Nisha shook her head. “You left out the rich part, Rae. That’s an important detail.”
Pax shifted uncomfortably. “Did he say anything to you?”
“No. Just sort of glared,” I explained.
He sighed, almost as though he were disappointed.
“All right, class. Let’s get this plant party started,” our professor, who definitely wasn’t Hot Angry Guy, called.
Suddenly, the same disappointment that seemed to have flooded Pax swept through me. Clearly, I needed to get laid. Stat.