Fifteen
“ A nd why do you have to be this close to me at all times?” I asked Rhodes, irritation filling my voice as we crossed the bustling quad to my next class.
It was my first day of classes and it was everything that I ever imagined it would be… except for one small detail.
When Edison agreed to let me go to college with the agreement that Rhodes would guard me, I figured that the other alpha would sit outside of my classes, or even wait for me in a cafe or something.
There wasn’t much danger that I could see going to school and the only pointing and shooting happening was in the two photography classes that I was taking alongside my prerequisite lower division classes.
But no. Apparently, the two alphas had decided that Rhodes would follow me like Casper-the-scary-fucking-ghost and make it nearly impossible for anyone to approach me.
I wasn’t sure how they’d worked it out, but none of my professors questioned Rhodes’ presence in any classes even though he brought no laptop, no camera, and looked like the epitome of a mobster as he stalked behind me dressed in his usual uniform of leather jacket, dark blue jeans and a dark henley that did little to disguise the shiny pistol tucked under his arm.
He looked dangerous, which despite my best efforts I found completely hot. Curse my stupid brain that must have been permanently scrambled by radiation during treatment.
But that was beside the point. There had been several times during the day when I was trying to talk to a classmate and as soon as they saw Mr. Tall-Dark-And-Scary they ran for the hills.
“Because I’m here to protect you,” was Rhodes’ only answer. The same one he’d given me several times when I tried to scold him for hovering too close.
With a grumble, I pulled out my phone and tried to call Edison again. My new husband had made himself scarce after that first night and I hadn’t seen him since, not even for mealtimes.
I was trying not to let it hurt my feelings, but after all of the touching we’d done, it was growing increasingly harder the longer he was absent.
My call to him earlier hadn’t been answered and I fully expected this one to go unanswered as well, so when the line clicked on and I heard his voice I nearly tripped over my own feet.
“Perrie?”
Rhodes’ arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me from completely eating shit in public and he released me almost as fast as he’d touched me, like I was some kind of leper.
“Perrie, did you mean to call me?” Edison’s voice prodded in my ear again.
I shot Rhodes a withering look over my shoulder before turning to focus on the phone call. “I did. I’m sorry to bother you when you are clearly busy, but we need to talk about Rhodes.”
There was a pause. “What about him?”
“He’s too close! All day people have been avoiding me like the plague because he looks scary as fuck. How am I supposed to go to school and make friends when I’m being followed around by the damn Terminator ?”
Edison huffed out a gravelly laugh that sounded rusty, like he hadn’t done it for a few days. “Perrie, he’s there for your protection. Be lucky I don’t have an entire team following you around.”
I gaped at the idea of being surrounded by the suited security guards that frequented the estate. I’d have to quit school entirely.
“Isn’t there anything I can do about him? He sticks out like a sore thumb.”
There was a sigh of exasperation and I could hear someone on the other end calling his name. “You can make him change if you like.”
“ I can make him? I’ve been trying to tell him to leave me alone all day and he won’t.”
“Hand him the phone.”
“What’s that going to do—”
“Hand him the phone, pet.”
Grumbling under my breath, I turned and held the phone out to Rhodes who looked less than pleased with me as he put the phone up to his ear. “Yeah?”
I watched him listen to whatever Edison had to say, his lips pulling down into a grimace. “You’re serious? Fine, but you owe me.”
He hung up the phone and handed it back to me, his dark eyes a bit thunderous as he took my hand and started to pull me in the direction of the student store.
I sped up, trying to keep up with his long-legged strides. “Where are we going?”
“You want me to look less conspicuous? Fine. But you have fifteen minutes to do it before your next class.”
The student store was packed full of hoodies and other university merch and Rhodes looked at it all with distaste.
I, on the other hand, was excited to make the alpha blend in at least a little bit more.
I started flipping through the hoodies on the rack, but Rhodes stopped me. “It has to have a zipper for this,” he said, lifting his jacket to show me his gun.
“I don’t suppose I can get you to forgo that entirely?” I asked with a hopeful smile.
“Not a chance.”
My smile dropped and I muttered insults under my breath about scary mobsters and their need to have guns at all times as I moved away from the sweatshirts. “Go wait in the changing room and I’ll bring your new clothes to you.”
Rhodes shook his head. “I don’t want you out of my sight.”
“I think I will survive five minutes alone in a campus store. If anything happens I’ll call for you and I’m sure you’ll put that thing you refuse to take off to good use. Now go .”
I could tell he still wanted to argue with me, but also that he didn’t have anything to say to my words either. Because I was right. The most dangerous thing in the store was him and he wasn’t going to be hurting me any time soon.
With a growl, Rhodes left me behind to browse in relative peace.
Taking my time to find a few zip-up hoodies, a plethora of different hats, and a backpack that I hoped would make Rhodes fit in even just a little bit, I brought my spoils to the counter where a familiar face was standing.
“Hey! You’re in my Intro to Photography aren’t you?” the cheerful girl asked as she started to scan my purchases. She was a beta, I could tell it almost right away because of her faint minty scent and the general way she carried herself. Betas always seemed to walk through life like they had no weight on their shoulders. They didn’t have to worry about heats, or pheromones and this particular beta didn’t have to worry about grumpy mobsters that leave you all alone in your nest after making you see stars.
It made me a little bit jealous.
“I am, and you’re—” I tried in vain to remember the name she’d used when we were going around introducing ourselves.
“Kailey,” she provided. “And you’re Perrie Chandler.”
“Yeah, I’m surprised you remembered,” I said, surprised. We hadn’t gotten around to changing my surname on my university paperwork yet.
Kailey flipped a lock of blond hair over her shoulder and leaned in close like she was about to share a secret with me. “How can I not when you’ve got such a sexy shadow,” she whispered conspiratorially.
“Who, Rhodes?” I scoffed at her words, even though something ugly twisted in my chest at her calling him sexy. “He’s just…”
“Your bodyguard, right?”
I blinked, frowning at her. How did she know he was my bodyguard? I glanced over my shoulder at the curtained fitting room that Rhodes had disappeared inside, trying to figure out how long it would take him to get to me if I called.
Kailey kept talking, oblivious to my sudden suspicion. “It’s crazy, I’ve seen you in the papers, but I never thought you’d actually be coming to our school. I mean your brother goes here, but it’s different, you know? ’Cause you were sick and everything.”
The sudden tenseness in my shoulders eased a bit. She wasn’t recognizing me as Edison’s wife, no, but as the mayor’s daughter. The one he trotted out for sympathy votes because of her leukemia.
It had been so long since anyone had looked at me with the expression Kailey was giving me and it grated against my skin like sandpaper. “I’m healthy now, so why wouldn’t I go to school?”
My words came out sharper than I’d intended them to and I watched the girl flinch.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
But I cut her off. “Is it ready for me to swipe?”
Looking deflated, Kailey nodded. “Go ahead.”
I quickly swiped the black card that had been left on my bedside table with a note from Edison telling me it was for whatever expenses I had. Then I pulled the bags of clothing she’d packed off of the counter and gave her a nod. “See you in class.”
My browsing and ill-fated conversation seemed to have taken longer than I thought it had because Rhodes was already peeking out of the changing room with a frown as his dark eyes took in my expression. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I said tartly, shoving the bag at him. “Get changed.”
Rhodes took the bag, shooting me one last concerned look before ducking back inside.
I heard the sound of the bag opening before I heard him scoff out loud. “You’re joking, Perrie.”
Despite my soured mood, my lips pulled up into a pleased grin. “I am, in fact, not joking. Put it on, please.”
A few minutes later Rhodes emerged in the dark blue zip-up hoodie with the university’s logo emblazoned across the front and the new backpack slung over one shoulder.
“And the hat?” I asked, nodding at the baseball cap that he had gripped in one hand.
“Come on, kid, I look ridiculous—”
“The hat,” I sang cheerfully, waiting until he put it on and glared at me from underneath the bill.
Even with all of the gear, Rhodes still had an air of danger about him, but at the very least this would make it easier for me to go to my classes. “Perfect, this is what I expect you to wear every day or some iteration of it.”
“No. This is not perfect. I look like an asshole. I’m too old to be wearing this shit, Perrie, and I haven’t been a student for fifteen years.” Rhodes tugged on the hem of the jacket he was wearing with a deep frown.
In the past few minutes he’d shown me more emotion than I’d seen in nearly three weeks, and while it was emotions like distaste and irritation, I would take what I could get with the stoic alpha.
Linking my arm through his, I tugged him towards the door, ignoring Kailey who was clearly gawking at us as we passed by. “Older people go back to school all the time, Rhodes, now when we go to the next class you need to act like a normal human being and actually interact with our new classmates.”
“Our new classmates? I’m not a student.”
“You are now,” I told him with a bright smile as we stepped into the Quad again. “Congratulations, Rhodes, you’ve just signed up for four years of photography classes with yours truly. I hope you like cameras.”
“Great,” the alpha said, clearly unenthused as I dragged him in the general direction of our next class.
Maybe having Rhodes be my school shadow wasn’t such a bad thing after all. At least I got to see all these new expressions he was making and maybe if I was quick I’d be able to snap photographic evidence of them too.
Two days later and I was in my morning photography class when Kailey seemed to finally gather the courage to talk to me again.
I was more experienced with the camera equipment than the rest of the class, so the professor was already letting me set up to get my lighting test shots of the vase of flowers sitting on a stool in front of me while he explained the basics to the rest of the class.
Rhodes was standing in the small group of students surrounding the professor as she spoke looking like he was only half-listening to her.
After our little dress-up session he’d at least made an attempt to blend in more and my classes had all gone smoothly after that. He even opened up a spiral bound notebook to doodle in while I listened in my other classes.
He still didn’t quite look like the other college students and they all gave him a wide berth of space whenever he walked anywhere, but at the very least they were now slowly starting to introduce themselves to me.
“Hey,” Kailey said as she approached, her own camera around her neck. “I just wanted to apologize for the other day, my mom always says I know how to put my foot in my mouth like it’s an Olympic sport.”
“It’s all right,” I assured her, even though my feelings were still a little bit sensitive from being reminded about my sickness. It felt like every time I tried to forget about it and move on with my life someone, or something dragged me right back into it again.
Like the text on my phone from Dr. Stedmeyer about my six-month checkup. I hadn’t told Rhodes about it yet and I hadn’t had a chance to even try and tell Edison about it because my lovely husband was still MIA.
When I’d asked Rhodes about it at dinner all I was told was that Edison was busy putting out fires. Whatever the hell that meant.
“It isn’t, I just kind of got ahead of myself,” Kailey insisted. “I promise in the future to be good.”
“In the future?”
The girl’s cheeks filled with color. “Yeah, I figure that you look like you need a class study-buddy and lord knows I do. I thought photography would be a fun extra class for my lower divisions. Point at some trees, click a button, and voila ! Easy A. But no it’s like actual rocket science and I’m an engineering major.”
The way Kailey talked was like she was trying to fit as many words as she could into an incredibly short amount of time and it was punctuated by her sucking in a deep, ragged breath in at the end. “So—on that very long note—do you want to be friends?”
She held her hand out to me and I stared at it for a moment, trying to decide if it was worth it to agree.
I hadn’t had friends since my junior year of high school, and while they’d been good enough at the time, they’d all slowly stopped visiting me when they realized that my stay in the hospital was going to be far longer than just a couple of weeks.
After that, as I started losing weight and my hair, my parents forbade anyone but family to visit so my only human contact was with Romey and our nanny.
Reminding myself that I was here to finally get the college experience, I hesitantly reached out and took her hand.
“Friends,” I agreed.
Kailey looked down to our joined hands and at the wedding ring sparkling on my finger. Her blue eyes widened. “Are you married? Is it to Mr. Scary-but-Hot over there? I thought he was your security.”
“Rhodes is not my husband,” I hurried to tell her, secretly wishing I’d taken my rings off before coming to school today. It wasn’t like I could hide my marriage to Edison forever and I was sure there was bound to be news articles about it at some point.
On the surface, like most of the other heads of the Five Families, Edison was a successful businessman, so his wedding to the daughter of the mayor was definitely not something that could be kept under wraps forever.
“But you are married? That’s so cool!” Kailey gushed, holding my hand up closer to see my ring. “He must be rich because damn this is some rock.”
Gently pulling my hand from hers, I glanced over at Rhodes who looked to be trying to glare a hole in the side of my new friend’s head as it seemed like her voice was carrying over to the little group he was standing in.
“You said you needed help with your composition and set up, right?” I asked, hurrying to change the subject.
Kailey looked back over at her station which she hadn’t even started putting together. “Desperately, if you walk me through it like I’m five, I may just understand you and owe you forever.”
“I think I can manage that,” I told her, my insides a little bit warm at finally making my first friend at school.
An hour and a half later and I was walking arm-in-arm with Kailey as we headed to our next class. Even though the class was mainly taught with digital cameras, the professor had offered extra credit for anyone who wanted to process some old university film from the archives and I’d jumped at the chance to see the campus darkrooms for the first time.
It had been ages since I’d touched photography film—not since I was in my photography classes in high school—but I could always appreciate how therapeutic it was to work on processing film for hours on end.
Working in the darkroom later would also give me a chance to avoid the conversation about my checkup appointment with Rhodes a little bit longer.
“I can’t believe you actually want to process all of that film. It’s extra credit in a lower division class, Perrie,” Kailey said as she eyeballed the reusable bag full of rolls of film. “I know you’re a visual arts major and all, but is it really worth it?”
I shrugged, already used to Kailey’s blunt way of speaking after spending the last couple of hours with her. “What can I say? I’m a kiss ass.”
That made the other girl laugh, her eyes going over our shoulders to where Rhodes was following at a close clip. “Does he always follow you this closely?”
Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I nodded. “This is actually him giving me some breathing room.”
“Wow, your dad is so protective even after you’ve gotten married,” Kailey gushed, her blue eyes wide. “My dad’s a lawyer and I can barely get him to take me out to dinner let alone hire an entire commando for protection.”
I let Kailey believe that Rhodes was protecting me at my father’s behest because it was easier than trying to explain the latter.
How was I supposed to say that he was my criminal husband’s second-in-command-slash-lover and that he was protecting me from getting kidnapped by some unknown boogeyman that I didn’t quite believe existed. Not only that, my husband had also offered him up on a silver platter to be the third person in a pack that shouldn’t exist, but the guy couldn’t stand me?
No, letting her believe that Ethan Chandler was actually a good father was much easier.
Or at least it would be if Rhodes would stop snorting like a pig every time Kailey complimented him.
Luckily for me, Kailey seemed to have the attention span of a butterfly because her eyes were already locking onto the next most interesting thing in the Quad.
“Romey!” she shouted, waving a hand wildly over her head. “Over here! Look who I have!”
The crowd parted, showing my little brother, who had been ignoring all of my texts since the wedding, standing with a group of his friends.
Kailey had mentioned him once before at the campus store, but I had no idea they actually knew each other and was especially surprised when she launched herself into his arms.
“Hey, K, how’s it going?” Romey asked, his expression open and happy as he slowly detached her arms from around his neck, his gray eyes meeting mine over her shoulder and immediately cooling.
“Not much, but you didn’t tell me your sister was coming to our school, you jerk!” Kailey gave his arm a little punch. “Nor did you tell me how actually gorgeous she was.”
“Well, that’s because I didn’t know she was coming here .” The air around us seemed to chill by a few degrees as Kailey looked between the two of us with a frown.
“I see that you two need to talk so I guess I’ll head to my next class. Don’t fight you two, you are far too pretty to frown like that. Bye, Perrie! You’re my new favorite Chandler!” she called with a wave.
“I thought you weren’t a Chandler anymore,” Romey scoffed once she was out of earshot. I reeled back away from him, surprised by the hostility in his tone. The last time we’d seen each other he seemed sad about me being married, but now he looked angry as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’m not, but I registered under Chandler at school,” I told him, trying to search his face for the sweet little brother that I’d seen at my wedding a week ago. “Why haven’t you been responding to my text messages?”
“I’ve been a little bit busy. The house has been a shitshow ever since that asshole carried you off like a sack of potatoes.” Romey nodded to Rhodes who was standing just behind my shoulder.
Rhodes didn’t look pleased with being referred to as an asshole because a growl rumbled out of him.
“Watch it, pup, just because you’re her little brother doesn’t mean I won’t lay you out in front of all of your trust fund friends,” he warned.
Turning, I put a hand on Rhodes’ chest, waiting for him to stop glaring at my brother and finally look down at me. “Can you give us a few minutes?”
Rhodes looked down at my hand, his pissed-off expression melting a bit. “I’m supposed to keep you safe.”
“Then you can keep me safe from over by that tree.” I pointed to the tree in question which was about twenty feet away from where we were standing. Rhodes opened his mouth, probably to tell me no, but I didn’t give him the chance. “Please, Rhodes.”
Something about the way I said it must have gotten through to him because his shoulders finally relaxed a bit and he gently pulled my hand away from his chest. “You have five minutes.”
Romey continued to glare at him as he turned to walk away. “She’ll have however long she wants. Last time I checked you’re not her husband, you’re her employee.”
“Romey!” I barked, surprised he would treat anyone like this. “What the hell has gotten into you? You never used to treat people this way.”
Romey was always the first to stick up for the employees that worked in the mansion we grew up in. Our nanny had always instilled in us an appreciation for the people who worked tirelessly to make our privileged lives more comfortable, so it was odd to see Romey speak to anyone like he had Rhodes.
“I don’t like him, Perrie. I don’t like either of them,” he said, obviously referring to my husband.
“You don’t have to like them, but don’t treat Rhodes that way. He’s here to protect me whether you like it or not. Now, will you please tell me why you’ve been ignoring my texts?”
My old phone had been left upstairs in the waiting room on the day of my interrupted wedding to Pack Ricci, and the one I had was the newest model that Edison and Rhodes told me was untraceable.
But even with the new number I’d made sure to get Romey’s number and let him know that it was me.
“I don’t have my phone. Dad took it away as soon as I got back from the wedding because he’s pissed.”
I examined Romey’s face, trying to read between the lines of his words. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
It was rare for Ethan Chandler to raise a hand to either of his two children—that was too much parenting effort for him—but I could count a handful of times we’d disappointed him enough that it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility.
“No—not in that way—but he told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to you anymore.”
“So you just decided to leave it at that?” I couldn’t keep the hurt I was feeling from leaking into my voice. “Never talking to your older sister ever again?”
“It’s not like I want to, Perr,” Romey insisted with a shake of his head, his gray eyes looking moist almost like he was about to burst into tears but didn’t want to cry in public. “But I’m not like you. I can’t just go home to my scary husband. I actually have to live with Mom and Dad every day.”
“Why did you come to the wedding then?” I’d been so happy to see him that day and have him walk me down the aisle, but now the memory was going to be forever tainted because of this interaction.
“I was hoping that you would come back home with me and we could fix everything.”
A harsh laugh left me. “And what? That I would marry into a different one of the five families and pop out a bunch of babies for a pack that can barely stand to be in the same room as me?”
“They don’t hate you—they came to get you that day too, you know?”
As soon as he said it, Romey’s mouth snapped shut and his eyes widened like he’d just revealed something he wasn’t supposed to.
A little lightbulb of understanding popped on in my head.
“You’re the one who let them in that day, weren’t you? You’re damn lucky they were caught early or else you would have had their deaths on your hands.”
I didn’t like Pack Ricci as far as I could throw them, but I also didn’t want to see them be shot and killed on my account.
“No I didn’t, Perrie, I swear. But Elio mentioned something—”
I cut him off. “Elio? You talk like you’re friends or something.”
Romey started to say something else, but my temper was already stoked and I was done listening to a little brother who wouldn’t even stand up for me.
“I’m going to go back to Rhodes now. If you see me on campus, do me a favor and continue to ignore me.”
Turning on my heel I hurried away from him, ignoring him when he called after me.
“Not quite the sweet reunion you thought it would be?” Rhodes asked when I stormed past him towards my next class.
“Shut up.” I snapped, shouldering my bag of film. The good mood that had been built up by making a new friend earlier was gone now and I just wanted to make it through the day so that I could go home and sulk in my nest.