Chapter Nineteen #3
“She stays near you,” he repeats. “And she doesn’t drink anything she didn’t open herself.
” Without consulting me, Laura nods quickly, clearly willing to accept any terms that secure her entry.
She releases my arm, blurts a quick thank you and promptly runs out of the main door and across the courtyard.
Her backpack sways on her back, her skirt bouncing around her thighs.
I shake my head before returning to glare at Everest.
“Why—” I start, the question forming on my tongue, but I flinch mid-word when a hand suddenly appears in front of my face.
Everest steps into my space without warning, close enough that I catch the clean, expensive scent of his cologne, and before I can lean back, his thumb presses against the bridge of my nose.
He drags it upward deliberately, until it reaches my forehead, pushing hard between my eyebrows like he’s smoothing out a crease in fabric rather than touching my skin.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” I slap his hand away, pointedly ignoring that he smells too freaking good for this time of the morning.
Everest doesn’t look remotely apologetic.
If anything, he looks amused. He lifts one shoulder in a lazy shrug, fingers flexing once like he can still feel the shape of my face there.
“You need to stop scowling all the time. You’re going to age faster.” I stare at him disbelievingly, my pulse thudding in my throat. Somehow I’ve found myself in the exact position I’ve spent all morning swearing I’d never be again. Pressed up against Everest Calloway.
“You need to stop touching me without my permission,” I bite back, pushing against his chest to create a barrier between us. Except, Everest presses his hands over mine and holds me there, his eyes searching my face too closely.
“Why don’t we drop the pretense. You’re pissed about the articles. I thought you’d be happy.” I reel back as far as his clamped hands will allow, a mocking laugh escaping me.
“Happy?!” I repeat, the fight in me warring with shoving him away and stepping closer to seethe right in his face.
I opt for the latter option. “Have you seen what they’ve printed?
” Everest doesn’t retreat. Instead, he tilts his head slightly, bringing our faces that little bit closer as he studies me.
“Have you seen what they haven’t printed?
” he asks slowly, dripping with condescension.
The question catches me off guard. I was under the impression Everest’s love life was simply more appealing than my trauma, but thanks to the eyebrows being raised in my face, I’m realizing nothing happening around here is by chance.
“My parents threatened every newspaper with financial suicide if they wrote about your…past.”
I blink at him, the anger in my chest shifting into something far more complicated. Suspicion coils in the back of my throat, tasting like ash and pity.
“That doesn’t even make sense.” I flex my fingers against the solidness of his chest, testing his hold on me. Shifting forward, I drop my voice to hide the confusion. “Why would they do that for me?”
This time, the bark of a short, disbelieving laugh comes from Everest. Releasing me, he reaches up and tugs a strand of my hair behind my ear. His hand turns, stroking his knuckles back down my cheek, fingertips lingering on my jaw.
“My parents only act on their own agendas. This is the narrative they want spun.” He gestures vaguely between us, as if the invisible headlines are floating in the empty space.
“It’ll be easier for us all to just go along with it.
” The hallway presses in, pieces of the chessboard being moved around me.
I drop my hands at last, letting them hang stiffly at my sides.
“You expect me to pretend to date you?”
“I expect you to be civil to me in public settings,” he growls with a sense of warning. I open my mouth to argue but he beats me to it. “I’m sacrificing far more in this situation, trust me.” I scoff, looking up at the arched ceiling for a trace of pathetic humor.
“What does Everest, the Golden Boy, know of sacrificing? You have everything you’ve ever wanted.
” Everest’s gaze sharpens at that, his jaw tightening until there’s a pulse ticking beneath the skin.
He exhales through his nose, running a hand through his hair in an effort to regain his composure.
I absolutely do not track the stretch of his t-shirt sleeve against his bicep, which judging by the relieved smirk that creeps back across Everest’s face, was definitely intentional. Charming bastard.
“I have a class to get back to, and since there’s no practice this evening, I’ll see you tomorrow night.
” Everest winks as he turns away, his hand braced on the door to look back over his shoulder.
“Oh, and Meg. If we aren’t looking for history to repeat itself, don’t drink the punch.
Or do. We both know what you’re like for self-sabotage. ”
He bobs his brows and chuckles as he pushes the door wide open, the image of cocky control. I scowl at his back as he enters the lecture hall, hoping it both burns a hole in his back and ages me twice as fast. Talk about self-sabotage.