23. Mason #2
“Wait-listed at one, but the rest were rejections or I’m rolled into the normal admissions cycle. I looked up how many people make it in off the waitlist or get in from my situation and it’s barely any.”
“And the people that do probably pull strings or parents make a big donation to get them in.”
“Exactly.” Her voice was watery and wobbly.
“What other options are there?”
“Those are the only accelerated joint programs in the country.”
Her small, broken noise of confirmation stabbed at me, right between the ribs, twisting in my chest. This wasn’t pain I could solve. It wasn’t pain I’d inflicted. I hated seeing her like this. I’d been able to fool myself into pretending I could, but it had been like cutting off my right hand.
“I’ll be okay. I’ll be okay.”
I wasn’t sure if she was repeating that for me or herself.
“Of course you’ll be okay.”
“After I get some sleep, I’ll come up with a new plan.” Her voice cracked. She shook her head like she was trying to ward off these feelings.
I kissed the top of her head again. “You’re allowed to feel bad about this. You’re allowed to fall apart. I’ve got you.”
She turned her face into my shirt and shuddered a bit before brushing her cheek across my shoulder. Her lips grazed my neck and I snapped an iron grip of control on everything below the waist. Lilah curled up on me, rubbing against me, and the punishment of restraint had never felt so sweet.
“I got your shirt all wet.”
“You can set it on fire, if you want.”
A chuckle escaped her, and I gently held her hair and tilted her head so I could look into her eyes.
“You don’t have to do this alone, okay? I’m here.”
She stared into my eyes, searching.
“Do you trust me?”
Her throat tightened, then her whole body relaxed and she nodded.
Not the words I craved, but it would do for now.
She put her hand on my cheek and nudged me closer.
I didn’t need any more urging and captured her lips with mine.
The kiss started slow and easy but got hungrier and more passionate. A melding of lips, her tongue grazed mine. And before I knew it, she was straddling me on the chair, her knees on either side of my thighs.
My hand cupped her ass and pulled her harder against me.
The control of my below-the-waist attention began to slip. I had to stop. I needed to stop. Lilah had just gotten some messed-up news. I couldn’t ask her if she trusted me and then give in when she was vulnerable.
And my dick cursed me from the temporary mental jail.
With my arms wrapped around her, I gently pulled her back.
Panting, chest heaving, no longer looking haunted and sad, she stared at me in confusion.
I rested my forehead against hers. “I brought you something.”
Her head tilted with curiosity. “What?”
“You’ll have to get down first.” I patted her hip.
“Do I have to?” Her voice, raspy from crying, did crazy things to my insides.
No, stay here forever. “If you want to see what it is.”
She peeled herself away and slid off me.
To think, a month ago, she’d never have let me near her. Now she seemed to crave the contact. Not as much as I did though.
She followed close behind, both of her hands wrapped around one of mine.
I crouched by my bag and tugged the zipper open one-handed. Inside was the container filled with green and brown I’d scored off Galen.
I turned and presented it to her.
“The bacon?” With both hands, she snatched it away, sat on the edge of her bed and popped open the lid.
The smell wafted through the air.
“Oh god.” At her groan, my dick forgot all about the shore leave and pushed against my zipper.
Lilah motioned me toward her. “Come.” Close.
“And have some.” She held out half a bacon-wrapped asparagus spear.
I knelt between her legs.
Her eyes widened.
I rested my hands on her thighs, fingers massaging her.
“D-do you want some?” Her thick swallow sent an electric bolt of satisfaction through me.
“So I wasn’t the only one affected?”
Lilah’s eyes filled with a different kind of hunger.
“By the bacon,” I teased and wrapped my hand around her wrist while I ate the food from her grasp, not stopping until I licked the salty, sugary mix from her fingers.
A tremble raced through her and she dragged her thumb across my bottom lip.
“Did you want some more?”
The door flew open, a cold blast snapping against my back.
“Lilah, I just saw your—” Ryker’s voice sliced through the thick, delicious tension flooding the air.
“Rye!” Lilah jumped up, nearly embedding the button of her jeans into my forehead.
“Mason.” Ryker slammed the door closed.
I stood and slid one arm around Lilah’s waist. “Ryker.”
He stared at me a little wild-eyed, panting. “What’s he doing here?”
“He came over to bring me these.” Lilah held up the asparagus container.
His gaze zeroed in on my hand around her waist, her body tugged against mine.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, not liking how the flushed tint to Lilah’s skin was less about what I’d been doing to her fingers and more about being embarrassed that Ryker had interrupted.
Also, next time I came over, I was locking the damn door. Was there a Lilah Protection Alarm that was broadcast whenever I was alone with her?
“Lilah texted me about her college situation.”
I kept my arm around her despite the sting that she’d texted him and not me.
Lilah’s head whipped up. She met my gaze and pressed herself closer to me with one hand over my heart. “I let him know I couldn’t tutor him tonight.”
That helped calm the hair-standing-on-end feeling that flooded me when Ryker was in her space. Yes, I was a territorial asshole. Didn’t care when it came to Lilah.
“I know you’re losing it about not getting in, but we can come up with a plan,” Ryker said.
“I’m okay now. Mason helped me through my freak-out.” Lilah’s cheeks reddened.
I let her disentangle herself from me, trying to keep my rabid need to have my hands on her at bay.
Ryker turned his laser-focused gaze to me. He stepped closer to Lilah and held on to both her shoulders. “It’s okay if you’re not okay.”
“Stop trying to upset her.”
She was finally smiling again. Flirting, not feeling like total shit, and he barged in here wanting to be the hero.
“She’s been working toward this for years. Excuse me if I don’t think a quick convo with you fixed this,” he snapped.
“Have one of these and you’ll feel better.” Lilah shoved the container toward him.
“What the hell is that? And no, I don’t want one. I want to know why he’s here right now.”
Her pursed-lipped disapproval at him made me happy. I wasn’t trying to deny it. But then she shifted and glanced at me nervously. She set down the container. “We’re kind of seeing each other.”
Ryker paused, then jolted back to life. “No the hell you aren’t.”
My eyes snapped to Lilah. So she hadn’t told him yet. The best friend who never seemed to be able to keep his hands off her. Annoyance at his presence needled even sharper at the base of my skull.
“Rye…come on.” Lilah glanced back at me.
He stared at her in disbelief and tried to use his size to corral her away from me. “No, you’re not seeing him because he’s a piece of shit and you’re smarter than that.”
I flew across the room to where he’d tried to corner her. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
Ryker could say whatever he wanted about me, but talking shit to Lilah was over the line.
I shoved him. He stumbled and knocked over the kitchen chair but kept himself upright.
He had his finger in my face, neck muscles straining, baring his teeth. “Where the hell do you get off telling me how I can talk to my best friend, especially after everything you pulled with her this year?”
My vision tunneled, adrenaline pulsing through my veins.