Chapter 7 #2
“You can tell yourself whatever you want,” I murmur against his ear. “But your heart’s trying to beat its way out of your chest, and that little cardiac monitor on your wrist is telling me everything I need to know.”
I lean closer, trapping him between the cold tile and the heat of my body. Every part of me wants to close the last inch. I don’t. He’s shaking hard enough to move the water between us, and when his gaze flicks toward the exit, I know exactly what he’s thinking.
“Think that was a question? Well, it isn’t. I need to know where you are. I need to know you’re not wandering into libraries, back alleys, and empty corridors after dark when someone’s already close enough to make you panic.”
He stiffens, his back hitting the stone with a dull thud as his hands brace harder against my chest. “What do you actually want from me? I came here to study, and a lot depends on that, so if you want something, just say it.”
I stare at him, dragging my gaze slowly over his face before shaking my head. “You really don’t get it, do you?”
His jaw tightens. “Then tell me.”
I exhale, wishing he’d let it drop as I crowd him closer against the tile. “I want you where I can see you. And I want you to stop pretending you don’t know what the hell you’re doing to me.”
“I don’t,” he snaps, shoving against my chest. It isn’t enough to move me far, but it’s enough to make me shift, which is more than I’d expect from someone built like a strong breeze.
“Bullshit.” Crowding him right back against the tile before he can get any ideas about winning, I smirk. “Don’t act like you hate the attention, Rowan.”
Blinking at me like I’ve genuinely caught him off guard, Rowan’s green eyes flash with pure confusion before his expression hardens again. “Let me go.” He shoves at my chest again, harder this time, his palms slipping against my wet skin.
And then the little bastard surprises me.
Before I can catch what he’s doing, he ducks down and slips straight between my legs underwater.
“You little—”
I twist too late, already knowing I’ve been played. He’s gone, cutting through the water fast and clean, putting distance between us before I can get a hand on him.
I just stand there staring after him before a laugh breaks loose. Because of course he does that. Of course the shy little scholarship student finally grows teeth. And I love it more than I should.
Doesn’t mean I’m letting him get away with it, even if he’s already halfway across the pool by the time I turn.
He catches the edge by the locker-room side and hauls himself out in one quick movement.
Water streams off that narrow body in silver lines under the lights.
He stumbles on the wet tile, breath tearing out of him, then spins back toward me, soaked, flushed, wild-eyed and furious. “Stay away from me,” he snaps.
“Or?” I let my gaze drift over him. The soaked hair. The flushed skin. The way his hands strangle the towel. Honestly, if Dad could see me right now, he’d revoke my assignment on principle.
He backs up another step on the wet tile, jaw set, one hand clenched tight around the towel he yanked off the hook. “I mean it.” His chest is heaving. His eyes are huge.
“Aw, you don’t like the attention?” Pushing wet hair back off my face, I pout at him. “Most people would kill for a smile from me.”
He rolls his eyes so hard I’m honestly impressed.
Turning away, he drags the towel over his hair.
“I know who your family is,” he mutters.
“I know what people say about the Virels. I can assure you, I haven’t done anything illegal and I don’t want to be involved in whatever trouble follows people like you.
I don’t know what you think I did, or what you think I know, but I don’t belong in whatever this is. ”
I just look at him because that, at least, is true. He doesn’t belong in any of this, not with people moving around him in the dark and men like me already looking too hard. He got unlucky.
But that doesn’t change a damn thing.
“You’re right.” I step out of the pool, catching his gaze drop before it snaps right back to my face. Water runs down my body and hits the tile between us. “You did end up on the wrong radar.”
Rowan scoffs and looks away, his fingers finding the medical band at his wrist, as though he needs something solid to hold on to.
“But that’s not your problem anymore.” Closing some of the distance again, slower this time, I hold his gaze. “It’s mine.”
Rowan looks away again, tightening his grip on the band, and for the first time all night seems genuinely lost for words.
“Get lost,” he finally snaps, voice rough and breathless before heading for the locker room at a pace that’s not running but suspiciously close to it.
I stay where I am, water dripping down my face as I watch him go.
Holy hell. All long limbs and wet skin and stubborn pride.
He keeps his shoulders locked back, as though that could hide the shaking.
He doesn’t look back, just keeps walking, as though he can outrun the fact that I’m still here watching every step.
“Don’t worry, baby. You can keep running if you want. I’ll still find you.”
His shoulders jerk, but he doesn’t look back, and I drop backward under the water.
By the time I surface again, the door has already swung shut behind him, the bratty little no and rough get lost still echoing through my head. The cold water barely registers, and somewhere along the way this stopped being something Dad asked me to do.
I’m having way too much fun.
Finally, I get out, bracing both hands behind me on the tile before pushing myself up. My cock is still half hard, and that alone almost makes me laugh. All that from a few minutes of him fighting me like I’m the worst thing that ever happened to him.
He’s going to be so much trouble.
The air hits my skin, but I barely notice while pulling on my clothes, my mind replaying the way Rowan looked when the fight finally went out of him.
I wander back to my dorm through silent corridors before dropping onto my bed and pulling out my multi-slate.
The first thing waiting for me is the family group chat.
Virel Disaster Committee
Lucan: Somebody tell me why Rafe is apparently throwing people through furniture again
Rafe: In my defense, he started it
Lucan: You say that every time
Marius: Is he still conscious?
Rafe: Barely. But if I may say so, he deserved it
Marius: That’s what you always say. Speaking of missing family members, where the hell is Ciaran?
Lucan: Pool
Marius: At this hour?
Rafe: That’s suspicious
Lucan: Extremely
Letting out a long sigh, I scrub the towel through my hair and glance down at the screen again before typing a reply.
Me: I’m on my way back, you fuckers
My mouth twitches despite myself. Idiots. Ignoring whatever nonsense is about to follow, I tap out of the group chat and open a different conversation instead.
i liked the way your freckles lit up when I touched you