Chapter 31
“Get a room!”
I smile into Nox’s bare skin, hiding my face against his chest as he reaches for a spare pillow and chucks it in the general direction of Logan’s voice. “This is my room.”
“Then get a door!”
He turns his face to the side as I pull the covers up over my head, fighting a giggle. “You broke my door, or do you not remember that?”
“Then get a sheet or something, I don’t know,” Logan complains. “Your happiness is sickening. I’m actually ill here. I need a place to sulk.”
“Ran into Nova’s boyfriend again?” Nox muses.
“I hate that guy.”
“It’s just a phase.”
“Well, can she move on to the next one already? I thought for sure they’d break up when she went to Paris. What the hell does she see in him?”
“He’s nice,” I murmur weakly from my hiding spot, drawn to defend Nova while secretly agreeing with the guys. Her boyfriend is sort of a dud.
Logan snorts. “You might want to check on your girlfriend. The oxygen deprivation is getting to her head.”
Next thing I know, my blanket is yanked away.
I blink against the sudden brightness and find our intruder leaning casually against the doorframe, his arms and ankles crossed.
After the games, Nox asked Logan to room with him this year.
He wanted to do things differently for our last few months of college—take some time off swimming competitively, allow himself more room for fun.
I thought it was a great idea…at first. It took exactly two nights of drunken debauchery before Logan “accidentally stumbled” into Nox’s door and broke it completely off its hinges.
If he had asked me before he started a wrestling match with Grant, I would’ve told him it was a bad idea from the start. Alas… “Hi, Logan.”
“Hi, Clara.” He arches his brows at me, a teasing smile across his lips. “What were you doing down there?”
My face goes beet red.
Nox chucks another pillow at him. “She was hiding from you. Get out of here. I thought you had class.”
“I did,” he deadpans. “It ended half an hour ago.”
Nox and I glance at each other guiltily. I bite my lip to hide my grin. He doesn’t even bother. “I guess we, uh, lost track of time.”
“See? This is exactly what I mean.” Logan mimics a retching sound, pretending to puke. “You guys are just stomping on my misery.”
“I know this might sound crazy, but stick with me.” I lean up on my elbow while Nox readjusts the sheet with a frown.
But it’s no matter. Logan’s attention is affixed firmly on my face.
He’s staring at me as though I’m about to supply all the answers to his problems. “Why don’t you just… tell her how you feel?”
He scoffs. “Yeah, right.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “Right.”
“It’s not that easy. It never is with Nova.”
“He’s got a point there,” Nox mumbles.
“What are you talking about?”
“She’ll shut me down immediately. She’s like a cornered alley cat when it comes to her emotions.
Trust me. I’ve felt those claws.” A shadow passes over Logan’s eyes.
He blinks it away. “No, I’ve got to trick her at her own game, come up with a way to make her think it’s all her idea.
The boyfriend’s a complication, not the main problem.
Somehow, I need to force her to face the fact that she’s totally in love with me, and I need to make her think she came to that realization entirely on her own, and I need to make sure she never finds out I had anything to do with it. Now…do you have any ideas?”
“For the love of god.” Nox squeezes the bridge of his nose with a deep sigh.
I stare at Logan blankly, then notice the clock on Nox’s desk. “Oh, shoot. I gotta go. I have lab!”
“You’re just going to abandon me in my time of need?” Logan gapes.
“I couldn’t help you even if I wanted to! My brain doesn’t work like yours and Nova’s. I barely even understood what you just said. Now—” I point at him with a stern expression. “Close your eyes and no peeking.”
He snorts but covers his face with his hands.
“You’re my best friend,” Nox comments as I throw off the covers and search the bed for my shirt and bra. “But if I see the slightest crack in your fingers, I will end you.”
“Aha!” I see a bra strap and lunge, nearly falling off the bed.
My shorts are on the ground, so I slide off, despite a silent protest from Nox as he tries to keep a hold on my waist. As soon as my sneakers are tied, I lean over and give him a quick peck—the sound of which immediately makes Logan groan. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, Clara,” Logan singsongs as I brush by him in the door.
With a laugh, I toss a quick bye over my shoulder as I dash the rest of the way out of their dorm.
It feels so good to be back at Swiftmore.
I loved my year in Australia. I learned so much.
I grew so much. I made irreplaceable memories.
But this campus is home. Even with our group dynamics a bit off, the first month of my senior year has been so perfect I can hardly believe it.
I was so worried about Nox when I left LA, but he’s been totally fine.
Shockingly so. He goes out with Logan and the guys on the weekends.
He makes time to see me every day. He’s still training.
He just doesn’t let it control his entire life the way he did before.
He seems to have found some sort of balance, for now.
Though I have to admit, sometimes in the quiet of the night, I still hear his broken voice whispering, What’s the fucking point?
I still see his vacant expression, his hollowed-out gaze.
But then, as if he senses it, he pulls me closer into his heat, his warmth.
His solid, sturdy muscles are so comforting, assuring me he’s right here, he’s present, and he’s not going anywhere.
Maybe he did just need one night to blow off steam.
Maybe he does just need this little break.
If that’s what he’s telling me, don’t I owe it to him to believe him?
“Clara!”
An arm wraps around my waist the second I leave my lab, and I melt into it, the deep timbre of that voice sewn into my soul.
He’s been greeting me like this after almost all my classes, and I, for one, am not complaining.
Nox spins me around until my back gently lands against rough stones.
We found this little alcove on the side of the building two weeks ago, and no, it’s not completely hidden, but it’s private enough I can’t bring myself to protest as he pushes his thigh between my legs and steals my lips for a kiss.
My bag falls off my shoulder, forgotten, as I reach up to thread my fingers through his silky hair, then grip the strands, yanking him closer.
He smiles into my mouth, his large hands burning against my waist as he holds me flush against him, driving his knee a little higher, sandwiching me between his body and the wall.
I sigh into his kiss, my nerves electric, my skin alight.
No matter how much time we spend together, it never seems enough. We could be apart for hours or minutes. It doesn’t matter. The moment he touches me, I burn. There’s no satiating this need in me, in him.
“I thought you’d be at the pool,” I murmur into his lips.
“I’m headed there now,” he answers between kisses. “I wanted to see you first.”
“What were you doing?”
Nox snorts against my cheek, sliding his mouth along my jaw as I arch my head back. “Logan roped me into some video games and a beer. The guy’s in rough shape.”
Ahh. Realization punctures through the haze of my desire. That’s why he’s so minty. He just brushed his teeth. I don’t mind that he’s started drinking, but he knows I don’t like the taste of it on his tongue.
Speaking of…
Nox plunges his between my lips, cupping the back of my head in his palm and shifting the angle of my face, deepening the kiss.
I fist his shirt, starting to go weak at the knees.
He wraps his arm behind my back, holding me up.
I want so badly to ignore the soft din of conversation filtering through the tree branches behind him, the cool breeze brushing up against my cheeks, reminders of exactly where we are and exactly what we’re doing, but I can’t.
“Nox.” I turn my face to the side, the weakest protest.
“No, no, no,” he whispers against my skin, peppering kisses along my jawline. “Not yet. Please.”
I sigh, reveling in the feel of him for a few more seconds, keeping my eyes closed to block out the world.
But we both know we have to stop, not just because it’s probably illegal to keep going, but because he’s him.
During the Olympics, photos of the two of us at some events started circling.
The speculation was rife. Nova’s already taught me not to check the comment section.
Yes, Swiftmore is relatively safe. The campus is small and the students protective of our own, but we’re still just one sneaky video away from a bad situation.
He doesn’t seem as worried about it as he was back in Australia, but I’ll be aware enough for the both of us.
The idea of being in the public eye is still too new to me.
I’m not sure I could handle a full-blown scandal just yet.
He groans into my neck, sensing the shift without my needing to say.
I laugh, scratching my nails across his scalp as he breathes into my skin.
With a reluctant sigh, he pulls his arms away and presses his palms to the wall behind me, as if holding them there by force to keep them from roaming back to my body.
Then he drops his forehead gently against mine.
“You’re cruel.”
“You’re cute.”
“If you really think that, you wouldn’t be ditching me for a whole night to hang out with my sister.”
“To hang out with my best friends,” I correct, rolling my eyes despite my smile.
A mischievous grin tugs at the edges of his lips.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I mutter, because I know exactly what that heady look in his eyes means.