Her body erupts into goose bumps.
But I don’t want her to be afraid. We’re way past that now.
“She was also trying to protect you from the others,” I say.
Turning around, I grab my sweatpants from my stack of clean clothes and put it on under her watchful eye, knowing she’s probably staring at my ass. I don’t care.
“Others? Do you mean the Phantoms?” she asks after a while.
Suddenly, someone slams his fists against the door. “Hey! Open up!”
Dylan.
My fists ball.
“I’m not playing around. You’re having sex with her, aren’t you?” he growls.
“None of your goddamn business,” I rebuke.
“Wow!” He slams his fists on the door again. “You tell me not to and then you go around behind my back?”
Penelope looks at me like I’m making a fuss out of nothing with her arms crossed. “C’mon. This isn’t fair to him.”
She approaches me and holds out her hand.
I just stare back.
Suddenly, she lunges at me and steals the key right out of my pocket.
I try to catch her, but she springs right out of my arms like a fucking mouse jumping away from the cat, and she immediately runs to the door.
“Penelope,” I warn. “Don’t open that door.”
While staring me straight in the eyes, she still shoves the key into the lock.
Goddammit.
She’s testing me.
Seeing how far I’ll let her go.
And the truth is … further than I wanted to.
The bad part is, she knows now.
Grinding my teeth, I watch her open the door.
“You’re gonna pay for that later,” I say through gritted teeth.
“I can take it,” she retorts, then she turns to Dylan. “We’re not fucking.”
“I heard you talking about Phantom. What’s that all about?” He looks over her shoulder, and his eyes connect with mine. “Are you telling her everything?”
I guess now that the cat’s out of the bag, there’s no point in keeping all this from her anymore.
Nodding, I turn around. “The Phantoms aren’t the only other house on this campus.”
Dylan walks into my room like he owns the place and picks up my vape to fill it with some of the new stuff I bought.
Penelope follows him. “Wait, what didn’t you tell me? Who else is there? And what do they want?”
I lie on the bed and sigh out loud. “Dylan, go ahead and tell her since you already invited yourself into my room.”
He takes a whiff and sits down on my chair. “This university is far more than just a college. A lot is going on underneath the surface, more than most people know.”
She looks like she’s cracking her pretty brain over this.
“This college isn’t just for the rich,” he says, smirking. “People buy their way in. People from the criminal circuit.”
She sways her hand around. “And you know this …?”
“Because my father is on the board that pays for all of it,” I fill in. “But you knew that already.”
Dylan smirks. “So you know what kind of people our families are.”
“All of you?” she asks, confused. “But what about Ali? His father is the head of the—”
“Police. A rat,” I interject.
She swallows. Probably finally starting to realize why Ali’s father let us off the hook so easily. “So literally everyone in this school is corrupt?”
“Not everyone,” he replies.
She frowns. “But how do you know who’s the criminal and who isn’t?”
“That’s where the different frat houses come into play,” Dylan responds.
“So you’re telling me these houses are like gangs?”
He nods. “You can think of it like that.”
Her eyes narrow. “So you’re all part of a gang?”
Dylan shrugs. “We prefer to call it a society.”
Penelope yawns and slaps her hand in front of her mouth when I notice.
I rub my forehead. “Enough.”
“No, no, wait, I want to know more,” Penelope stammers.
“You need to sleep,” I say, patting the bed.
“Yeah, time to sleep.” Dylan walks toward her and grabs her hand.
“Dylan,” I warn as I sit up. “She’s staying here.”
“What?” Penelope mutters. “But you have like other rooms, right?”
“Yeah, let me show you,” Dylan says, and he attempts to drag her along with him.
So I march up to them and grab her hand, pulling her to me. “You’re staying with me,” I say, looking at both of them intently. “I need to keep watch.”
“Why?” Dylan scoffs. “Those Phantoms won’t come here.”
“Are you sure about that?” I retort.
Dylan makes a tsk sound. “Whatever. I know how to stake out.”
“You fall asleep too easily,” I say, putting both hands on her shoulders. “I’ll watch.”
He pauses and stares at me for a moment. He knows I’m right.
“Fine,” he says. “But you’d better remember this agreement is between all four of us.” And he gawks at us both before walking out the door and slamming it shut behind him.
Penelope lets out a breath. “You two …”
“Ignore him,” I say as I pull her back onto the bed. “Come. Sleep.”
I lay her down on the second pillow on my bed and put the blanket over us, wrapping my arm around her waist so she stays put.
“Hmm … okay,” she murmurs.
“What?” I reply.
“Well, this is just awkward.”
“Why?”
I can feel her body heat against mine, and my cock twitches against my sweatpants, but I ignore it.
“Well, you haven’t even … taken what you wanted from me.”
Her hand slowly drifts beneath the blanket, but I grab her wrist just before she touches my shaft. “Not now.”
Her breath catches in her throat. “But you always—”
“Then you don’t know me as well as you thought you did, either,” I interject.
She relaxes again.
“Just sleep,” I tell her.
“But I’m not that tired,” she replies.
“It’s the middle of the night. Of course you are,” I reply. “Stop lying to yourself.”
She sighs. “What about you? Are you going to sleep?”
“No sleep for the wicked.”
“So you’re just gonna lie here beside me and wait until I fall asleep?” she asks.
“No. I’m going to make sure this room doesn’t turn into Eve’s old room.”
She sucks in a breath. “But you can’t stay awake forever.”
“Watch me,” I growl back, and I push her closer to me so her head rests in the crook of my neck.
Each strand of her hair pricks at my skin, but the scent … God, her fucking scent brings me back.
“Close your eyes,” I mutter. “I’ll stay here and watch over you.”
“Okay … good night.”
I don’t trust this agreeability. She’s the girl who always fights back, yet …
Has she started trusting me?
My body grows rigid against hers.
I can’t repeat the same mistakes.
I can’t fucking let it destroy me again.
