"Nope, we’ve got it. We'll call you when we make it back home." Dad reached out and squeezed my arm ever so gently again. "I love you."
"Love you too." It hurt to watch them walk out of the room to head back downstairs. For the first time in my life, I felt alone. I turned around and faced the huge room again, wrapping my arms around my body.
As I bent to start unpacking my stuff, I heard an all too familiar voice clearly from my room.
"What the hell are they doing here?" Liam's voice was loud and full of anger. “Did he drop off that guy?”
"What are you talking about?" I heard Bree snapback.
"I just ran into that guy from the party that I had to rescue you from." His voice grew scarily quiet. “Where is he?”
"He was just dropping someone off, but it’s not Nate." Bree's voice squeaked at the end.
"That girl?" His footsteps stomped in my direction.
Great, I hadn't even been here ten minutes, and I was already going to have to see him again. I had a feeling this confrontation would be even more awful than the last.
Chapter Four
Liam stormed into my room. His dark hair was wet with sweat, and his polo shirt molded to his chest. His blue eyes darkened even further to a blue so dark it could pass as black. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Wow, he hated me as much as I hated him. Stupid, sexy asshole. "I'm unpacking. What does it look like?" If he thought he could intimidate me, well, he was right. Though I'd be damned if I let it show. My wolf began to surge forward, ready for action. I grabbed my pillow from the bag and glanced over his shoulder at his sister. "I thought only the smartest and best went here."
"You better watch your mouth." He closed the distance between us and grabbed my pillow from out of my hand, dropping it back into my bag. "Don't bother to unpack. I'll take care of this."
"Dad already knows." Bree's voice grew stronger, but there was a touch of fear in it.
"What?" Liam turned to face-off with his sister. "Then how is she here?"
"Because he was the one who wanted her here." She straightened her shoulders and glanced at his feet. "I told him about what happened at the party. He was intrigued and thought she deserved a chance to be here."
"So you told him she had a smart mouth?" He shook his head, and his dark, hate-filled eyes landed on me. His eyes took on a slight glow. "How the hell did she get up here on this level? She's not related to anyone on the council."
"Wait. This is for council member families?" Now I wanted to know the same thing as him.
"She's my friend. I wanted her to be my roommate." Her eyes moved from me then to her brother. "So Dad made it happen."
"Great, so he's fucking with me." He shook his head and frowned. "Of course, that's why he had me run over here after football practice. I'm assuming you don't need any help then."
Figured he'd be on the football team. The dickhead got everything handed to him on a silver platter. He probably didn't even know what hard work was.
"No, I don't." She ran her hand through her dark brown hair.
"Great." He turned his attention back to me. His body was tense, and he looked down his nose at me. He took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose.
Every other person I had ever thought was a jackass before now was redeemed in my eyes. Liam had that particular look of disgust down, and the fact that he was so damn sexy made it somehow worse. My body wanted to respond to him, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to slap or kiss him. Hell, maybe a combination of the two would do the trick.
"Don't get too comfortable here." He took another step closer to me, his musky sandalwood scent filling my nose. A low growl emanated from his chest.
Fear wanted to overcome me, but I squashed it down as I reached to grab the pillow he'd thrown back into my bag. I straightened my back and locked my eyes with his. I shouldn't do it. In fact, staring him down was going to royally piss him off more. I was challenging him, and even though I knew I shouldn’t, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted... no needed... him to be as infuriated with me as I was with him. Yeah, I may not come from a regal bloodline, but I was still a person and demanded some level of respect. "I didn't ask to come here. It was extended to me, so back the hell off."
"Don’t worry; it can be taken away." He took another step toward me, and his scent almost made me dizzy.
It was officially my most favorite smell, which only pissed me off more. "If so, how am I still standing here." I was being stupid. I was purposely pushing his buttons, challenging his wolf. But no matter what, I couldn't stop myself.
"You won't be for long." Liam took a deep breath and scanned me from head to toe.
His perusal made my body warm, and I took another deep breath, needing to smell him. "You should go take a shower." The words fell from my mouth before I could take them back. "You stink."
"Really now?" He arched his eyebrow as the corners of his lips tugged upward. "Most women don't complain. They like to be the ones who make me sweaty."
Oh, I bet they did. In fact, the thought was a little too appealing even to me. I bet all that pent-up anger made him amazing in bed too. Whoa, I had to stop that train of thought right there. "I bet it's tragic when you can't get off with a girl."
"What?" His eyes snapped back to mine. "What the hell does that mean?"
I needed to stop, but for some reason, he brought the worst out of me. "Obviously, you only think highly of yourself and no one else. Maybe you have to look in the mirror and focus completely on you to finally release. Yeah, I bet that's how you do it."
Bree's snort interrupted the tension between us. He glanced over at her and growled. "This is on you." He headed to the door and stopped to glance over his shoulder at me. "Don't get too comfortable here. I promise you this won't last long." He walked out the door and down the hall. Soon, the main door to our room slammed shut.
“He’s such a dick,” I sighed and realized who I said it in front of. “Uh... sorry, I know he’s your brother.”
"You are definitely going to make things interesting." She laughed as she stepped beside me and grabbed one of my boxes. "Here, let me help you."
"No, you don't have to." I already felt obligated to her now that I knew she was the reason why I had even made it in here. "It's fine."
"What? No." She dropped the box to the ground, and I cringed.
At least it had been the one with only my blankets and nothing breakable. I grabbed the box with my makeup and jewelry box. I couldn't risk her breaking the things inside it. "Are you okay?" I almost felt as if I was on a different planet.
"You can't treat me weird." Bree reached for my box, and I moved out of the way so she only caught air.
Her eyes, which were almost an exact replica of Liam's, flashed with hurt. "Why can't I help you?"
"This has my makeup and jewelry in it." I lifted it a little higher in front of me. "You can't throw it down like you did the other one."