I touched Hales’s hand. “Didn’t work out. Don’t think I’ll be dating for a while.”
“Ah, shame.” She pouted, putting her chin on my shoulder. “I really thought you’d get that one. He was pretty much sex on legs.”
I knew sex on legs. I knew dark brown eyes so captivating they were almost pretty. But there was nothing “pretty” about Knight Reed. Knight Reed was a bully. Knight Reed was a tool, and he also had a complete God complex. How else did he think pushing me around and telling me what I could or could not talk about that night would come across? He was also a snob and a half with his ritzy parties and the only reason I hadn’t said anything about that night was the same reason I was in here. He might be out there, watching me. After all, he had my phone number.
“Remember to be a good little dove.”
Those words haunted me, the text message gone but their meaning still lingering in my racing heart. He’d threatened me. Basically told me to shut up and keep my head down. I’d been doing that all week, and it would no doubt ultimately be the reason I squandered away the free tuition both Mom and Ben were getting me. They’d pulled a lot of strings to let me go to this expensive school and, in Mom’s case, even taken a crappy job. She was a janitor when she was way more qualified with her office work background. She could be working as an administrative assistant somewhere and only came here because Ben, her new husband, had gotten a job here as campus police. Even his work hadn’t been able to cover my schooling, so Mom too made the sacrifice to work here, for me.
Yeah, you gotta get your ass up today.
Deciding on that, I squeezed Hales’s arm, assuring her once again everything was fine and I actually was going to class today. This of course sent her through the roof, so driven like our other roommates. None of them really wanted to see me get behind, and we had gotten rather close despite being placed to live with each other. Living in the dorms at all instead of with Ben and Mom in town was another reason I was getting my shit together and going to class. I managed to get the grades enough for a partial housing stipend, but they were still filling in the gaps. I was definitely taking advantage of the situation and most assuredly letting Knight Reed win. I could go to class. Him and all his threats wouldn’t scare me.
After showering, I put on a pair of shortalls and a tank, that top and shorts from the other night long buried in the trash the night I got home. My roommates actually ended up fishing them out of it, telling me they were designer, and I’d lost my mind. I let them have them because I just wanted to get rid of them in the end.
I settled for my comfort of casual clothing and tennis shoes, grabbing my bag before sprinting across the street toward campus. The buildings were all close enough that cutting through the quad got you to most classes and the rest, the transit authority. The buses ran every ten minutes in the rural Midwestern town, even more here on campus. I’d lived a lot of places over the years with my mom before she married Ben, seen a lot of things, and nothing was as nice and easy as being in a small town. The only thing that came close to Pembroke U had been when we lived in Maywood Heights, about a two hour or so drive from here. That was probably how Knight Reed and his lot ended up here, a Richie Rich school for the Richie Rich snobs.
I made it to my psych class with moments to spare, the class size about two hundred or so in the wide auditorium. Immediately, I scaled the stairs toward my normal seat in the back, and so goal-oriented, I literally made it up to the top level before I saw him.
“Remember to be a good little dove.”
Those words froze me stiff, those brown-black eyes staring back at me from the top row of class. Knight had his arm draped lazily over one of the stadium seats, a black boot up on the chair in front. He literally look like a god on a throne, the rest of his freshman minions rustling around and trying to find a seat in front of him. I mean, this wasn’t a freshman class, but it was a 110 elective and the basic level.
His arm dropped as I stared, and making eye contact with me, he jerked just two fingers to come his way. Plenty of seats around, I definitely had more options, but something told me if I took one, he might chase me, but not just that. Him chasing me meant he’d have to get up to do that, and something really told me that inconvenience might be a mistake.
Swallowing, I took quick steps but left a seat or two between us. This of course didn’t matter. He eased that big body up, and once he did, he hugged that massive frame of his right up against me.
I wiggled in my seat, a harsh heat perspiring sweat down my spine and jerking my belly. Especially when Knight settled his arm across the back of my chair and pushed his fingers under the strap of one of my bibs. He tugged at it. “Could you dress more like a little kid?”
Definitely not needing his fashion advice, I worked my shoulder to remove his fingers. I lifted my back off my chair. “Are you even in this class?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?” I faced him, those pretty eyes with a hint of mischief boring into mine.
His hand folding over my shoulder, he brought me closer, tugging at my tank this time. “I would have assumed that was obvious.” His finger played at the top of my joint, almost touching my bra strap when he reached in. “Checking on my little dove.”
Like fuck he was. My hands sweaty on my bag, I reached inside, taking out my laptop to ready myself for class. Professor Hershel had already made his way in, getting ready at the podium, and I turned on my MacBook. “Do I even want to know how you know my class schedule?”
“Probably not.” He played at my joint again, and when he leaned over, the heat of his lips ghosted over my top and bibs.
I sucked in a breath. “What are you doing?”
“Smelling you.”
“Why?”
A shrug and he pulled back, his smile coy. “Anyone ever tell you, you smell like candy?”
“Not lately, no.” I worked my shoulder away again, trying not to reveal how much I burned by what he said, did. My hands curled on my keys. “Why are you in here?”
“Like I said, checking on you. Making sure you’re okay and holding up your end of the deal.”
I fought myself from smirking at what deal. He told me something and I had no option but to abide by it. “You’re horrible at deals, you know? Usually deals require you to have options.”
“Oh, you always have options, Greer.” Pulling back, his wide chest stretched beneath his T-shirt. He dashed up his eyebrows. “It’s just up to you whether you want to do something stupid with them.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I don’t threaten.” He honed in. “But I do always get what I want.”
“That sounds like a threat to me.”
“Call it what you want, but that’s how it is. I don’t know if anyone told you, but you’re in my school. You’re on my campus, so as far as this school is concerned, that makes me your king.” He paused just to flick up my chin. “Which means you, my subject, are whatever I want you to be on any given day.”
A heat pooled as his fingers danced under my chin, just as much fire in his eyes as between my legs. Again, this confused me, his intimidation making me shake as much as something else. I dampened my lips. “What if I don’t want to be whatever you want on any given day?”