Page 101 of Scars Run Deep

I growled low in my throat.

I started over there.

Aurora spun into my path and pressed a firm hand to my chest. “Don’t.”

“You expect me to allow this disrespect to you? To let them believe you’re what Jonah infuriatingly called our fuck slut during the pretense we had to put on to the outside world?”

And what was with all the slut-shaming anyway? How was that shit still happening these days? It was fucking bullshit through and through.

“They know I’m not,” Aurora told me. “This reaction wouldn’t be happening if they didn’t. I’d be of no consequence to them otherwise.”

That stilled me. “Damn, you’re sharp. Just like Ash.”

“Well, there’s a reason we work well together. But it’s not necessarily about smarts or being sharp as you sweetly call it. It’s just analyzing rather than reacting too quickly.”

“Something that doesn’t exactly come easy to me.”

“It’s not your fault. You were forced to repress so much for so long. It had a ton of pressure building up for you over and over.”

I pushed forward against her hand a little. “I hear everything, darlin’, but I can’t let this go. I can’t allow them to—”

She fisted my shirt, jerking me to her.

But it was the look in her beautiful electric-blue eyes that really had me jolting.

Blazing need.

With everything happening with the takedowns, there hadn’t been as much time—or energy—for the physical side of things as any of us would’ve liked.

So this from her right now managed to hold my full focus, even with the need to defend her honor, avenge her, and deal out punishment for her right there tempting my not-so-nice side to breach the surface.

She stretched onto her tiptoes and whispered all husky at my ear, “Come with me.”

The next thing I knew, she was grasping my hand and tugging me along with her, walking in the opposite direction to the main building.

“What about lunch?” I asked.

We had a forty-five minute break between classes where we’d planned to grab pizza and eat on campus, immersing ourselves in the normal of it all for a little while before we got back to our real, rather abnormal existence.

“We still have time, but I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and it’s now the perfect time.”

“Really? With me all worked up and on the verge of becoming a punisher any second?”

“Exactly.”

What the—

My thoughts died an immediate death when I realized where she was taking us.

We were ducking inside before it could fully register.

An alcove.

Actually, the alcove.

She let go of my hand and sank against the stone wall, grinning at me, unbridled fucking lust dancing in her eyes.

“So, tell me, Killian, am I just a whore for danger?”

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