Page 146 of Burn It Down

A few looks and some winks were thrown my way as usual and I did what I always did now—wrapped my arm around Aurora and stared them away.

I didn’t tolerate it now.

Aurora tried to hide it but I knew she didn’t like it.

She’d become more possessive of all of us since everything that had happened a few weeks back. Well, many months back, if we were going by when it had first started. She was almost as possessive as we were of her. Although, she tampered down the aggressive reactions much better than we did. Namely, me and J. Asher could control his responses a lot better, especially now he wasn’t in that beast state anymore. The other day we’d all been out at Fusion for date night and two assholes from the football team who’d been pissed drunk had made eyes at Aurora in that sexy black lace dress of hers and one of them had stuck his tongue between his fingers and made that cunt-licking gesture. Jonah and I had been across the bar so fast, J slamming one guy’s head into the bar top and denting it in the process, then me getting pulled back by Ash before I’d been able to crush a pair of balls beneath my boot.

I was pretty sure they’d gotten the message and word had spread that she was officially ours. Not our whore, not our fuckslut, but our woman, and one of us.

The whore thing was just for the bedroom. And, let’s face it, we were all dirty little whores for her as well. We always fucking would be.

Even without the shadow of the Infidels that was now completely decimated, we still held a hell of a reputation around Hexwood. Thanks to Asher’s leadership, actually. He’d ensured that we could stand alone when the time came. And, although we didn’t rule with an iron fist any longer—one, because we didn’t need to as we were no longer forced to under orders from the Head Infidels, and two, because Aurora didn’t like the subjugation of what she called innocents, so we’d stopped—people still revered us. All right, they still feared us too because of past exploits. But so long as no one came at us or threatened to, we didn’t go the aggressive route anymore. We also didn’t participate anymore, no manipulation, no more parties along the lines of the Blowout, and no more football for me either. After everything that had happened, I’d become more than a little disillusioned with it. And I didn’t want the fame that would come from continuing that route of trying to make it professionally. I’d had enough fame to last me a lifetime. I was finishing up my degree, though. There was no high-profile shit involved in that. Plus, I got to do it with Aurora.

“Oh my God,” Aurora gasped, and I looked to see that she’d just turned over her paper to finally take in her grade.

A.

Of course it was. She’d worked incredibly hard on that project for our Leadership and Teamwork class. We’d both had to get an extension after the whole shitshow of being away from Hexwood U for a few weeks during the war. And she’d been back at it pretty much as soon as we’d gotten back into town. She’d even kept those original tough financial numbers the professor had given her, not using the much easier ones Asher had strongarmed him into giving her. She was all fair and honorable like that, our Aurora Blackthorn.

“Congratulations,” I said, giving her a squeeze.

Professor Shaffer stopped at the door and looked up at us, the only two now left in the room. “Well deserved and earned,” he said, smiling at her.

“Thank you,” she called back.

He gave a nod, then headed out into the busy corridor.

She started packing up then.

I was already done. I had been the second the class had ended.

I rose and slung my bag over my shoulder.

As she finished up and got to her feet, I took her bag from her and slung it over my shoulder too.

She giggled. “Killian, I told you that you don’t need to do that.”

“I want to.”

“I can carry my own bag.”

“Let me take care of you.”

“But—”

I pressed my finger to her lips. “Like you always take such good care of me.”

She nodded against my finger and I pulled it away, then tucked her into my side as we headed down the steps, then out of class, and back into the corridor.

“I can’t wait to get home and start making that strudel with Jonah. Yet another dessert I’ll be able to add to my repertoire.”

Yeah, J had been teaching her how to make a bunch of different desserts. He made the entrees, but she was there helping him with the prep and taking on the dessert part now, so he wasn’t alone cooking everything. While me and Ash were hopeless in the kitchen, the two of them had ended up making quite the impressive team where that was concerned.

She wasn’t actually gonna be making that thing tonight, though.

Nah, we had other plans, unbeknownst to her.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as we made it out to the quad.

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