Page 177 of Wreck Me

She leaned across and kissed my cheek. “You’re right. Thank you.”

I smiled out at her. “To cheer you up further, I’m gonna let you in on the surprise a little earlier than I’d intended. I was gonna wait until we got there, but, screw that.”

“Isn’t the surprise you taking off a whole class to come down here with me after I mentioned I was gonna take a tour of this design school? We’re going to have lunch together at a secluded spot you’re familiar with, one that will keep us off the radar, right?”

She sounded all nervous now that I was hinting at an alteration to our plans.

I’d noticed that she didn’t like that, as a rule. She liked to know what was coming and when. She needed things to be locked down and definitive.

And I got that, but if that was the case all the time, there’d be no room for surprises or spontaneity.

I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, then revealed, “I’m not just going to be waiting a couple of blocks away while you take a tour of the place. I’m gonna be right there alongside you, taking it all in.”

“What? How will that be possible? They’ll be eyes on us—on you—all over the place. Camera flashes galore. It’ll be chaos. This place isn’t the lap of luxury with extreme security and protection for all the elite-type students like at Luxe. They’ll be no protection or shielding from that at all.”

“Already taken care of. Outside of the Dean, herself, we’ll have the place to ourselves.” Off her confused look, I told her, “Cas pulled some strings.”

“Wow, every time I think I’ve gotten a good understanding of how far his power and influence reaches, something else comes along that kicks that up another notch.”

I chuckled. “It’s hard to wrap your head around, I know. It was the same for me when things started changing with all that a year or so into him taking over King.”

“Your whole world is a lot to wrap my head around.”

“I know, especially because you didn’t grow up around any of it, with your parents keeping you far away. But you’re doing amazingly well with all of it. If it ever gets too much, though, tell me, yeah? We can figure it out. Don’t bury it behind that I-can-handle-anything hard outer shell.” I smirked. “I mean, we all know you can handle a whole lot. From all of us.”

She laughed. “Innuendo received loud and clear.”

“In all seriousness, make sure you do tell me, okay? Or at least one of us. This life we live here… being who we are… it’s a lot sometimes. And it can just creep up on you too… that negative aspect to it, that burden.”

“That works both ways.”

I cocked an eyebrow.

“Tell me too—or one of us—if things get too much,” she clarified.

“I’m all good, baby.”

“You seem that way right now, but not long ago, you were off… not yourself, not what I’ve come to know of you. For a while after what happened at the fight club with Damien.”

I gritted my teeth at her referencing that.

“And this is the first time we’ve spent time together one-on-one since then,” she went on.

Shit.

There was a reason for that.

I hadn’t wanted to fuck up things between us by getting too close, just her and me with no buffers and distractions of Cal and Cas there to soften things and take direct attention off me. Not while I’d been in a state, while I’d been struggling for control.

Of course, I hadn’t been able to keep away from her entirely. I’d been around her with them present, we’d been together as a foursome.

There was just no feasible way that I could stay away from her for long.

I was damn well addicted to her.

I’d stopped being able to deny that a long time ago.

And I didn’t want to.

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