Page 167 of Unspoken Rules

“Uh… I, uh—” I stumble over my words, having no idea how to explain this. “I just, uhm…”

“You, what?” he asks.

His brow furrows, and his gaze dips from my eyes to my pants.

To my hard dick, to be more specific. It lingers for a moment before darting back to my eyes and a knowing smirk crosses his lips. His head tilts slightly and his eyes go dark.

“Did you think—”

“No,” I snap.

“No?” he questions, his smirk turning into a grin. “Then what?”

He puts the weights into the corner of his room. They’re new. At least new here. They weren’t in this room when I was here last. I wonder why they’re in here at all and he didn’t turn my room into a weight room. There’s plenty of space in there.

He moves toward me, and I step into the hallway to keep space between us.

“Nothing.” I grab the door to close it, but he slaps a hand on it, stopping me.

“It’s not nothing. In fact, I know exactly what it was.”

Cole crowds the doorway, looking at me like I’m a piece of meat and he’s starving. I should go to my room, should get away, but I’m stuck here, unable to move. Caught in his gaze like a bug in a spider web.

“You guys okay?” We both whip our heads in the direction of the voice, and find Chris walking up the steps, Mila behind him.

He stops at the top, looking at us curiously. His eyes go slightly unfocused, then he blinks a few times. Shaking his head, he clears his throat. Mila moves up beside him.

“Fine,” Cole says, stepping into the hallway. “Oh, hey Mila. How are you?”

She smiles shyly. “I’m good, Mr. Harper. How are you?”

“Pretty good, actually.” He grins at her.

Chris is staring at me. I feel his gaze. I meet his eyes, but there’s barely any expression there. He glances at Cole, then back at me, brow furrowing.

He shakes his head again.

“We were going to go swimming,” he says. Nothing in his tone tells me he knows anything, but those looks… He seemed like he remembered something.

“Well, have fun,” Cole says. “I just finished a workout when Bryson asked if I’d eaten anything. Right, Bryson?” He looks at me.

“Right,” I say.

“You wanna come swimming with us?” Chris asks, looking at me.

“Yes,” I blurt out. “I would love to go swimming with you.”

“But you need a suit, right?” he says.

I smile. “Right.”

He heads into his room and comes back a moment later with a swimsuit. Cole disappears downstairs, and Mila stands in the hallway awkwardly. She knows she walked in on something. What it was, I don’t know. But it was something.

Chris and I change quickly, and the three of us head outside.

Swimming with my friends is definitely what I need to get my mind off Cole.

Thank god I only have a few days left here. My walls aren’t as strong as I thought they were.

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