Page 126 of Dare To Take

My lip curls. Someone must have convinced him to do this. I prop my hip against his desk and look out over the room. When Arabella suggests I should answer the question, my head turns toward her. She’s holding out the whiteboard pen in an unsteady hand.

Does she know about my issue with numbers? It’s hard to tell.

“Mr. Travers, today would be good,” Mr. Drake grumbles from beside us.

I reach out for the pen and let my thumb brush across her wrist before I curl my fingers over hers. In one quick move, I pull her into my body and turn her to face the whiteboard. I’m behind her, one arm wrapped around her waist, my palm flat against her stomach. I lift our combined fingers to the board.

“Maybe we should answer it together.”

I make no effort to guide the pen across the board, letting her write the answer to the question. I’m more interested in how much she’s shaking. This close, I can hear her teeth chattering. I know it’s not due to the cold. The room is like a fucking furnace. When her hand drops, I let her go and step away.

“Nothing quite like teamwork.” I wink at her and return to my desk.

Mr. Drake doesn’t even look up. “Done? Good. Truman and Shaw, you next.”

“What the fuck was that?” Kellan leans close to whisper. “Doesn’t he have an agreement with you?”

I nod. I lean back in my seat and look around to where Arabella is lowering herself to her seat. My eyes narrow when I see Garrett leaning forward, his arm pushed through the slats on the backrest of her chair and his palm flat on the seat, waiting for her ass to sit on it.

He’s so focused on Arabella that he doesn’t see me stand. My foot connects with her chair, and Garrett howls as his arm is twisted by the momentum of the chair as it’s shunted across the room. I have to force myself not to make a grab for her as she loses her balance.

She lands on her ass, much to the laughter of the room, but my attention is solely on Garrett. “What did I say to you?”

“Mr. Travers! You will not disrupt my class this way.” Drake bellows before Garrett can respond. “Get out!”

I step over Arabella, who’s still sitting on the floor, and grab my bag. “I’ll meet you at lunchtime,” I tell Kellan and walk out.

I don’t really want to go back to my room, or work on my sculpture. My mind is too restless to concentrate, so I wander aimlessly for a while until I find myself standing in front of the tomb.

I haven’t been inside since the last time I was with Arabella. The night I almost fucked her as Sin. It seems like a lifetime ago. Is it really only a couple of months? I don’t have the key for the padlock with me, so I turn away. Kellan is leaning against a gravestone a few feet away.

“I need you to do something.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Come to lunch and I’ll explain on the way.”

***

“How is this going to help exactly?” I ask for the third time.

We’re seated at our usual table, food and drink in front of us.

“It’ll just confirm our theory.” He jerks his chin toward the door. “Look, there she is.”

She’s like a fucking ghost, the way she moves between the tables. So pale, so silent. Her head lowered; cell clutched in her hand.

“Do it now.” Kellan kicks my ankle under the table.

I scowl at him.

“Just do it, Eli.”

I slip out of my seat and move to intercept her path. She’s so intent on the floor that she doesn’t see me and crashes into my chest. She stumbles backward and blinks up at me, eyes widening when they meet mine.

“Hit me.”

“Wh-what?”

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