Page 136 of Brazen Deceits

Great. Cue clingy girlfriend.

At least I have three to cling to.

Walker strokes the back of my hand, and I relax into his touch. Maybe I can take a little nap on the way back?

Trips interrupts my thoughts. “How close are both of you to graduating?”

Walker stops his steady stroke. “I mean, at our current pace? Or full steam ahead?”

“With the goal of graduating and moving base so we can let RJ remove us from the internet—how soon could you be done?”

Tallying up the courses I need to graduate, knowing that my high school AP classes completed almost all my general education requirements, I pull my legs onto the seat. “I have six more required courses to complete my major and my minor.”

Walker and Trips both look at me. “Aren’t you a junior?” Trips asks.

“Yeah, but I came in with credits. I was hoping to do pre-law coursework too, so another three courses, but I don’t know. I guess my plans are…in flux.”

Trips tilts his head back against the headrest. “Six minimum, nine maximum. Walker?”

“Three gen eds, four major courses.”

Trips clenches the steering wheel. “I have three left for my major, two for my minor, and one gen ed.”

“What are you thinking?” I ask.

He glances at me, his blue eyes bruised from lack of sleep, one so swollen he’s squinting. “I’m thinking we’re no longer safe. Our cover’s blown. How many of these could we do online, or in summer session?”

I shrug. “I bet a bunch. Except probably you, Walker.”

He sighs. “You’re right. But I only have two studio classes left. The other two are theory. So…is this our last semester on campus?”

We both look at Trips. He runs his hand through his hair, the gold in it bright from reflected snow, his knuckles broken and scabbed. “We’ll have to check with RJ and Jansen, but yeah. I think so. If you get wait-listed in required classes, we can put RJ’s backdoor to good use.”

Wait—RJ can skip the line in the lottery system? Who am I kidding—of course RJ can do that.

Am I really rewriting my future for these guys?

To run? To disappear? With them?

My seat belt unbuckles, and Walker drags me into the backseat, settling me against him as I click into the old-school middle lap belt. “I can see those wheels spinning, princess.”

I tuck my head under his chin, Trips glancing at us in the rearview mirror. And for once, it’s perfectly clear on his face: longing. Trips wants this too.

Letting out a big breath and snuggling closer, I close my eyes. “I’m tired.”

Walker lets me drop it, his hands warm, stroking up and down my back.

But when I wake up tucked in my bed, it’s Trips pulling the blanket to my chin. I snag his hand as he goes to leave, thetwo of us staring at each other like the secret to make our souls calm is written in the other’s gaze.

“Please. I don’t want to be alone.”

The words ache to force out, fear scratching the insides of my ribs.

Trips says nothing. The silence becomes desperate between us, but the second before I let go of his wrist, he groans. Stripping off his jeans, sweater, and t-shirt, his fantastically ripped and inked torso deeply shadowed from the haze outside my window, he crawls over me, pressing his bare chest against my back.

I wrap my arms around his forearm, hugging it. Feeling brave, I drag it between my breasts, kissing his fingertips. “Thank you.”

His breath ruffles my curls, hot against my head. “Sleep, Crash.”

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