Page 97 of Depraved Desires

“Aspen?” he rasped sleepily. The sound sent a current of butterflies straight to my core.

I swallowed before nodding. “Yeah. Sorry to wake you, but where exactly am I supposed to sleep?”

Monroe sat up, the blanket pooling around his waist with the action. A gasp got lodged in my throat as I came to the sudden realization that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, his muscles on full display. Heat spread through my body like an inferno, and suddenly, I felt like a child all over again. Why did the universe hate me so damn much? It was impossible not to stare. He was the hottest damn teacher I’d ever laid eyes on, and he was in my bed of all places.

His eyebrow pinched together in confusion, and he groggily followed it up by rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the palms of his hands. “W-what are you doing here?” he asked.

“They let me go…” I trailed off, panic coiling around my chest like a snake. Suddenly, I got the uneasy feeling that he might not have wanted me here anymore. “Is it okay that I came?”

He blew out a breath, his brown hair sticking up at weird angles, making him look more rugged than usual. “Yes, of course.” His eyes darted around the average-size room like he was still trying to focus them. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Confusion swept over me at that statement. “Why the couch?” I pressed. “What’s wrong with your room?”

He sighed again, leaning his back against the headboard. The muscles along his sharp jaw tightened, indicating that this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have. “Caroline is occupying my room.” He winced as if the words physically pained him.

I scoffed, anger building inside of my stomach and spreading through my veins. My week just kept getting worse and worse. First, Collin and Hunter were buried to the hilt inside of that Peyton girl. Now, Monroe allowed his snake of awifeback into his home where I also happened to live.

What the fuck was happening to me lately?

Guys didn’t hurtme. I hurt them. I didn’t quiet my thoughts, but that’s exactly what I’d been doing lately. Fuck. That.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” I snapped, keeping my voice low enough so that the beast in the other room didn’t awaken.

He reeled back, his eyes widening in surprise. I was thankful for all of his help, but I had to stop with the mindset of thinking I was somehow indebted to him.

“She’s a gold-digging bitch who only cares about herself and you allowed her right back in.”

I wasn’t sure if it was a buildup of everything that had been going wrong in my life lately and I was finally snapping, or if I’d just completely lost it. This wasn’t my place, but I cared about him, and he was letting this cunt manipulate him. That wasn’t okay.

“I understand that the two of you don’t get along, but?—”

My eyes narrowed into slits as the rage within me intensified to dangerous levels. “This has nothing to do with me, asshole,” I hissed.

Cautiously, he removed the comforter from around his body, revealing a pair of gray sweatpants that clung to his hips nicely. He rose, taking slow strides toward me until there was only a foot between us. Concern was etched into his features, and damnit, if that didn’t piss me off even more.

“I’m an adult Aspen. You don’t have to worry about me.”

I snorted at the irony, rolling my eyes into my hairline. “You seem to forget,Aiden. I’m an adult too.” He was only six years older than me and acted like he was decades older. It was comical really.

Something flickered across his face, but it was gone before I could decipher it. He was impossible to read, and I hated it.

“You’ll be attending classes?” he asked, watching my expression closely. The randomness of his question threw me fora loop, and I was left staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

“Don’t change the subject on me, Monroe.” My patience was running thinner by the second. It felt weird being the one bossing him around and demanding shit, but he had to know that Caroline wasn’t good for him. Not even as a housemate, or whatever the hell she was anymore.

Amusement flickered across his face, the sleepiness long gone from his eyes and replaced with something else entirely. Something dangerous. Something that made my pulse accelerate. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen him look at me this way before. It made me feel…powerful.

“Answer the question,Palmer,” he said in a husky voice, using my last name against me like I’d done him.

My breath caught in my throat as I noticed the change in the air surrounding us. Was he…coming on to me? Right now, of all times? I’d imagined what it would be like to have him want me like that again but of his own accord. The memory of him pounding into me was still potent in my mind, especially with how close his half-naked body was to mine.

“Yes.”

“When?” he growled, taking another step toward me and closing the distance between us.

He was so close that if I inhaled deeply enough, our chests would brush. His hot breath caressed my skin, the scent of whiskey attacking my senses. Assessing him more closely, his eyes appeared bloodshot. He was drunk. My chest constricted from that revelation. He’d only flirt with me if he was intoxicated. That knowledge just added to my already shitty week.

“Tomorrow,” I answered with an unintentional bite to my tone.

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