Page 38 of Snake

Mason

Ispeed up when Nim turns a corner up ahead, my skin prickling with nerves. I’m not supposed to be following her. Fuck, I’m not even supposed to be looking in her general direction. Knox said we should give her space, and Silas said we were done with her, that we didn’t need her...even to one-up Eliza.

That’s easy for them to say. They haven’t fallen for her like I have.

Not that I can say anything, of course. What the fuck would they think if I told them I was getting all these feels about Nim? I was a player—that’s what I’ve been for years, and that’s what I plan to be until I’m ready to settle down and have a family.

And that isn’t happening for ages.

At least, that’s what I thought.

Then I met Nim.

Now suddenly I’m thinking about things like where in Cinderhart I’ll build my house. How many rooms it’ll have. If I should have only one child, or a brood. Tradition dictates that I should have as many children as I can afford, and I can afford plenty.But how many do I want?

So now, instead of going to class, I’m following Nim around like a stray dog she made the mistake of feeding. I can’t help it...I’m struggling to let her go.

She left so suddenly, I didn’t even have time to hug her. Knox did—and that makes me feel like it’s my right to get at least a hug from her too before we part ways forever.

If I can get up the nerve to speak to her.

Instead, I’m stalking her like a fucking creep. And I think she’s on to me, because I swear she keeps trying to lose me. But I know the Academy like the back of my hand. There’s no place she can go where I can’t find her. No way she can escape—

I turn the corner and stop dead.

Nim is nowhere in sight.

What the hell? Where the fuck did she go? I open the first door on the left, but it’s an empty classroom. As I turn around to check the hall again, Nim’s standing behind me.

How the hell did she—?

“Which part of leave me alone didn’t you understand?” she snaps. “You know the Dean’s office is a five-minute walk from here, right?”

Three minutes, if you take a shortcut. But I put on my best smile and try to pretend like her sudden ferocity isn’t giving me a goddamn boner. “You left something in Knox’s room,” I tell her, slowly lifting my hands.

Her eyes narrow.

“Easy,” I murmur, reaching inside my blazer. “Easy.”

There’s a scowl on her face now. But her eyes go wide when I lurch forward and wrap her in a bear hug.

“What are you doing?”

“Hmm,” I murmur into her hair. “You smell good.”

“Let me go!”

“In a minute.”

“Mason!”

“Just let it happen, Nim.”

She lets out a frustrated yell and punches me in the stomach. I let her go—not because it hurt, because it didn’t—but because I can’t believe she attacked me. I stare at her with hurt eyes, and there’s a tiny flicker of uncertainty on her face before she blatantly schools her expression into a frown.

“I warned you,” she says. “Don’t think I won’t do it.” She points at me with a trembling finger. “Because I will, Mason. I’ll go to the Dean and tell him everything.”

“I just wanted a hug.” As much as I try, there’s no way I can keep the disappointment out of my voice.

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