Page 30 of Envy

“This will only take a second.” He pulls the string on the lamp on the nightstand. I swear he must have night vision because I wouldn’t have known where to pull.

Warm light spreads around the room like the glowing sun. The only darkness comes from the dark eyes pinning me to the mattress. His gaze trails over the T-shirt I use to sleep in, stopping at the two points of my nipples.

“It’s cold,” I reply.

He looks up, and his pitch-dark eyes are like two moons during the phase of an eclipse because of the light. “Then I should warm you up,” he breathes. His mouth is on my neck, his hot breath warming my skin. I try to squeeze my legs together, but all I do is straddle his hips, pushing him into me. His mouth trails over my left breast, hovering over my nipple beneath the thin T-shirt. “Is this how you study?” His eyes pause on my hard nipple. “Dressed like this?”

I can smell the scent of his shampoo from his hair tickling my chin. His cock is pressed against my panties through his black jeans, causing my pussy to ache.

“Garret,” I croak, not knowing what to say or how to move.

How did he get in here without using the door? It means he could get in here whenever he wants.

“Yes, my little Darkthorn?”

I swallow thickly, wondering why he calls me that. “Why do you call me Darkthorn?”

He arches his back and removes his shirt in one go.

My eyes are lost in a world of black ink. It’s everywhere except on his gorgeous face—angels, skulls, demons, and flowers. It’s almost too much until I stop on his heart: the petals of black roses with large thorns piercing a heart. The heart is bleeding black ink.

He grabs my hand and places it over his heated skin, right where the thorn pierces the heart. Right where his heart beats. “I have never been in love,” he says, his hand warm and firm over mine. “I thought I had, but it wasn’t love. Because the greatest love hurts. It’s kind of like the feeling when you lose a parent. I imagine when it finds me, it will hurt. It will come from something beautiful—a rose with hidden thorns. Painful if touched, yet impossible to resist. I will bleed, and it will consume my soul.” He pauses, and his expression darkens. “You remind me of a Darkthorn.”

“It’s best if you don’t touch me then.”

He pushes away from me, taking his scent and warmth with him, leaving me feeling empty.

I pull the hem of my t-shirt down to cover my thighs and sit up. He moves to the small closet. “What are you doing?”

He slides the brown door open. “Getting your things.”

“For?”

He turns around, glancing around the room before looking back at the closet. “Where’s the rest? A suitcase?”

I grab my black backpack from in front of the nightstand and place it on the bed. “This is it. Now tell me why you need to get my things.”

He stares at the black backpack, then at me, as if he thinks I’m joking. I wish I weren’t. There isn’t much I was given, but why should he care?

He hesitates, then grabs the bag and stuffs the few items I have hanging on the mismatched hangers the previous student left. Once he’s done, he looks around the room as if he’s about to be evicted, grabbing papers and notebooks from the small desk.

“Toiletries?” I point to the small shower caddy from the dollar store. He picks it up like he’s checking for rotten potatoes and drops it on the desk with a thud. He scans the room one more time. When he’s satisfied he didn’t miss anything, he says, “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To my house.” A fluttering sensation fills my lower belly. “You’re not staying in the dorm anymore.”

“Who said that?”

“The Order.”

I almost choke on my spit and stammer, “T-the Order?”

“Yeah, the people who run things around here, and that includes me. You’re stay with me.”

“Until when?” I ask. “What if you throw me out, and I don’t have a dorm to go back to? How about John?”

He pushes his hair out of his eyes in frustration. “Relax with the word vomit. It’s getting late. We still have to study, and you need a shower.”

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