Page 76 of Oblivion

Clay

Are you sure about this?”

Me

Yes.

Closing down the messaging app, I push my cell back into my pocket and focus my attention on the door, waiting for my wild one to appear.

After the door opens, I spot her in the middle of a crowd of people. Her arms are wrapped around her middle, and she’s walking cautiously, ensuring that she doesn’t brush against someone as she makes her way to me. Her behavior makes me smile and reasserts the fact that I’m doing the right thing in following through on the threats I made.

When she spots me, her cheeks tinge pink, and she steps even more carefully, turning to the side and shuffling through the bunch of kids that are all loitering at the bottom of the steps. Crooking my finger, I beckon her to me, and she bites her lip as she closes the distance between us.

The moment she’s close enough, I slip her bag from her shoulder and pull her to me. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I lift her off the floor and bring her to my lips, kissing her possessively. “How was your class?” I ask, lowering her to the ground but keeping her pinned to my side with an arm around her waist.

“It was good.”

“Where did you sit?”

“Err.” Her brows furrow, and she twists her head to look up at me. “The middle of the room. Why?”

“Alone?”

“No, a girl who was in some of my freshman classes sat by me.”

“Good.”

Her eyes widen, and her lips pull into a grin. “Are you really asking me if a boy sat by me in class?” She giggles.

“Haven’t you already learned your lesson about giving guys false hope?” I ask, allowing an edge of annoyance to slip into my voice.

“I can’t get up and move anytime a guy sits beside me in class. What if it’s assigned seating?”

“I’ve explained the rules. I’m just reminding you of them,” I say coolly. “Come on, we have somewhere to be.”

“Where are we going? I wanted to get a coffee before lunch.”

“I’ll make you a coffee at home or bring you to fetch one before your next class.”

Keeping her at my side, I walk us back to the cart, then take off down the path toward the student housing. Collinswood, the house we live in, is situated toward the back of the expansive campus. Our place and the other properties around it benefit from a little more space and a lot that’s large enough to have an enclosed driveway, a pool, and a backyard.

To get to our house, you have to pass all the other mini suburbs that make up the rest of the student housing. When Sammy started school, she lived in a house about halfway between the main campus buildings and our place, and as we pass her little cul-de-sac, she glances to look at it.

Once we reach the next turnoff, I guide the cart around the bend, slowing to a stop outside Lavern House. It’s a fairly large colonial revival-style home, with pretty flowers planted in the beds beneath the front windows.

There are two carts parked in the driveway, a student one identical to the one we’re sat in right now, and a security cart that’s painted an obnoxious neon yellow color, with Security printed across the rear fender in large black letters.

“What are we doing here?” Sammy asks.

“Come here,” I say.

“What? Why?”

“I want you in my lap while we watch,” I say cryptically.

Clearly confused, she doesn’t move as quickly as I’d like, but when I make an annoyed grunt, she climbs out of the cart, walks around the front, and then comes to me. Twisting around in my seat, I lift her onto my lap, then shuffle backward so my butt is halfway across the front seat.

“What?” She giggles, placing one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the seat back.

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