Page 49 of Study Buddies

And then she stepped into the living room.

Fuck.

Holy fuck.

Who the hell was this goddess and what had she done with my mousy little tutor? Hopefully something permanent, because I wanted this version of Tori to stick around. She should dress like this morning, noon, and night. Was that too much to ask?

“Um, hi,” Lucas breathed, proving yet again that his high IQ went down to the single digits when he was around her. “You look beautiful.”

Beautiful.I almost snorted because she was so much more than that. That thick, dark hair swirled around her shoulders the same way the light green fabric floated around her hips. But when it stilled, it confirmed every speculation I’d had about whatthat little body of hers looked like. And how the fuck had I not known she had legs like that? Though I’d often admired her ass in her tight little leggings, they hadn’t done justice to her legs.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She’d done something to make her long lashes even darker, though her eyes were cast down.

He’d called her beautiful, and he may as well have slapped her in the face. She was miles beyond beautiful. I needed that app thing that she’d shown me to find a better word for it. Wait, what was it called? I was supposed to fucking remember because it was her safeword.

Thesaurus, that was it.

I got to my feet, despite my promise to leave them alone. There was no way I wasn’t going to get a closer look.

“Hey, Kyle,” she said, a little shyly when I neared.

“You look fucking amazing, Victoria. Gorgeous and hot as hell—it’s a good combo.” I could feel Lucas seething, but I didn’t look at him. “Can you wear that to our next tutoring session?” Because if she did, I’d write a dozen papers.

The distracted half-smile she gave me didn’t do much for my ego. Any rational woman who looked that hot would ignore Lucas and go out with me instead. It was just my luck that Tori appeared to be the exception to the rule.

“Tori? Are you ready to go?” Lucas asked, but he sounded a little doubtful. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he wanted to be with her without me around. But I wasn’t ready to let her out of my sight just yet.

Tori held out her hand. A gold chain rested in her palm. Lucas frowned at it in confusion. It was a necklace, bro. Not that difficult.

“Need me to fasten that for you?” I asked. Shit, maybe that sounded a little too eager, but I wanted to be the one to stand behind her as she swept that dark mane up, leaving her neckas bare as her shoulders. I wanted to touch that soft skin and breathe in the scent of her shampoo.

Lucas hadn’t moved, so I figured he didn’t deserve the chance, but when I held out my hand for the chain, she didn’t give it to me. Didn’t move at all.

Lucas was staring at her face like he was trying to memorize it. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

I rolled my eyes so hard they almost popped out of the back of my head. My idiot stepbrother had the hottest woman on campus ready to go out with him, and all he could do was assume there was some sort of problem.

“Tori?”

She stared at her hand, and I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

Finally, she spoke. “This isn’t mine.”

I couldn’t help it—I exchanged a glance with Lucas. He looked as perplexed as I was.

“Where did you find it, then?” His voice was gentle, even though he didn’t have any more of a clue about what the fuck was going on than I did.

“My mom gave me a necklace for my tenth birthday.” Her voice was so quiet that I strained to hear it. “I keep it in a little box in my dresser. This—this isn’t it.”

Lucas and I both stared at the little gold chain. It was only then that I noticed that her hand was shaking.

Lucas stepped to her side, his hand on her back. “What do you mean?”

“I think he switched it.” A tear slid down her cheek.

For a moment, I thought she meant me. “He?” I asked.

“T-Todd. He must’ve taken my necklace and replaced it with this. This isn’t real. It’s cheap. It’s not the one she gave me.” Suddenly, she shook her fingers as if flicking away a bug. Thenecklace fell to the floor. “I only wear it for special occasions, so I hadn’t opened the box since I came here.”

---