Page 17 of Of Pranks and Passion

CHAPTER TEN

GARY

I madeit through all of high school without getting much male attention. The one time I did, he was a guy in my class, and it turned out he was using me to get close to my sister. He never even kissed me. I wasn’t sure why, all of a sudden, I was getting so much attention. Seriously aggressive male attention, too. Both times, they seemed indignant that I wasn’t responding to them.

Picking a favorite table to work at took a week. It was far enough away from the lobby that I wasn’t distracted by the noises and close to the accounting section, in case I needed to find a reference or clarify something. I never considered how close it was to the stacks. I’d heard rumors that students hooked up back there, but I never saw or heard anything. I thought it was just a rumor.

Now, with how far away I was from the regular commotion, I realized I was putting myself at risk. This guy was several inches and at least thirty pounds bigger than me. If he wanted to drag me away, no one would know, and I wouldn’t have a chance tofight him off. I wasn’t strong enough to fight back. I guess I just never thought it’d apply to me.

My hands shook so badly, my pencil slipped from my grip and bounced off the table onto the floor. I didn’t dare reach for it. I was trapped in this unfamiliar guy’s furious gaze, desperately trying to figure out what I could say to get him to leave me alone.

Someone picked up the pencil I dropped, setting it on the desk. I whipped my head around, nearly choking on the relief that flooded through me.

Easton.

His expression was dark, dangerous, but it didn’t feel aimed at me. He stepped around me, putting himself at my back with his hands on the table, caging me in. He basically surrounded me, and I’d never felt so safe in my life.

“Hey, baby. Am I interrupting something?”

Baby? The fear made it hard for me to understand what he was doing until he kissed the top of my head. Gears ground to a halt, and I tipped my head back to look at him. He raised his eyebrows significantly. Oh. Oh! He was pretending to be my boyfriend to help me. Thank god.

“N-No. I think he’s confusing me with someone else.”

The guy, who never bothered to introduce himself, scoffed. “No, I’m not. You’re Gary. Your sister told me all about how you were in high school. She said if I wanted a quick fuck, I could find you in the library. She also said you like to fight. So if I have to move you myself, I will.”

It hit me like a ton of bricks. Of course Brienna was behind this. She loved tormenting me. She told the entire high school I was a disease riddled slut my freshman year when I tried telling her she couldn’t have my savings. She was two years ahead of me and popular, so of course everyone believed her. No one approached me like this, though I got plenty of nasty notesstuffed in my locker and messages online. I didn’t think the rumor would follow me all the way out here.

“Gary’s sister is a cunt,” Easton growled. “And he’s taken. Get the fuck out of here.”

My mouth fell open in surprise. I’d never heard anyone call Brienna names like that. It made me a little giddy, and I couldn’t help clutching Easton’s arm. If he let me, I was going to stick to him like glue from now on.

The guy looked annoyed, but he must’ve decided it wasn’t worth the trouble of going against Easton.

“You know what? This isn’t worth my time,” the guy sneered. “You’re not even good looking. I would’ve had to close my eyes to get through it anyway.”

The insult wasn’t new, and it didn’t bother me, but it pissed off Easton. He moved faster than I could blink, and suddenly, the guy was on the ground with blood pouring from his nose. I stared, wide-eyed, as Easton stood over him, a fierce snarl on his face. “Say anything about him, even look in his direction, and I’ll tear you limb from limb. He’s mine.”

I knew that he was only saying it to keep up the ruse, but my stomach flipped when he claimed me so possessively. I’d kill to be his. What were the chances he was looking for a pathetic bookworm for a boyfriend?

Easton was scary enough to send the guy running, though from the look on the guy’s face, I doubted he’d just let it go. It worried me, but I didn’t have time to say anything before Easton grabbed my arm and dragged me off. He weaved through the shelves of books until we were about as far from the main area as we could get. Pushing me up against the case in the corner, he caged me in with his hands on the shelf by my head.

“That’s happened before.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, and a freaking humiliating one at that. The other time, the guy didn’t mentionBrienna, but he did act like I was playing hard to get. If she went so far as to say I pretended to not want it and to keep pushing, then she was more horrible than I thought. And that was saying something. She was going to get me attacked with rumors like that. I was just lucky Easton showed up when he did.

Realizing he was waiting for a response, I grimaced and nodded. “Once. Someone showed up at my part-time job and cornered me near the bathrooms. I told him I wasn’t interested, but he kept pushing. My boss had to step in to get him to leave me alone. I didn’t know my sister had something to do with it. I thought she’d finally get bored of bullying me by now.”

“If she’s been doing it your whole life, she won’t stop until someone puts her in her place. Do you want me to deal with it?”

That sounded a little scary, to be honest. Almost like he was offering to murder my sister. Since I knew he fought for a living, he could probably do some serious damage. I shook my head quickly.

“No. It’s okay. They’ll get bored with it eventually.” Maybe. The bullying in high school continued even after she graduated, but this was college. It was different. Right?

Easton’s response burst my little bubble of hope. “I doubt it,” he said, irritation written all over his face. “If they’re so aggressive that they don’t take no for an answer, they aren’t just going to stop. You need protection.”

My shoulders slumped. I hated my life so much. For a few weeks, I thought things were finally getting good. I had a nice roommate. I liked my classes. I was making friends with my crush. I thought I’d get to enjoy it for a while. But no. Brienna was probably punishing me for not sending her the two hundred when she asked for it. I sent her the rest that Friday, which was most of my paycheck, but she was vindictive. I’d never, ever be free of her.

“From now on, you stick with me. We’ll go with the boyfriend story. Once they realize you’re taken, they’ll back off.”

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