Page 44 of Of Pranks and Passion

“He was falling asleep in the car. Should I keep him awake?”

“No, that’s unnecessary. He’s on a monitor, and we’ll check on him often. Even if he has a concussion, that’s not really necessary anymore. He looks like he feels safe with you, so it was probably just his body relaxing after so much adrenaline.”

My arm tightened around his shoulders. He felt safe with me. I couldn’t do shit about him crying, but I could make sure he felt safe. That was something I could pull off. And since I was feeling pretty helpless right now, I latched onto the idea and held on tight.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

GARY

I driftedin and out for a while. The pain medicine they gave me made me drowsy, and everything felt kind of fuzzy. Nothing hurt anymore, though. Not even when the nurse cleaned out the cuts on my face. And she didn’t make Easton move while she did it, which was all I cared about.

He was being surprisingly patient with my clinginess. He wasn’t normally that guy. He let me cuddle after sex for a little while, but he didn't let me cling forever. We didn’t hold hands unless we were in public trying to sell the rumor, and the same went for cuddling without sex. I thought it made him uncomfortable, so I never pushed or complained. Our relationship often felt like friends with benefits. We hung out and joked around, had sex, and left anything lovey dovey at the door.

But tonight, he was giving in to all the clingy cuddling I needed without complaint. He kept one arm wrapped around my shoulders, his hand trailing lazily up and down my arm like he was comforting me without thinking about it. He mostly played on his phone, but I didn’t want to chat right now anyway.He didn’t demand I tell him what happened until a police officer arrived to take my statement.

Easton lifted his head, and his voice was terse when he asked, “Are you Cruz?”

Blinking my eyes open, I looked at the officer. He was in uniform, with a full belt of weapons and a serious expression. He dipped his chin once to acknowledge Easton’s question. “Sergeant Anthony Cruz. Nice to meet you, Mr. Warner.”

He offered his hand to shake, which Easton took after setting his phone on his stomach. It was weird, hearing someone speak to Easton so formally. How did he even know Easton’s name?

The officer’s gaze dropped to me, and I stiffened, clinging a little closer to Easton. His expression softened, and his voice dipped to a more soothing level.

“Hello. You must be Gary. I got a quick summary about what happened, but I’m going to need details if I’m going to figure out who did this. Think you can manage? I promise you’ll only have to tell me once.”

I really, really, didn’t want to. It was terrifying to live it once. It felt unfair to make me relive it. Especially if they were going to send Easton away.

Easton’s grip on my shoulder tightened a little, and when I looked up at him, his expression was determined. “I’m not going anywhere. Just tell him what happened and once the doctor clears you, I’ll bring you home.”

How much clingy could he take? If I said I didn’t want to go home, would he lose his patience?

Not important right now. Drawing in a shaky breath, I turned to the officer and told him everything. It took a while, and I started to cry at one point, but the officer was patient and never pushed. Easton grew more and more tense the longer I spoke, and I knew it upset him to hear it. I’d be upset tooif someone attacked him. You know, unprovoked and not in a semi-controlled setting like he did for money.

When I finally finished, the officer studied the notes he took with a frown. “Do you have any evidence that your sister started this rumor?”

I shook my head. “No. Just what we’ve heard from before.”

His brows furrowed tighter. “Before?”

Easton made an irritated noise. “This wasn’t the first time someone approached him. It never escalated beyond words before now.”

Well, that and someone bleeding from a punch to the nose, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to admit Easton assaulted someone for insulting me in front of an officer of the law. He couldn’t protect me from jail.

“Well, without concrete evidence, I doubt we’ll be able to do much about your sister, but I’ll do what I can to find your attacker. You were on school property. There should be cameras around. In the meantime, if this is a repeated incident, I don’t think you should be alone.” His attention moved to Easton. “I’m assuming you’ll handle that.”

Easton nodded once. “He’ll be with me.”

“Okay, good. Until we can find the guy, I think it’s safer for him to have someone with him.” He put the notebook away and looked at me. “I’ve written down your description, but once you’re feeling better, if you feel up to coming down to the station, I can have one of my guys draw up a composite we can use. I’ll call you if and when I find this guy. And if you notice anything suspicious, like someone following you, leaving harassing or threatening messages, then call me.” He offered me his card and gave a polite nod to both of us. “I’ll start on this right away. Mr. Warner. Gary.”

Easton was still tense after the officer left, and when I looked up at him, he looked like he was fighting to stay calm. Snuggling closer, I buried my nose in his chest.

“Can I stay at The Hideout? I don’t want to go back to my room.” The guy who attacked me knew where it was. I wouldn’t feel safe there until he was found.

“No. You’ll come back to my place with me.”

Oh. Well, that was kind of nice. I’d never been to Easton’s apartment before. I knew he lived off campus, but he said he wasn’t home a lot. He filtered between my room and The Hideout, and was only ever at his apartment to sleep.

“Why did that officer call you Mr. Warner? It sounded weird.”

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