Page 84 of Hide and Seek
My mouth goes dry as the twin whodoesmake my stomach wobble comes to stand between me and Killian.
He’s so close our arms brush, and I feel that touch down in the deepest parts of my body through the material of my sleeve.
“I mean, how am I supposed to get my ID if I don’t move?” I babble as notes of spicy cologne tickle my nose, making thoughts a bit fuzzy. “So I didn’t move, but he was like, ‘ID, now,’ and I couldn’t, but he’s pointing his gun at me and telling me to not move but to move at the same time.”
I snap my mouth closed as my cheeks heat with another blush.
Usually I have trouble talking around new people and can barely get any words out, but I turn into a stammering mess and have a hard time shutting up when I’m around people I find attractive.
All the men around me are drop-dead gorgeous, but the twin with the intense stare is somehow on a level that’s even above his brother, and I can’t stop from squirming as he studies me with that intense stare that really should come with a warning label.
“I still can’t believe it,” Felix shakes his head. “All that because you stopped for a few seconds in front of the gate?”
“I believe it,” Killian says. “It’s not the first time one of the Belmont guards has gone off the rails like that, but it’s been a while.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” the twin beside me asks in a low voice that has a slight rasp to it that’s entirely too hot.
“Yes?” I croak. “I mean, I’m fine. Or at least I will be when my brain starts working again.” I clear my throat and offer him a weak smile. “I’m just flustered. That’s only the second time I’ve had a gun pointed at me, and it kinda scrambled my brain for a bit there. I thought the second time wouldn’t be as bad, but I guess you never really get used to having guns pointed at you. Or at least I can’t seem to get used to it,” I say quickly.
That little smile is still tilting his lips, but he doesn’t look exasperated or annoyed by my babbling.
I wince as what I just said replays in my mind. These guys are Rebels, and if the rumors are true, they’ve had lots of gunspointed at them over the years. I’d bet my savings account that none of them almost wet themselves from fear any of the times it’s happened to them.
Felix might be different. He’s under Rebel’s protection, and he has the protection of the Hawthorne family through marriage—and through Killian, if they really are together—but from the research I did on him while I was being blackmailed into trying to kill him, Felix didn’t grow up in the same world as Killian and his cousins, and until recently, didn’t seem to have anything to do with either the family business or the frat.
But that didn’t stop him from stepping in front of a loaded weapon to protect me, and he isn’t even flustered.
Amazingly, none of them laugh or make any indication that they think I’m lame for freaking out.
“Do you want us to go with you to report it?” Felix asks.
I shake my head. I don’t trust campus LEOs, and I’d rather not get on their radar, considering everything I’ve got going on right now.
“I think I just want to forget about it.” I shift the books under my arm and transfer my coffee to my free hand so I can get a better grip on everything.
I make the mistake of glancing at the twin beside me again. He’s still looking at me, but it’s the smirky smile tilting his full lips that catches me off guard, and my brain goes offline again as a snippet of a memory hits out of nowhere.
A strong jaw and full lips under a dark hood.
I’m so taken aback by the mental image that I knock my coffee right out of my hand. I make a desperate grab for it, but the sudden move destabilizes me, and the armload of books I’m carrying slips out of my grasp.
The twin beside me reaches out with more of those lightning-fast reflexes and somehow catches my cup in midair, keeping it upright so not a single drop spills.
My books aren’t so lucky, and they hit the ground one after the other in a series of loudthwaps, but I’m so stunned by the insane catch that I barely notice them.
“How the fuck did you do that?” I ask incredulously as he hands me back my cup.
Our fingers brush as I take it, and a shiver rips through me as my stomach clenches at the simple touch.
“I’m good with my hands,” he says, and a weird sense of déjà vu hits me.
A deep and raspy voice in my ear as strong arms wrap around me and pin me against a rock-hard body.
That same voice talking to me through the camera and helping me get through the breakdown I was on the verge of when I reached out to him.
My neck and chest flush so hot my skin burns with embarrassment as I try to shove those thoughts right out of my head before I do something stupid like convince myself that one of the Hawthorne twins is my stalker.
Hastily, I drop to my knees to pick up my books, giving me an excuse not to look at any of them while I attempt to get my head in order.
