Page 57 of Kingston
I don’t want to admit it to her but we’re running on the same train of thought. Something about her is totally making his issues worse. “It’s nothing I can talk to you about. I’m not trying to be difficult. Do you tell your best friend’s secrets?” I pull my wallet and house keys from my pocket and deposit them with a minor clatter in the dish on top of my dresser.
When she doesn’t have a snappy retort to my question, I pivot to face her, expecting some sort of scowl to be gracing her pretty face, or even for her to be sticking out her tongue at me. But the haunted look in her eye makes me wish I hadn’t said anything. She’s gone deathly pale, and considering how sun-kissed her skin is, that’s really saying something.
Frowning, I close the distance between us. It’s not until I’m right there in front of her I realize she’s not seeing me. She’s off somewhere in her head. I touch my forefinger under her chin. “Hey.”
She jerks, blinking, then stares up at me wide-eyed. “Sorry.”
“Fair to say we all have our secrets?” I quirk one eyebrow at her.
She nibbles on her rose-pink lip in a way I find absolutely mesmerizing. After a few moments, she nods. “Yeah. Totally.” Blowing out a careful breath, she squints up at me. “Is there a secret behind why you’re a senior in college at nineteen years old?”
I bark out a laugh, stunned. I don’t think I look or act younger than the other guys. “How did you know that?”
She shrugs and wets her lips. “Another little secret of mine.” She walks around my room, tilting her head as she reads the spines on the books in the bookcase next to my bed. She glances up. “So, I’m right?”
“Yeah.” A smile twitches at the corners of my mouth. “You’re something.”
Another shrug. “So what are you, a boy genius?”
“Actually… yes. Though, maybe I could be known as a man genius instead.”
She wrinkles her nose in a way I find endearing. “Not a chance, buddy.”
Buddy.Definitely don’t want to be your buddy.
But she continues on without realizing she’s all but stabbed me in the heart. “How did that all go down? Like someone realized you were a brainiac and moved you ahead in school?”
My eyes flick to hers. I don’t usually share this with other people. In fact, I’d wager the newer members of the brotherhood have no idea I’m barely nineteen. “I didn’t decide to accelerate my learning until high school.”
Her brows raise, but she doesn’t say anything, perhaps sensing I’m not done.
“I wanted thefuckout of my house.” I didn’t mean for it to come out so harsh but fuck it.I did.No sense in hiding it. “I took a shit ton of classes online a few summers in a row, andpoof.Had the credits to graduate two years early.”
And those brows inch up even further. “That’s kind of amazing.”
I rub my hand over my jaw. “Yeah, well, my parents weren’t too happy about it, but when they realized I’d already applied and gotten accepted here, they didn’t bother to stop me. My grandfather was a brother back in his day, so he signed off on my recommendation letter, thinking the brotherhood would be good for me. That it’d give me a sense of family again.”
“I can’t believe your parents let you go.”
“Peaches, sometimes the family we’re born into isn’t the one we’re meant for. My parents are not understanding people. We’ve never gotten along. They don’t get me.”
Her lashes flutter, and she sniffs a bit. “You already know my dad wanted a son and didn’t get one. Can we talk about something else?” Her brow furrows as she approaches my computer setup and gestures to it. “This is kinda crazy. You like computers.”
I snort, heading over to my bed, but relieved at the change in topic. “That’s a silly question, and you know it.”
“Did it sound like a question?” She huffs out a laugh. “But really. You’re obviously doing something computer-related with your degree, right?”
“Yep.” I let the P pop on my lips as I shuck my shoes off and pull the suspenders from my shoulders, letting them hang as I unbutton my shirt. “But I have a sneaking suspicion that if you knew my age, you already knew my major as well.”
Elliot ignores what I said… or didn’t hear it in the first place. She’s distracted, eyes glued to me as she watches me untuck my shirt and peel it off. “What are you doing?” Her teeth sink into her pillowy bottom lip.
“Sorry to do this to you again, but I’m taking a nap.” I unfasten my pants and let them drop to the floor before I step out of them and climb onto the bed, spreading out like a starfish.
“You keep dropping your pants in front of me, I’m going to get the wrong idea.”
“Who says it’s wrong?” My lips twitch, but I refrain from laughing because I’ve obviously struck some anxious chord within her.
She doesn’t answer, but stands stock-still, looking everywhere but at me.
