Page 13 of This Is Love
I study his brooding profile. He’s either really tired or really pissed off. There’s no telling with him. I don’t read him well, and most of the time lately, I wonder if it isn’t because he’s constantly changing things up just to fuck with me. We were fucking fine, for the most part until we had to leave Rya’s side. Then, all hell had broken loose. How the ever-lovingfuckhad I ended up in yet another closet situation with that asshat? Twice in one goddamn night.Jesus, Logan. What the fuck. You’re a freaking idiot to have not seen it coming.
I’d avoided him until Nurse Charlie came to find me because Rya was asking for me after her exam. An agonized breath shudders from me as I tip my head toward the top of hers, inhaling the scent I know so well. She’s here with me. She’s going to be okay.
My entire body sags with relief. Not only are we finally on our way home, but there’s no conclusive evidence she was raped. Thank fuck for that. But the unfortunate truth is there’s still a chance she was touched. No test is going to show if she was groped or worse, and there will certainly be doubt lingering in her head for a long time to come. That saddens me for her. We can pretend nothing happened since she can’t remember, but I don’t know if that’s the healthiest way to approach this. The fact is someonediddrug her. Whether there was an altercation of some sort that led to the cut on her scalp or if she simply passed out and hit her head on the way down, we may never know.
The bubbling simmer in my blood tells me I won’t simply let it go. I can’t. I intend to find out who was responsible and make sure there’s no way they ever do that to another girl again.
Something Trip mentioned has been tugging at the outer edges of my thoughts since I went off on my own after Jaxondecided to be a dick again—and I don’t even want to think about the erratic shifts in his behavior tonight. A growl threatens to rip from my throat over how fast he can flip on me, but I shove all that aside to turn over what Trip admitted during the first party of the semester. There are cameras in the basement of Tri-Beta house. He said they’d be watching, and, true to his word, they’d burst down the stairs only moments after I opened my mouth during Friend and a Fifth. I wonder if he shared that information with the cops or if he kept that little tidbit on the down low. Dude is sketchy as fuck. I don’t trust him. He’ll be lucky if I don’t nail him in the face the first chance I get, without so much as asking him a damn thing.
Our driver pulls up to the dorm a few minutes later. I meet Jaxon’s gaze as we both hesitate to exit the sedan. My voice low, I grit out, “I’ll take her to my room so I can keep an eye on her. Levi won’t mind, and I kinda doubt we want to deal with Hazel’s antics.”
“Agreed on the Hazel bit, based on the text Rya got. She’s bound to be feeling the ill-effects of the quantity of alcohol she consumed. But—” He shakes his head, grimacing.
“But what?”
“I can take care of her. I don’t have a roommate to bother, and she’ll be more comfortable in the bigger bed.”
“You just didn’t like what you found out earlier.”
“Or maybe I have her best interests at heart, unlike someone else who seems more concerned with keeping her to himself.” Jaxon aims a withering look at me.
“I’m not asleep,” Rya whispers, slowly sitting up and blinking as she looks around. “Are we back?”
Shit. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath before pressing my lips to her temple. “Yeah, baby. You ready to get some rest?”
She turns to look at me, her green eyes searching my features for a few seconds. “I guess so.” At her answer, faster than asnake, Jaxon is out of the car on his side and holding his hands out to help Rya slide over to him.
Drawing in a breath, I reluctantly crack open the door on my side and climb out, waving at the driver as I go. My jaw grinds as I see Jaxon’s already got an arm looped around Rya’s waist and has tucked her under his arm. He whispers softly to her, and that’s his saving grace because I can hear him. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Don’t leave me.” She glances over her shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief when I join them.
“Don’t worry. We’re not abandoning you. We’re going to make sure you have a quiet, comfortable place to rest.” His gaze finds mine over her head.
Did he just include me?I narrow my eyes on him, unsure what he’s up to now. Hurrying in front of them, I use my key card to let us into the building and haul the heavy old door open. Rya scrapes her teeth over her bottom lip, her eyes connecting with mine for a moment as they pass. Once they’re inside, though, she visibly slows, her neck craning to find me. I let the door shut behind us with a hollow thud, then reach out to grab the hand she’s holding out for me. I take it in mine as Jaxon hits the button for the elevator. The car is right there, and the rickety door opens in fits and starts.
We stand quietly together as it shudders shut again and we ascend to the third floor. As the motherfucking thing jerks to a stop, Rya’s grip on me tightens until the elevator finally decides we’re allowed to go on our way.
Rya lets out an uncertain breath, first turning to Jaxon, then to me. We either have to go left to get to her room or mine, or proceed to the right toward Jaxon’s.
With a tired roll of his eyes, Jaxon grinds out, “Come on. Both of you.” I shoot him an I-don’t-know-what-you’re-trying-to-pull stare, but he shrugs it off, steering us down the hall.
We stop briefly at the door, and I look over my shoulder as Jaxon lets us in, sure I heard someone behind us, but after a quick scan, I figure I must have been mistaken. There’s no one there. In fact, the entire dorm is deathly silent, which probably has to do with the fact that the clock on my phone shows it’s five thirty in the morning. And to add to that, it’s Saturday, so who the hell would be up and about at this hour, anyway? I must be fucking hearing things, which isn’t surprising considering I’m ready to pass out.
In fact, I’m so damn exhausted I can’t bring myself to question Jaxon further when he waves us into his room and shuts the door behind us. He moves directly to the bed to pull back the comforter. I take a second to glance around his room, finding myself insanely curious to have a look to see the sorts of things my stepbrother surrounds himself with. It’ll have to wait. The small space is cloaked in shadow, and the idea of turning on the light right now isn’t appealing. Some sort of cologne, the notes of which I can’t quite figure out, floats on the air. I inhale raggedly, letting the heady scent fill my head. I’m so fucked that the simple act of being here in his room sets off an intense response within me. It has my brain bending in ways I desperately don’t want it to—yet, also in ways I clearly can’t control.
I’ve gotta focus on Rya. She’s why I’m here. And maybe it’s that need that compels me to tug her into an embrace. In doing so, I get an instantaneous hit of her very delicate, feminine blend of citrus, vanilla, and lemon blossom perfume. It nearly sends me to my knees… and for a second, it curbs the Jaxon effect on my brain.
But who am I fucking kidding? I’m drawn to his rough edgesandher soft curves. Her gentle laughterbut alsohis sharp wit—even when he’s using it against me. His disarming gaze makes me sweat, and her sweet-as-fuck kisses take my breath away.Her pussy. His cock.Fuck. There’s something wrong with me. This is not the time to be thinking about this. My groan is audible—or I think it must be, because in my head, it’s like a rumble of thunder—but no one comments on it.
Rya turns to me. “What now?”
Why can’t I get a hold of myself? My heart jumps and skips all over the place as I try like fuck to figure out an answer to what should be a simple question. With an exaggerated inhale, followed by a hard exhale, I mumble, “We sleep.”
The taste of toothpaste is still fresh in my mouth, thanks to a kind nurse at the hospital, so there’s literally nothing we need to do except climb into the damn bed. Together.
Jaxon’s raspy voice pulls me from my thoughts. “You want a shirt to wear, Rya?” He’s paused in front of his armoire looking toward the two of us over his shoulder.
“Please. And, um. A pair of joggers or something? The underwear they gave me is weirdly scratchy.”
