Page 123 of Off Limits

His hand is sliding up my shirt when the door to the apartment slams shut and voices float into his room. We freeze, pulling away as we listen.

Giggles fill the apartment, then we hear a voice. “I want to give you your Christmas present.” Our eyes lock on each other’s and Lochlyn is hopping off the bed, jumping over me, and throwing open his door. I scramble out behind him to see for myself.

“What is going on here?” His voice is eerily calm but steely.

As I appear behind him, I see Weston and Chelsea jump apart as though a bomb is dropped between them. “Shit, Loch, I didn’t know you guys were here. I thought you were going to our room to get Shay’s stuff for break.”

“Chelsea, what’s going on?”

“Uh, well, Weston and I are, um…” She looks at Weston with questioning eyes.

“We’re, um, dating?” Weston states hastily, as if he’s at a loss for words.

I’m on my toes, peering over Lochlyn’s shoulder, watching things unfold. He tenses, starting at his jaw, spreading through his body. By now, I know Lochlyn well, really well, and in this moment, I have absolutely no idea how he’s going to react.

“What happened to Brendan?” His voice is still calm, but it comes through gritted teeth.

“We broke up.”

“When? We were just home a month ago.”

“Before we left to come back. I just couldn’t do the distance anymore.”

Lochlyn glances over his shoulder. I shake my head. I really had no idea. He sighs and looks back and forth between the two of them. Lochlyn and Weston are close friends, but Lochlyn can be intimidating when he wants to be.

“How long?”

Chelsea looks up at Weston and smiles. I recognize the look passing between them—the happiness. I recognize it because that’s what I see in my own relationship. Every time Lochlyn looks at me, every time I see a picture of us.

“I don’t know. Years, maybe? But we started seeing each other after we came back from Thanksgiving.” Chelsea knew Weston before we came to Cornell. She’d met him when they helped moved Lochlyn into the dorm and a few times after.

As Lochlyn takes a deep breath, I run my hand down his back, tangling in the bottom of his shirt. I don’t want him to be mad at them. The story is a little too familiar.

He relaxes under my touch. “You hurt my sister, I’ll hunt you down,” he says pointing, at Weston.

Weston holds his hands up. “I promise. I’ll take good care of her. Besides, you know where I live.”

“Guess we’ll have to figure out some sort of schedule or something,” Chelsea says, looking around the room.

Weston starts to laugh but looks at Lochlyn’s face and stops. I don’t need to see him to know he’s not amused. When Lochlyn is in the room, he commands it. The only person who can challenge him is Chelsea. The only person who can make him pause is me.

I step forward, linking my fingers with his. “Loch was going to teach me how to cook a chicken and some other things for dinner. Why don’t you stay? We have plenty of food.”

He looks over at me, upset. “But, babe, if they’re here, we can’t—”

“Lochlyn,” I growl.

He sighs. “Yeah, you guys should stay.”

Chelsea and Weston look at each other quickly and shrug, walk over and settle on the couch, then flip on the TV and play whatever Christmas movie is on.

I walk into the kitchen after Lochlyn, where he wraps his arms around my waist and groans, resting his head on my shoulder.

“I had plans and intentions for tonight, baby girl.”

I lean back in his arms to look at him. “Well, sometimes you have to adapt for family. That’s what we are, you know. A pieced together family. Aside from you and Chelsea, of course. But you know Wes, you like him. He’s one of your best friends.”

“Apparently the same Wes who’s dating my sister.”

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