Rolling my hips, I thrust into her hard. “I can’t wait much longer, baby girl. We both need to hear me say it.”

“I know,” she sobbed, burying her face in my shirt to muffle her pleasure-filled whimpers. “Soon. I promise.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY-NINE

samara

Coffee in hand,I left the coffee shop with Abi. Since bumping into her the Monday after returning from my visit to New York two weeks before, we’d been running together each morning. I didn’t know what it was about the beautiful redhead, but she brought out a protective side in me that I rarely ever felt. Some of that came out for Nishia, but I knew she didn’t need me to be her protector when she had Jack.

With Abi, it was different. She wasn’t broken. Or in need of anyone. She just…was. My obsessiveness was rolling over to include her. I couldn’t stop myself. I needed to know she was safe.

Especially on her morning runs.

Each day, we got to know each other a little better, and it fed the crazy that had only ever been focused on Elias. Not in an “Oh my fucking God, I need to be with you every second of the day. I think I love you” kind of way. It was more a “You’re one of my people now. I adore you. I have to make sure nothing happens to you because if I lose you, I will die” way.

Abi St. Charles was easily becoming my best friend.

I’d never had that before. Never allowed myself to have it. I’d had plenty of friends when I was growing up, but never anyone I cared enough about that I would burn down the world for. Two weeks of running with Abi, and I was already contemplating how I’d survived so long without her in my life.

Daughter of two talented rockers, she’d grown up in the background of the celebrity world. Which she preferred, she’d told me the second day we’d shared a run. She didn’t like the spotlight. It was why she’d chosen Trinity for college.

“It’s so quiet here,” she said as we walked out of the coffee shop, large cups in our hands. It was our new routine. We ran, then grabbed coffee and a pastry. The shop was only a few blocks from her dorm, while my apartment was on the other side of town.

That was one thing I couldn’t figure out about my new bestie. She actually liked running. It helped clear her mind. Whereas I only did it to try to outrun my many, many demons.

Abi and I were definitely as different as night and day, that was for fucking sure. But maybe that was why I was so drawn to her.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her face toward the morning sun. “When Hayat and I came to visit her uncle Lyric a few summers ago, I fell in love with the small-town life. The air is cleaner. The noise is less intrusive. I feel like I’m the person I was meant to be when I’m here.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” I said softly.

Opening her eyes, she smiled at me, causing warmth to spread through my chest. She squeezed my arm. “I’m glad you’re here too.”

Emotion filled my throat, but she seemed to sense that I was unable to speak. She released my arm to thread hers around mine, and we started walking toward her dorm. “Only a few more weeks and the term will be over. My parents are going on tour in Australia. Maddie is working with her stepmom, and Hayat has decided she is going to kick some guy’s ass and take over his position as drummer for the band at her dad’s club. I guess I’ll just take summer classes. What are your thoughts?”

I was already nodding. “That’s a great idea.” Mostly because I was greedy and didn’t want her to go home. I needed more time with her. More everything. Between her and Elias, I knew I didn’t need anything or anyone else. I had everything a person could need right there. Love. Friendship. Acceptance.

That was what they both gave me. Like Elias, Abi didn’t judge. She didn’t know who Samara Vitucci was—what I was capable of. My money and the power that came with my last name weren’t something she cared about. When I’d first told her I was a Vitucci and was from New York, she’d rolled her blue eyes and said she didn’t know what that meant.

That was when I knew she was my person.

“I’m trying to get into one of Professor V’s summer classes,” Abi confided quietly as we walked. “It’s probably too late to register for it. I bet it’s filled up. Especially now with every girl on campus trying to catch his attention. I swear, there are at least eight more girls in our class now who said they wanted to audit the class in case they decide to change their majors.”

“You seriously need to take a picture of this guy so I know what all the fuss is about,” I told her, taking a sip of my coffee. “I need to see for myself if he’s as hot as you keep insisting.”

“No way!” she snapped and then groaned. “I’m such a dork. Crushing on my professor is so juvenile.”

“Please,” I said with a snort. “I think you’re past the crush stage and are falling quickly into all-out obsession. Look at you all adorably jealous, not wanting to show me a picture. I swear I won’t steal your man, Red. Elias is everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Giggling, she steered me off the path and then paused when something caught her attention. “Speak of the sexy devil,” she hissed. “Sammy, there he is.”

I slowly shifted my head so as not to embarrass her or look suspicious. Students and professors were already walking toward their early morning classes. I scanned my eyes over each person, eliminating them as Professor V as I did.

Not the shaggy-haired surfer with a backpack over one shoulder. Definitely not the cute blonde with a phone to her ear. No to the middle-aged man with a thick middle and receding hairline, or the tweed jacket skinny guy with bottle cap glasses.

My gaze scrutinized several other people, but I couldn’t find Abi’s crush. “Where?” I finally asked.

“There…” She sighed. “He’s going into the computer science building. You missed him.”