Elite (Eagle Elite #1)(22)

I just didn’t know how bad.

“Ow, ow, ow! Crap!” I blew on my knee and waved my hands in the air.

The door to the bathroom burst open. “What happened?”

I looked at Nixon. A shirtless Nixon. Was he planning to join me too?

Then his eyes locked with mine and lower. I didn’t cover up this time. I think I was in shock or something. Warmth spread through my body, and it had nothing to do with the bath water as his eyes darkened.

He took a step toward me and then another.

“Nixon! Are you in here? Is she okay?” It was Chase.

With a curse he backed out of the bathroom and slammed the door. My heart beat wildly in my chest. What just happened?

Confused and exhausted, I decided to be quick about the bath. I ducked my head under the water. Peace and quiet. It was so nice. My stomach grumbled underwater. Of course it did. I was losing weight on this whole vegan kick, mainly because I was eating Cheerios and granola bars like they were going out of style.

After fifteen minutes, my hair was washed and I was squeaky clean. But I didn’t have any clothes to change into. I paced the bathroom for a few minutes and tried to even my breathing. I didn’t want to barge out of the bathroom in all my naked glory asking for clothes. What if other people were in there?

“You can do this, Trace, just ask for some clothes.” I gave myself a pep talk, nodded my head once, and reached for the door. The minute my fingers touched the knob it jerked open and I fell directly into Nixon’s shirtless, muscled, and tattooed arms.

We both froze. His fingers dug into my shoulders. My face smooshed against his chest. He was breathing heavily, and I was trying to remember not to faint.

“You need something?” he whispered into my ear. Lord, how did his whisper even sound sexy? Shouldn’t there be laws against guys crazy as sin being sexy?

“I need…” My voice cracked. Great. “Um, I need something to wear.”

“Hmm…” He gently pushed me away and looked down at my towel. “Are you sure about that?”

My knees seriously began knocking together. Why did he have to be so beautiful? And why did his touch make me want to sell my soul?

I licked my lips and broke eye contact.

Nixon released me and immediately I felt so cold I shivered. “I’ll find you something. Give me a few minutes.”

He jogged off. Giving me a beautiful view of a tattoo on his back. It was huge, almost taking up the entire thing. It was the picture of a cross, and then in some weird language, maybe Italian, I couldn’t tell, it said Familia and a few other things.

My eyes scanned the rest of the room. It basically looked like a bachelor pad. Or a hangout. The room was large and each chair had a game console hooked up to it as well as a name, and then the far side opposite of the TV had little closets with uniforms with names above each uniform.

Holy hell, I was in the Bat Cave. This was the Elect headquarters. Crap. I just took a bath in the Elect bathroom.

All I needed was to be seen leaving this place and the entire campus would be even more relentless.

I slumped against the wall.

Nixon appeared a few minutes later with some clothes. They all had tags on them. “So…” He scratched his head. “I, um, I guessed on the sizes, and I honestly didn’t want to offend you by guessing too big or guessing too small, which is why it took me five years to pick something out. So don’t get pissed if I was wrong, okay?”

A laugh escaped my lips. “Okay, I promise I won’t get mad.” I took the clothes from his hands and went back into the bathroom.

The jeans were designer. The only reason I knew was because the tag was still on them, and it said three hundred and ninety dollars. I swallowed and pulled out the sweater. It was cashmere and soft, exactly the type of thing I’d want to wear after a crappy day.

There was a small pink box underneath that said Victoria Secret. What? Did he have a freaking mall in this place? Well, it was the Bat Cave, and it was Eagle Elite. I shrugged and opened the box.

My eyebrow lifted. A thong? Really? The matching bra wasn’t so bad, and wonder of all wonders, it was a 34 C, which actually was my size. Then again he had just seen me topless and… oh crap. I leaned against the counter and took a few deep breaths.

It only took me a few minutes to get dressed. I grabbed my clothes off the floor and tried to comb the tangles out of my hair with my fingers.

Nixon was waiting in the large room drinking something and watching TV. “Better?” He took another sip from his cup and never took his eyes from the TV.

“Squeaky clean, and I’m happy to announce that no drowning took place in your bathroom.”

He smirked and nodded his head.

Okay, so was this the part where I was supposed to say thank you and bolt like a scared deer?

I cleared my throat. He still hadn’t moved.

Right. “Well, thanks for… everything. I’ll just go back to—”

“—You aren’t going anywhere until classes are dismissed. You still have two hours to burn. So make yourself at home.”

“But…” I held the damp egg-smelling clothes in my hands. “I need to get these cleaned and…”

Nixon swore and launched himself from the couch, stalking his way toward me. He grabbed my uniform along with my underwear and tossed it into the trash. “Done.”