Co-Ed(26)

It was nice.

Comfortable.

I kind of wanted to steal his bed and give him mine.

What kind of college student had this type of sheets? The thread count had to be insanely high.

Maybe he was rich. Probably was. He drove a nice Mercedes, and I’d noticed the Rolex earlier. Hmm. I decided since we were friends I could probably ask him without sounding offensive. Then again, it seemed weird.

I yawned and succumbed to exhaustion just about the time I heard Knox’s voice mutter, “She’s dead.”

I slept soundly for about two hours but was pulled awake by the sound of someone tossing and turning then more whispering and soft moans. I looked over the edge of the bed. Knox was battling demons in his sleep, gripping the sheets as if they were his sword and looking so pained my heart clenched.

“Knox,” I whispered, touching his side. “Knox.”

His eyes jolted open as he jerked to a sitting position. He ran his hands through his long hair.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” His eyes were wide, his skin pale, even in the ambient light. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

He was shaking.

I wasn’t stupid.

A grown man shaking was not a small thing.

I would regret it later — my heart knew it — but I was a caretaker by nature, so when I grabbed his hand and gave it a tug toward the bed, I was surprised he followed.

Even more surprised that when he joined me in his bed, he didn’t try to pull me into his embrace; he didn’t even touch me, just laid there and stared up at the ceiling like the monsters were going to come back.

“You need to sleep,” I whispered, turning on my side and facing him. “Or you’ll be even grumpier in the morning.”

He smiled at that. “Am I really that grumpy?”

“Scale of one to ten?” I shrugged. “You flirt with an eight or nine on a good day.”

“Shit.” He took a deep breath. “For the record, I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“Being myself.” He didn’t offer any more explanation. Instead, he turned away from me, tucked a pillow under his head, and slept.

We were strangers.

And still, when I woke up with the bed empty…

I realized.

It was the second time I’d slept through the night since transferring. Ironic that it would happen to occur in my enemy’s bed.





Chapter Seventeen


Shawn

Slater was gone by the time I made it back to my room, which was rare for him to leave so early. I was tempted to short sheet his bed or do something equally stupid just to teach him a lesson, but I didn’t have time before my next weightlifting session. I changed into a tank top and some black Nike tights then laced up my pink shoes and donned my white hoodie.

I almost ran right in to Finn when I opened the door. “Holy crap.” It took a couple of deep breaths for my heart rate to return to normal.

He grinned. “Sorry.”

“Warn a girl next time.”

“Panthers never warn their prey.” He grinned shamelessly.

I just rolled my eyes. “What’s up?”

He nodded toward the door. “I’m headed to the gym. Let me give you a ride.”

“Really?” I perked up. I hated being late because Coach loved making me do weighted wall sits. “Actually, that would be great.”

“Thought you might be excited to get there on time.”

“Yeah okay, stalker.”

He didn’t deny it, just laughed.

We made our way down to the lobby. A brand new black SUV was parked in front. He walked to the driver’s side while I frowned.

“Something wrong?” He put on his black sunglasses, making him look like a movie star.

“No.” I opened my door and got in. “How much do people pay you guys? I mean, each of you has such nice cars.”

“Remember? I’m a child star.” He winked. “Leo drives a Jetta because he says it makes him look more human.” His long sigh was noted. “And Knox? Well, Knox is kind of our leader, if you will. He gets a bigger cut, and he’s being groomed for corporate. They basically spoon-feed him gold while he shits diamonds.”

“Seriously?”

“He’s the best out of the three of us, always has been, always will be. Plus, he has a nice fancy VP position just waiting for him when he graduates. That’s part of what we do. We’re glorified interns. We put in the blood, sweat, and tears, and hopefully at the end of our senior year, we get a corner office and a yacht.”

“You’re joking.”

He just shrugged. “At any rate, Leo and I have another year because we fucked around too much our freshman year, while Knox is almost done serving time. That’s why we were trying to recruit Chris and Jay.”

I frowned. “They don’t have the same charisma you guys have.”

“Thanks, cupcake.” He patted my leg then squeezed my thigh. “It takes time. Confidence isn’t earned. It’s learned. And we’ve had time, and epic fails, behind all of ours.”

“Fails?” I asked, just as he pulled up to the gym and cut the engine.

Finn turned to me, his gaze just as penetrating as before. “Not really my story to tell. Just know, it hasn’t always been raining cash and glory on us three… and there’s a reason we’re training two more guys, not one, to take Knox’s place.”