Co-Ed(56)

“Hey!” Leo complained, “That’s my job. Make the water hot…”

Shawn gave him a shaky smile then burst into a mess of tears and hiccups as I set her on her feet and pulled her close.

And when Leo and Finn joined us in a group hug…

It wasn’t weird.

None of it was weird.

It was right.

As if we needed that moment to know that we’d done it — that she was alive and okay in our arms.

Leo first kissed the top of her head, followed by Finn. They walked out, leaving me with the girl I’d almost lost. “What would I have done?” my voice cracked. “Your warm skin? Your smile… your hair…” I felt my eyes well with tears. “I don’t want to be in a world where you don’t exist, where your smile isn’t lighting up every room we’re in. That’s not a happy world, Shawn.”

“I’m so sorry,” she cried against my chest.

“This isn’t your fault!” I gripped her chin and lifted so I could gaze into her eyes. “Look at me. This isn’t your fault! It’s ours! Had we known—”

“Hard to know a psychopath is coming after you when she smiles while holding a drink in one hand and a needle in the other.”

“I’m sorry.” I kissed her eyes. “So fucking sorry. What can I do? I’ll do anything to make you feel safe again — anything.”

“Anything?” She pulled away.

“Yeah.”

“Just help me get the smell of the party off of me, get me out of these clothes. I just… I just want to feel safe.”

“I swear I’ll always keep you safe.” I meant it.

“I know.” Her smile was small, hopeful, as I slowly unzipped her skirt until it fell to the tile floor. I unbuttoned the blouse and tossed it. They were going in the trash, along with every other thing she was wearing. Her panties and her bra followed, though the pretty pale pink against her skin was just another reminder of what she had been wearing the day she could have died.

I gathered them all in a pile and shoved them in the trash then came back and started peeling off my clothes.

Her eyes widened. “You’re joining me?”

“Yup.” I shoved down my jeans. “The way I see it, I’m now your personal bodyguard. Hope you don’t mind, but I’m probably not going to let you pee without asking if you’re okay.”

This time she laughed. It wasn’t the same as her normal laugh, but it was something. “You know she’s in jail right now, right? She can’t hurt me.”

“Then let me protect you from everyone else who’s stupid enough to try.”

She smiled. “I can’t really argue that logic, can I?”

“Nope.” I tested the water then helped her into the shower and followed. Once the hot stream flowed over our bodies, she got busy scrubbing her skin clean, and I tried… I tried like hell not to watch the soap glide across her mocha flesh, just like I tried not to focus on the way her breasts bounced with each movement of her arms.

At one point, I even turned around and scolded my own body for not getting the point that she’d just been scared for her life, while there I was, ready to take her against the shower wall.

With sheer willpower, I helped her rinse then wrapped a towel around her shivering body before grabbing one for me. I dried off, put on my clothes then carried her into the joint suite, still in her towel since I’d dumped her clothes.

“Look, Finn. Knox brought us a Christmas goose.” Leo winked. “All pink and ready to eat.”

Slater groaned. “I’m fixing food, try not to make everything sexual.”

Leo smirked while Finn just shook his head.

I carried Shawn into her bedroom, shut the door, and started rummaging through her drawers.

“Hey, I can do it.” Her hand met mine as soon as I collided with a lacy black thong. “Especially if that’s what you’re picking for comfort right now.”

I dropped it as if it was burning my skin while she chose a pair of boy shorts, which actually made me harder than when I was touching the thong, then grabbed a tank top and pulled it right over her wet head.

I cleared my throat. “We should get you a bra.”

“Should we?” She looked down.

I let out a groan. “Yeah, we really should.”

She went to the door.

“Shawn—”

She turned the lock then faced me. “I want you.”

“Everyone’s waiting outside. They’re all concerned—”

She only took one step before I pulled her in my arms then shrugged out of my own shirt while trying to peel hers over her head.

She was in her white boy shorts; me in my jeans again.

I could taste her fear, her desire to force it away.

So, I promised I would take it. Promised that if she didn’t feel safe in this world anymore, she’d at least always feel safe in my arms.

“We don’t have to do this.” I gripped her by the elbows and searched her eyes, not for an excuse to pull away, but for a reason to stay, a reason to feel okay about this moment.

“Knox…” She breathed my name against my lips.

I could taste her. I could feel her pulse.

“…let me need you.”