#Nerd (Hashtag #1)

by Cambria Hebert

  “They’re up for adoption.”

  “How long’s Murphy been here?”

  I lowered my gaze and my stomach rolled. “He came right after I started volunteering over a year ago.”

  He paused in petting and looked up. “That long?”

  I nodded and cleared my throat. “People tend to overlook him.”

  “His eye,” he murmured.

  Emotion clogged my throat so I didn’t speak. We sat there in silence for long moments. And then Murphy climbed off my lap and climbed into Romeo’s. He seemed taken aback by the cat’s easy affection.

  “He likes you,” I said, my voice thick.

  “He’s pretty cool.”

  I got up, unable to sit here like this with him anymore. It was affecting me too much. I reminded myself not to get taken in by his smile and the fact that Murphy liked him.

  I grabbed a bag of cat treats out of the cupboard and passed them out among the cats. Then I held one out to Murphy, who was content in Romeo’s lap.

  He perked up and stood, arching his back in a stretch as he sniffed at the treat. “It’s your favorite,” I told him. He took it in one bite and then licked his lips like he wanted more.

  “Oh no you don’t,” I told him. “One’s enough.”

  I felt Romeo’s stare and I looked up. Sometimes I forgot just how blue his eyes were and then I would realize all over again and it would make my stomach flip.

  The sound of muffled barking came through the walls, and Romeo blinked. “You have dogs here too?”

  I nodded.

  “Can we see them?”

  “Sure,” I said and lifted Murphy out of his lap. I tried not to notice how my arm brushed against his chest as I lifted the cat.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Murph,” I said and set him back in his shelter. Immediately, he went to the back and curled in a ball.

  I led him to the room across the hall where the dogs were kept, but before I could pull open the door, his voice behind stopped me. “Here.”

  I looked and he was shrugging out of his varsity jacket and holding it out for me. He might as well have been growing another head because his action was totally foreign.

  “You’re wet and freezing,” he said when I only stared.

  “I’m okay,” I argued.

  He looked down at my chest and his eyes grew a little heavy. I followed his gaze and wanted to die.

  Okay. So maybe I was a little cold.

  Or a lot.

  My nipples were drawn into little pebbles that you could totally see through my wet shirt plastered against me.

  “Uhhh,” I stuttered. I needed to take the jacket. I was putting on a show for him. But I couldn’t. My shirt was so wet it would just get the inside of the dry coat wet too.

  Romeo cleared his throat and gestured to the coat again. “It’s just a jacket, Rimmel.”

  I spun around, putting my back to him, and yanked the oversized shirt over my head. I was wearing a tank top beneath it, and while it was damp, it wasn’t wet like my shirt. I tossed the top aside and reached around me for the jacket. He slid it into my hand with a warm chuckle.

  I pulled it around me and bit back a groan because it was like being wrapped in an electric blanket. The material swallowed me whole. I didn’t have to worry about showing too much in this because there was so much fabric I was totally concealed.

  It hung well past my hands and almost to my knees.

  He grinned when I turned around. “You’re gonna get lost in that thing.”

  It was so warm and it smelled just like him. Whatever comeback I was going to make died on my lips.

  I showed him the dogs and we spent some time playing around with them. It didn’t surprise me that Romeo liked them. They were all high energy and sort of wild just like him.

  After a while, Michelle poked her head in and said she was going to lock up.

  “C’mon,” Romeo said, “I’ll drive you back to campus.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” I rushed to say. “Michelle usually gives me a ride.”

  “But I’m here now.”

  And what about when you aren’t? The thought was like a knife in my chest. I told myself to hang on to that feeling because there would come a time, like probably in ten minutes, when he would be gone and life would be the way it always was.

  He seemed to take my silence as some kind of agreement, and we went back out into the main room where I gathered up my things, including my shirt.

  Michelle’s eyes went right to the jacket I was wearing and then her gaze bounced between me and Romeo. I caught her eye and shook my head slightly, wanting her to get the idea out of her head immediately.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, opening the door for us.

  When I was out on the sidewalk, Michelle called out for Romeo. When he turned back, she said, “You’re welcome back anytime, Roman.”

  I gave her a death glare and hoped it gave her nightmares. Judging from the smile on her face, it wouldn’t.

  The ride back to campus was short and quiet. I couldn’t help but sink into the soft, warm seat and breathe in the scent of his jacket. When we pulled up in front of my dorm, my eyes were heavy and threatening sleep.

  “How’d you know which one I was in?” I asked sleepily.

  “Lucky guess.”

  “Oh. Well, thanks for the ride.”

  I started to climb out.

  “Rimmel?”

  “Yes?”

  “I really am sorry about before. Thanks for letting me hang with you tonight.”

  Hang? Is that what we’d done?

  I got out and hefted my bag on my shoulder. Then I remembered his jacket. I waved my arms as he backed up, and he hit the brakes. I rushed around the front of the car, his headlights blinding me, and dropped my bag at my feet so I could shrug out of the jacket.

  “Here,” I said, handing it to him through the window.

  “Thanks,” he said, not looking at my face, but instead at the little tank I was wearing. I picked up my bag and held it in front of me like a shield and backed away from the car.

  He sat in the lot and watched me until I disappeared inside.

  I could hear the velvety purr of his engine all the way up the stairs as I walked to my room.

  Chapter Twelve

  Romeo

  Rain cut through my headlights, making slashing marks in the air as I drove home. The image of Rimmel sitting Indian style on the tile floor with that cat in her lap and her hair piled on her head refused to go away.

  Yeah, I’d had the urge to check her out before. I mean, shit, I checked out every woman I saw. But I never really thought I’d see that.

  I felt like it was the first time I’d looked at someone and really saw them.

  It left me shaken.

  I was just tired, that’s all. My body was done and my brain was trying to pick up the slack. Tomorrow this would be a memory, and I certainly wouldn’t be haunted by the image of Rimmel and a cat.

  I’d only waited for her because of the text.

  The challenge.

  Yeah, it was initiation for the Omegas. But it almost felt like some kind of unspoken personal challenge between Zach and me. A dare. I lifted my mouth a little at the thought because this wasn’t grade school. Hell, this wasn’t even high school. This was college. Technically, we were adults. We didn’t dare each other.

  But still, I wouldn’t back down.

  Zach thought he played a good hand. He thought I’d been dealt a raw deal. I had to admit, yeah, I was pretty handicapped. I mean, shit, she was like socially inept. She became nervous just when someone looked at her too long.

  And she was always falling over. Her clothes looked like sacks, she freaking snorted when she laughed, and her hair…

  She is beautiful.

  The thought came out of nowhere and shocked me into next week. The car jerked to a stop in the driveway, and I sat there while the engine idled and stared out at the rain sliding down the windsh
ield.

  Even as I wanted to deny it, my mind refused. It wasn’t the first time I’d thought it either. Hadn’t I just told her the very same thing?

  But it never really hit home. Maybe I hadn’t heard my own words.

  They were loud and clear right now.

  I shook my head. I couldn’t really understand. She wasn’t beautiful.

  But she is.

  She lifted her hair up off her face and the room literally stopped. It was like there was a sudden vacuum sucking me in until the only thing I could see was her.

  Rimmel’s face was shaped like a heart. She had high cheekbones, wide eyes, and a chin that gradually tapered in. Her lips were full and pouty, and if she ever took those glasses off, the impact of her eyes would be astounding. As it was, they were stunning behind the glasses. She had a small nose, almost perky, and her skin was so creamy it almost looked like the cream my mother liked to pour in her coffee.

  And the curve of her neck… I’d never noticed such a thing before. But when she turned back to the cat, I could see it. She was so small-looking. Delicate and fine-boned. Her neck was sloped gently and curved out to give way to her shoulders. I wanted—no, I itched—to drag my fingers along that spot. To flirt with the hair at the nape of her neck and to take my teeth and nip at the perfectly smooth skin.

  When she got up to show me to the dogs, I couldn’t tear my eyes off her. Her shirt was soaked and it plastered to her frame. The cold made her nipples erect and I could barely take seeing them without being allowed to touch.

  So I offered her my jacket. To cover her up, to let me get my head on straight.

  But it backfired.

  She went and took off her shirt.

  Holy shit did my cock spring to life when she pulled away that fabric. Even though she kept her back turned, I still got quite a glimpse. Her arms were willowy, her waist narrow and trim, giving way to softly flared hips.

  Honestly, she wasn’t at all my usual type. I liked a girl with curves, a girl I could grab. Rimmel wasn’t all that curvy, but there was something about her that I couldn’t stop looking at. Heat flared in my stomach and spread like I’d just drank a giant shot of whiskey and the burn of alcohol was spreading through my limbs.

  My varsity jacket hid most of her body, but it didn’t douse my reaction. It swallowed her up and the only thing I could think of was being on top of her, my body covering hers, completely swallowing her up.

  I guess it was a good thing I suddenly found her attractive. I did have to sleep with her. It certainly would make it easier.

  I hadn’t expected to like her though, not genuinely. I had a lot of friends, but not many of them I would consider genuine. Most of them liked me because of my status. Because of the game. Because being around me gave them something.

  I played along. Hell, I enjoyed it. But deep down I knew where the line was drawn. Braeden was the closest friend I had. And I would count Trent among that list. Along with a handful of other guys on the team. But that was it.

  There had never been a girl before.

  A girl I actually was intrigued by. A girl I wanted to learn more about.

  I learned something tonight. I learned something I didn’t think anyone ever got to see. Her vulnerability. Her softness. The way she looked at the animals, the way she acted with them, it made me slightly jealous. Sure, everybody liked me, but no one ever looked at me the way she did that cat.

  As I watched her with him, I realized she identified with it. He was sort of the outcast of the shelter. No one wanted him because he looked different, because maybe they thought he wasn’t as good as the other cats.

  But when he showed affection, he purred louder than any cat I’d ever heard. He’d turn his green eye on you and really look. When he saw I was going to be kind to him, he accepted me immediately.

  Was that how Rimmel felt? Did she feel overlooked? Like an outcast?

  Thunder rolled overhead, and I realized I was still sitting in my idling car. I shut it off and dashed through the rain into my house, flipping on the lights as I went.

  I knew I could get her into bed. Especially after seeing her tonight. All I had to do was draw her in, notice her, make her feel special.

  It would be almost effortless. I should have been happy, smug and grinning like the Cheshire cat.

  But I wasn’t.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rimmel

  The library seemed a lot busier than usual and it made me slightly uncomfortable. One of the great things about a library was the peaceful, quiet atmosphere.

  Yeah, it was still quiet in here (for the most part), but the air in the building was anything but peaceful.

  I took up a spot in the back, the last table left, and sank into the chair. I was dressed in a pair of loose jeans, purple Converse, and a loose white T-shirt topped with a long purple cardigan that I bought two sizes too big. The sleeves were long and I pulled them over my hands as I sat there curling my fingers into the extra material.

  I’d worn my hair up today.

  I usually only put it up when I was in my room or at the shelter cleaning. My hair was dark and unruly. I knew if I cut some of the length off it would probably be more manageable, but then I wouldn’t have it to shield myself with.

  But the way Romeo looked at me…

  The other night in the shelter, I hadn’t really thought twice about pulling up my hair. It was wet, heavy, and on my nerves. I guess thinking back now, it was a little startling that I didn’t think about being in the same room with him and how pulling my hair up might leave me feeling exposed.

  Maybe I would have thought that if he hadn’t looked at me that way. But he did. The change in his eyes was definite. The blue was as amazing as always, the kind of blue that you didn’t often see. It darkened as his gaze fastened on my face and didn’t let go.

  Usually, I would have ducked my head, but I couldn’t. I felt like he was seeing me, like the real me. And I felt like maybe he liked it.

  He called me beautiful.

  The only person that ever called me beautiful was my father. Except for several years ago… but I wouldn’t think about that.

  So when I got dressed today, I pulled it up into a messy-looking topknot. As I’d gone through the day, a couple strands had fallen out against my neck and one occasionally brushed my cheek, but I didn’t fuss with it.

  Ivy had been surprised. I could tell by the way her eyes widened when I walked past to grab my sweater. She even told me it looked nice, almost trendy.

  Earlier this morning, I passed by Romeo’s friend, the one from the other day. He did a double take, then lifted his hand in a wave. “Looking good today, tutor girl!” he shouted.

  People turned to stare.

  I almost rushed in the bathroom and pulled my hair down. But I didn’t. Maybe it was time I stopped hiding all the time. I was almost nineteen. I wasn’t a kid. I knew how to handle people and certain situations. I shouldn’t let the past define me anymore.

  But some habits were hard to break.

  A couple girls walked by where I was sitting and started whispering and rushed away. Odd. I looked around and something became clear.

  These people weren’t here to study.

  They were here because he was coming. Romeo.

  Way more than half of the people in here were girls. They were all dressed to impress and some were fussing with their hair and lip-gloss.

  I remembered a recent Buzz that came through the Alpha App. Something about Romeo being at the library and how the library was getting busier. Well. That notification just increased the traffic.

  I also saw the Buzz about the mystery girl in his Hellcat. It wasn’t a mystery, though. It was me. I wondered what all these girls would say if they knew that.

  Were they here because they were curious and hoped to see some girl on his arm? Or were they hoping to come here to draw his attention and be that girl?

  Right next to me someone cleared their throat.

  I jumped ab
out a mile out of my seat and threw my arms out in surprise. The arm where the person was standing smacked into their middle, and I heard an oomph.

  “I’m sorry,” I rushed out. “You startled me.”

  “What the hell?” the girl snapped, and I turned all the way around to stare up at her. She had icy blue eyes, long honey-colored hair, and a full face of flawless makeup. She was rubbing her palm over her middle where I smacked her.

  “You shouldn’t sneak up on people,” I said.

  An incredulous look crossed her features. “I wasn’t sneaking.”

  “Well, I didn’t hear you.” I pointed out.

  She dropped her hand from her belly and regarded me with a scrutinizing gaze. I saw the way her lips sneered at my makeup-free face, my glasses, and my unfashionable outfit. And then her gaze shifted, almost like she had sized me up and decided I wasn’t anything for her to worry about.

  It kinda pissed me off.

  “Are you Romeo’s tutor?” she asked.

  I should have known this was about him.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, where is he?” She perched a hand upon her hip.

  Did she think I was his keeper? “I assume he’s on his way.”

  “Well, when he gets here, you should go.” She glanced behind me, and I knew her friends were probably nearby listening.

  “And why is that?”

  “Because he’s going to be busy with me.”

  “He’s coming here to study.” I pointed out. This girl was irritating.

  Her eyes narrowed and her mouth thinned. “You don’t have a chance in hell with him.”

  “I never said I wanted one,” I shot back. Was this girl actually implying I was here for something other than tutoring? I was here because I had to be, not because I chose this and certainly not because I wanted Romeo.

  “Listen here, nerd,” she said, towering over me, using the fact that I was sitting to try and intimidate me. It was sort of working, but I didn’t want to show it. “He’d never go for a girl like you.”

  “Sorry, I’m late again,” Romeo said as he walked toward the table. I turned and looked at him, but he didn’t look at me. He was looking at the girl.