#Nerd (Hashtag #1)

by Cambria Hebert

  I remembered what Romeo said about her being a perfectionist about the way the house looked. Clearly that perfectionism extended to her own appearance.

  “I’m a little busy right now, Mom,” Romeo replied. “But thanks.”

  “Who are you?” his mother said frankly, eyeing me without apology. I wanted to cringe, but I didn’t. If this woman thought appearance was everything, then she must be dying inside as she looked at me.

  I stepped forward and extended my hand. It was covered by the purple material of my sweater. I grimaced and shoved it away, offering my hand once more. “I’m Rimmel.”

  For a brief moment, I thought she might refuse my hand, but then she reached out and lightly grasped my fingers. “I’m Victoria, Roman’s mother.”

  “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

  Her eyes narrowed slightly when she pulled back. She didn’t like me. It was painfully obvious. My stomach clenched a little. I knew I shouldn’t care what her opinion of me was, but I did. This was one of the reasons I chose animals over people. I cared too much. It made me feel sick inside when people looked at me the way she was right now. I couldn’t understand why others were so judgmental of each other. I was entirely too sensitive and it was easier to just blend into the background and go unnoticed.

  “You got to college with my son?” she asked.

  Romeo stepped forward so I could feel the solid wall of him just behind me. I told myself not to enjoy the feeling, to realize he wasn’t standing there for me, but because his mother was speaking.

  “Thanks for the offer, Mom. Save me a plate? I’ll come in and eat later.”

  Just like that, she dismissed me. Her eyes flicked behind me to settle on Romeo. “We’ll talk when you come in.”

  He agreed and then after another tense moment, she turned and left. I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and turned. “Wow, she’s…”

  “Intimidating?” he finished, the corner of his mouth turning up. “She’s not that bad when you get to know her.”

  Pain pierced my heart and a small cloud of sorrow swept over me. I turned toward my bag to get out a pencil and notebook.

  “Hey,” Romeo said softly. He caught my hand and pulled me around. I glanced down at where we touched and stared at the difference in size of our hands. “Did I say something?”

  I shook my head. “Maybe we should get to work.”

  His fingers tightened on mine before he let go. For a second, I hoped he would yank me into him and give me that kiss I’d lost out on twice now.

  But he didn’t.

  We spent the next hour and a half studying. It was hard to focus here in his house. The only light came from two pendants hanging over the island where we were seated. The lights everywhere else in the house were off. The darker it got outside, the more definitive the bubble of light was that we sat in. Like we were in our own little world and beyond it was nothing but darkness.

  At one point, I pointed to something on his paper and our hands brushed together. Our eyes met and another one of those heavy moments passed between us. By the time I was packing up my things, my nerves were slightly frayed and my skin was humming.

  I didn’t know that being alone with him would affect me this way. We finished later than usual because we got a later start. Well, that and I don’t think either one of us looked at the clock once.

  “I’ll drive you back to campus,” he said, pushing his notebook aside and standing up to stretch. When he reached his arms over his head, the hem of his T-shirt rode up and I could see a taut expanse of skin across his waist.

  Those muscles on either side of his hips were visible again, creating a deep V shape that disappeared down into his jeans.

  I bit my lower lip as heat blossomed in my center.

  He must have noticed my reaction because his eyes darkened and he slowly lowered his arms. His cell began ringing from somewhere in his pocket and broke the moment.

  He swore lightly and pulled it out to look at the screen. “It’s Braeden,” he said before answering.

  “Hey, man,” he said.

  I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder and pointed toward the door. “I’ll wait outside.”

  He nodded and went back to his call. I moved slowly through the dark living room until I made it to the door. Outside was cold. It was never this cold in Florida in October.

  My breath puffed out in front of my face and I wrapped my arms around myself for added warmth. I really needed to start remembering a coat. It just wasn’t something I ever thought about because in Florida I never had to.

  I glanced out at the pool. There were lights glowing from within the water, making it look like an inviting lagoon.

  I stayed back away from it and moved around toward the driveway. There were trees lining his property and dotting various points in the landscape. All the leaves were golden and burnished orange. A crisp breeze blew through the night and a few quivering leaves fell and floated silently to the ground.

  This house was beautiful. It looked austere and well kept, but not so cold that it was uninviting. I grew up in a small three-bedroom home where the only tree in our yard was a palm tree and the grass was brown most of the year because it was always so incredibly hot.

  Maryland was a beautiful state. The trees, the air—

  A slamming noise from behind had me spinning around. I glanced at the house, thinking Romeo had finished his call, but it wasn’t him.

  It was his mother.

  She was heading toward me from the back door of the main house. Light spilled out over the concrete from the door she’d left partially open.

  “I’m just waiting for Rome-Roman to take me back to campus. He’s on the phone,” I told her as she stopped in front of me. I didn’t want her to think I was out here doing something I wasn’t supposed to.

  “Why are you here?” she asked coolly.

  Her question caught me off guard a little. “Umm, we were studying.”

  Her face turned sour, like she sucked on an entire lemon. “I’m not stupid, you know.”

  I gave her a blank look. What?

  “I know my son is very popular. I know he dates.”

  A pit formed in my stomach. She couldn’t possibly think I was dating Romeo. I didn’t have to say anything because she just kept on talking.

  “You aren’t the first girl he’s brought home.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “He usually sneaks them in and out and thinks his father and I don’t see.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s almost twenty, he’s an adult, and he keeps his… relationships quiet so I never say a word.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.” My stomach was feeling twisted and I didn’t want to hear about all the girls Romeo brought home.

  “You’re the first one I’ve actually seen. The first one he didn’t try to hide.”

  Obviously, she thought I was lying about studying. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to hold out my arms and say look at me! But I didn’t. I had pride and I also knew Romeo didn’t think I was that terrible looking. If he did, I wouldn’t have seen that look in his eyes before.

  “I won’t have you”—she paused to look me up and down—“or any other low-class girl come into my home and try to take advantage of my son. He has a bright future ahead of him, an important one, and I won’t allow anyone to distract him from that.”

  I swallowed. She thought I was a gold-digger? She thought I wanted to somehow benefit from Romeo?

  I laughed. I laughed so hard I snorted.

  She stared at me like I had five heads.

  “Don’t worry,” I said, drawing up my meager stature and height. “Your son is safe from low class like me.”

  She stiffened. I glanced back at Romeo’s house.

  What the hell was I doing here? I mean, really. I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be feeling things for a guy who could never reciprocate. This was wrong. It was just all so wrong.

  It wasn’t going t
o happen again.

  I couldn’t let it.

  Tears burned the backs of my eyes and I blinked them away.

  His mother was still standing there studying me. It seemed like some of the fight had left her face. But I didn’t care. It didn’t matter.

  “Tell Romeo,” I said, not bothering to correct myself and use his full name. “That I found my own way home.”

  I turned and walked away, keeping my head held high and my shoulders back. I walked that way until I disappeared around the curve in the driveway along the side of the house. Once I stepped into the darkness, I allowed my shoulders to slump.

  A lone tear fought its way past my furious blinking and trailed over my cheek. I wiped it away and ran.

  I ran to the end of the driveway and out onto the street without ever looking back.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Romeo

  When I went to find Rimmel, she wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  But my mother was standing in the driveway near the Hellcat, staring off down the empty driveway.

  “Where’s Rimmel?” I asked, palming my keys.

  She turned to me. There was a shadow of regret in her eyes.

  “Mom?”

  She blinked and she was her normal composed self instantly. “She left. Said to say she found her own way back.”

  Worry slammed into me. It was the same feeling I got when a running back found an opening and mowed me down on the field. “Where did she go?” I asked harshly.

  Mom’s eyes widened. “Down the driveway.”

  I rushed toward my car, fumbling with the handle to get inside.

  “Just let her go,” Mom called behind me.

  I stilled as anger overcame the worry. In seconds, I was towering over her with a hard look in my eyes. “What the hell did you say to her?”

  She lifted her chin. “Don’t you talk to me like that.”

  “So help me,” I growled, and she drew back. “You let her run off into the dark, in a neighborhood she doesn’t know, by herself?” I spat. “You better pray nothing happens to her.”

  “You care about her.”

  She was as shocked by her words as I was.

  “Yeah,” I said, turning back to the Hellcat. “Maybe I do.”

  “She’s not good enough,” Mom called.

  My fists clenched and I turned in the open doorway of my car. “You don’t even know her. She’s the only person I’ve met in years that hasn’t wanted one single thing from me.”

  “She wants something,” Mom vowed like she knew.

  I gave her a sad look because I couldn’t believe she would act this way. “She doesn’t have anyone, Mom. Not one friend. I would think a person like you—a woman with so much—could have at least afforded a small amount of kindness.”

  A stricken look paled her face, but I ignored it and turned away. She was still standing there when my headlights bounced over her as I turned and sped down the drive.

  I found her on the next street over, heading in the direction away from campus. It might be funny if it didn’t scare me so fucking bad. Yeah, I lived in a nice neighborhood, but that didn’t mean these streets were exempt from crime.

  Anyone could have driven by and seen her. Rimmel was no match for anyone. She was too small, too gentle, and too innocent to protect herself.

  I was going to have to do it for her.

  She didn’t look when my headlights shone directly behind her, but her steps quickened when she realized I wasn’t just going to drive past.

  It was freezing outside and all she was wearing was that stupid too big sweater and T-shirt. It hung well past her butt and her thin legs almost looked like twigs sticking out from beneath it. The bag on her shoulder probably weighed more than she did, and I clutched the steering wheel at the sudden bout of anger that lit inside.

  She had to know it was me behind her. The Hellcat’s engine was the smoothest purr I’d ever heard. But still, she didn’t turn around.

  She was angry.

  I guess I couldn’t blame her. My mom was a friggin’ piece of work.

  I swerved out around her and hit the gas to shoot forward. Up ahead, I pulled to the side of the road and slammed it in park. I swung open the door and jumped out, but I then leaned back in to rummage in the backseat for something.

  When my hand closed over it, I straightened and turned toward Rimmel. She was standing down the street a little ways, just staring at me through the darkness. She made no move to come any closer, and the way she shuffled her feet told me she wasn’t sure what to do.

  But I sure as hell was.

  I left the car running, the door open, and the headlights on. I stalked toward her down the street, not once taking my eyes off her. I stopped just shy of bumping into her. I was so close she had to tilt her head all the way back to look up at me.

  I said not one word when I reached out and relieved her of the bag and dropped it on the road beside me. Even in the darkness, I could see how pale her cheeks were, how her lower lip trembled just slightly from the cold.

  I lifted the item in my arms and worked my hands in it. Then I slid it down over her head. “Up,” I murmured, and she lifted to push her arms through the oversized sleeves of my Alpha hoodie.

  The soft, thick fabric fell over her, and I felt her sigh against the warmth.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” I ordered, but the words came out hoarse and low.

  She tilted up to look at me again, her eyes wide beneath those damned glasses.

  I wouldn’t wait another second. Not one.

  I cupped her jaw, my fingers splaying out against the sides of her head, and then I crushed my mouth to hers.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rimmel

  Oh my God.

  He kissed me.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Romeo

  If you’d kissed one girl, you’d kissed them all.

  Not true.

  The second my lips touched hers, everything else melted away. The street, my car, the initiation. Everything.

  Her mouth was soft and inviting. I was demanding, almost desperate, but she didn’t seem to mind. She opened for me instantly, and my tongue swept inside, staking its claim. I gripped the sides of her face like she was my lifeline as I slanted my mouth over hers again and again.

  Rimmel’s hands came up to wrap around my forearms as if to hold me in place while the kiss went on and on. The fullness of her mouth begged to be nipped at, which I did so hungrily at her bottom lip. Her fingers dug into my skin and she reached up on tiptoes so she could get a little bit closer.

  Never in a million years would I have guessed the amount of passion her small body could hold. But now I knew. And I was selfish. I wanted it all. I wanted it all for myself.

  Our lips met again, crushing against the other, as I released her face and locked my arms around her back. Her body melted against mine, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted more.

  I palmed the sides of her waist and lifted. She came willingly, wrapping her legs around my waist and flinging her arms around my neck.

  The heat of her core pressed against my middle had my cock straining against my jeans as need hammered my bloodstream until I thought I might burst.

  I ripped my mouth away and looked at her. Her eyes were heavy and dazed, her lips swollen and pink. My God, she was beautiful. More beautiful than anyone I’d ever seen.

  I tightened my arms around her, holding her tight. Possession was like a set of impenetrable handcuffs as it enclosed around me.

  She let out a small sigh and wiggled her bottom so she was closer. The action had my gut clenching and the urge to carry her around to the hood of my car and bury myself deep inside her right here on the street took hold of me.

  I started walking before I even realized what I was doing.

  A car drove by, slowing a little as it went around us. Reality came crashing back and I realized we were on the street. Rimmel wasn’t some lay I could just do on my car out here in the open. Sh
e deserved better than that.

  “Fuck,” I muttered and then reversed my steps. She started to slide down my body, back to her feet, but I bent to pick her back up. I growled a little deep in my throat and clutched her to me. Her legs came back around me just as snug as before, and I carried her and the bag to the Hellcat.

  When she was seated in the passenger side, I reached around her and pulled the seatbelt across. The back of her head was resting against the seat and her hands were lost in my hoodie. Once the belt clicked into place, I pulled back and looked at her, sweeping my eyes over her face.

  Before going around to get in the driver’s seat, I dropped a quick kiss to her lips.

  Neither one of us said a word on the short drive back to campus. When her dorm came into sight, my stomach tightened a little. I wasn’t ready to let her go.

  When I parked, she started to tug her arm out of the hoodie. I reached over and stopped her. “No you don’t.”

  She looked at me with a question in her eyes.

  “Keep it. Wear it to the game Saturday night.”

  “The game?” she asked.

  I threaded my fingers through hers and lifted her hand to my lips. “You’re gonna come watch me play, aren’t you?”

  “Uhhh,” she stuttered.

  I gave her one of my charming smiles. She sighed. “Yeah, maybe.”

  I knew she’d be there. Just the thought of knowing she was there watching made me want to play better than ever.

  She glanced down at the hoodie. It was the football team’s colors, deep royal blue and golden yellow. It read Property of Alpha Football across the front.

  “You’re sure you want me to keep this?” Her voice was wary.

  “I’m sure,” I said definitively. “I’m beginning to think you don’t own a coat.”

  She giggled. “I do. I just always forget it. We never needed one in Florida.”

  I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re from Florida?”

  She nodded.

  “Your mom probably isn’t a piece of work like mine.” I meant it as a joke, something to make her smile.