Sorrow wrapped around her like a thick blanket. “My mom died.”
“Oh, baby,” I murmured, leaning close to press my forehead against hers. “I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago,” she whispered. “I was eleven.”
“Shit,” I swore under my breath. She grew up without a mother. I couldn’t even imagine what that must have been like.
I felt her stare on me so I lifted my gaze to meet hers. Our faces were so close it looked like she had one large eye instead of two.
“I do not want your pity.” Her voice was firm.
I couldn’t help but smile. She had a little Hellcat buried beneath her hood. “No pity here.” I drew back and kissed her forehead.
Rimmel sat back and pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Romeo, what happened?” she whispered.
I knew she meant between us. Hell, I was sort of wondering that myself.
All I knew was I couldn’t deny the way she affected me.
“Something,” I murmured.
“Something,” she echoed.
She pulled away and started to get out of the car. I caught the sleeve of the hoodie and tugged. “Tell me you aren’t going to pull away,” I said. A part of me was worried the minute she left this car, the bubble of whatever was between us, she would get scared and run away.
Her teeth sank into her lower lip and she regarded me. I could see the doubt already creeping in around her eyes.
“Tell me, Rimmel,” I demanded. I wouldn’t let her out of this car until I heard it from her lips.
“I promise.”
I barely heard the words, but she said them. Something inside me eased a little. “I’ll wait ‘til you’re inside the building,” I told her.
She looked back on her way inside the dorm. My hoodie totally dwarfed her small frame and I liked it. Just seeing it on her made me feel triumphant.
I wondered how long it would take her to figure out it had my name and number on the back.
I grinned to myself. I hoped she didn’t notice until she wore it somewhere that everyone could see. Then they would know she was mine.
My phone beeped and I looked down at it as she disappeared inside.
I’M HERE. WHERE ARE YOU?
Shit, I forgot I told Braeden to meet me.
BE THERE IN A FEW
I didn’t drive back home. I just went across campus.
I had a burglary to accomplish.
Chapter Nineteen
Rimmel
What the hell just happened?
I felt fuzzyheaded and drunk, only I hadn’t drunk one drop.
Kissing him was what I imagined an atomic bomb would be like. His lips completely obliterated everything around them.
One minute I was standing on the street, feeling angry and hurt, and the next… the next I was wearing his hoodie and promising not to run away.
I didn’t even know it could be like that. So intense. So electrifying. My head still swam and my knees felt weak. What did it mean?
Other than he was like the world’s best kisser.
Romeo acted like it was going to happen again. He asked me to wear his hoodie to the game. He wanted me there.
He made me promise not to run.
But what about him?
I don’t think he understood what he was getting himself into. He’d been caught up in the moment, in that incredible kiss. He was likely driving home right now and shaking his head. He was probably already regretting what happened.
I opened the door to my room and crept inside, closing the door silently behind me. When I turned, I let out a breath. Ivy wasn’t home. Thank goodness. She’d take one look at me and know something happened. Then she would demand to know what it was until I caved.
I wasn’t ready to tell anyone. I wanted to keep this night to myself even for just a little while.
Morning would come. Should I keep that promise? Should I believe there was something between Romeo and me? What if I did and he hurt me? What if he laughed? I didn’t want to go through that. It hurt too much.
After I set my bag aside, I pulled down the covers on the bed and turned out the light. I changed into a pair of cotton boxers and a white tank for sleep, hesitating a moment before pulling off Romeo’s hoodie. I draped it over the end of my bed before climbing in and lying down.
I wished I knew what he was thinking right now. I didn’t know what to do. If only my mom were still here, I could call and ask her for advice.
I missed her.
I missed her every day.
I worried about Romeo for a while before I started reliving that kiss, the way he held me in his arms and carried me to the car. I thought I was too keyed up to sleep, but I drifted off with tingling lips.
I don’t know how much later I was roused by a sound. It was probably Ivy sneaking in past curfew and trying not to be loud about it. I burrowed down into my blankets a little bit farther and slipped back into sleep.
Tink, tink, tink.
My eyes popped open. That wasn’t any sound Ivy ever made sneaking in before.
Tink, tink, tink.
I rolled over in bed and listened some more. It sounded like something hitting against glass. When it didn’t stop, I pushed up and flicked on a small lamp beside my bed. I looked across the room to Ivy’s bed and noted she still wasn’t home.
I glanced at the clock. It was after two a.m. She must not be coming home.
The noise continued, this time louder. It was coming from over by the window.
I got up and crept over and peered down into the grass.
I wasn’t wearing my glasses, they were next to the bed, so my vision was slightly blurry, but I would know Romeo anywhere.
What the hell was he doing?
I unlatched the locks on the window and pushed the glass up. “Rimmel,” he whisper-yelled from beneath.
“What are you doing?” I whisper-yelled back.
“I’m coming up!” he said and started backing up like he was going to jump.
I know I wasn’t wearing my glasses, but my eyesight wasn’t that bad. How did he think he was going to make it up here? A rustling sound below drew my attention away from Romeo. Braeden was down there too. He was standing beneath the window like he was ready to give Romeo and boost.
They were insane. They must be drunk.
Before I could tell them to stop, Romeo launched himself forward and used Braeden as some kind of launching pad. His hand just cleared the window ledge and he swung back and forth like he was going to fall.
“Romeo!” I gasped and rushed forward to grab his hand.
His other hand swung up and gripped the ledge, giving him a much more solid hold. He glanced up at me with blond hair falling over his forehead and mischief in his gaze. “Hi.”
I giggled. “Hi.”
“Where’s your glasses?”
“I don’t wear them to bed.”
He smiled. “Move back so I can come in.”
I released his hand and backed up. Seconds later, he swung himself into the room with ease and straightened.
“Day-um.” He whistled, keeping his voice low as he looked up and down my body.
The tiny shorts and tank left very little to the imagination.
“You look hot,” he growled and came at me.
I backed up a step and he caught me around the waist. Both of us fell back and landed on my bed. I laughed and looked up. But he wasn’t laughing or smiling.
His gaze was intense and it made my heart skip a beat.
“What?” I whispered. Maybe he’d come to tell me how much he regretted earlier.
“Has anyone ever told you just how beautiful you really are?” He breathed.
The bottom fell out of my stomach and I shook my head.
“That’s a damn shame,” he muttered and lowered his head to capture my lips.
I surrendered to him immediately. The feeling of him on top of me was so delicious that I shivered. His hand slid down to my hip and pulled me more fi
rmly under him as he explored my mouth lazily.
It wasn’t the same kind of desperate kiss as before, but it rocked my world just the same. He kissed me so thoroughly that my legs began to shake and the center of my panties were moist. I could feel the rigid length of him pressing against the front of his jeans, and it made me shake more.
When he pulled back, he stared down with soft eyes and a small smile on his lips.
“Are you drunk?” I blurted out. Then I winced. Way to play it cool, Rimmel.
He chuckled low. “Nope.”
“So you’re really just kissing me because you want to?” I asked. Once again with the mouth vomit. When would I ever learn?
“Ah,” he said, sitting up and putting his back against the wall. His legs were so long that his feet still hung off the side of the mattress. “Already having morning-after doubts and it’s not even morning yet.”
“Technically it is.” I countered.
He laughed and reached for me. I didn’t pull away. I couldn’t. I was powerless to the need he created in me. Romeo settled me in his lap and tucked an arm around me. “I like kissing you.”
He reached down and fingered his hoodie on the bed. “You sleeping with this?” His voice grew raspy.
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
He growled, wrapped his arms around me, and buried his face in my shoulder. “You really test my limits,” he said. Then I heard him mumble, “Already.”
“Your limits?” I asked, pulling back to look at him.
“If you were any other girl, I would already have you naked and beneath me.”
His words should have shocked me. Maybe made me angry.
They didn’t.
They turned me on. I shivered with newfound desire.
He groaned and sat me aside and stood from the bed. “You’re killing me, Smalls.”
“Smalls?” I giggled.
He grinned. “That’s what we call the small players on the team.”
“I’m not on your team.” I pointed out.
“No. But you are mine.” The ownership in that statement made my blood run hot. This was moving fast. Like way fast. He must have seen the fear on my face because his eyes softened and he dropped down beside me and took my hand.
“I can be intense sometimes,” he allowed. “I don’t mean to freak you out.”
“It’s okay,” I murmured, looking at our joined hands.
“When I set my sights on something, I tend to just go for it, full speed ahead.” He brushed the pad of his thumb across the back of my hand. “We’ll take it slow, okay?”
“You and me?” I said, still not really believing this was happening.
“Yeah.” He smiled.
I should have said no. I didn’t want to. I hadn’t wanted something this much since well, ever.
“Okay.”
He gave me an enthusiastic kiss and then bounded up from the bed. “I did come here to kiss you again.” He began. “But that’s not the only reason I’m here.”
I was still trying to catch up to the fact that there might be an us. “Okay?” I asked tentatively.
“I need a favor.”
Chapter Twenty
Romeo
Braeden was waiting for me exactly where we said to meet. I pulled the Hellcat slowly down the dirt road that led to the bonfire party spot. No one ever came out here during the week. He was leaning against his huge truck when I parked right beside it.
“Sorry I’m late, man,” I said.
“Everything cool?” he asked, eyeing me from his comfortable position against the truck.
“Yeah, it’s cool.” Normally, if I was late because of a hook-up, I would brag and we would laugh. But I didn’t want to tell him who I’d been with. I felt like I wanted to keep it to myself just a little bit longer.
“So what’s up?” Braeden asked, not pressing me for the details. “Why did you want to meet out here?”
“I didn’t want anyone to see us,” I replied.
He straightened from the truck, his interest piqued.
“I gotta do something. Something I could get in trouble for if I got caught.”
“For the rush?” Braeden assumed.
I nodded yes at the same time I said, “I’m not supposed to say.”
“Got it,” he replied immediately. “You need help?”
“I need a lookout.”
He nodded.
“Dude, if we get caught, there won’t be much I can say to help either one of us.”
He grinned. “Even better.”
That’s one of the reasons I liked Braeden so much. He was crazy as hell.
“Beer’s on me this weekend,” I promised.
He pumped his fist in the air. “Sweet!”
“We need to go to the faculty and admin building. I need to get in the dean’s office.” I started to say more but stopped because Braeden started laughing. The wicked gleam in his eye made me laugh too.
“Dude, you need to rush a frat. You’d eat the shit up they make you do.”
“I like my freedom,” he drawled. “I’m a wild stallion, can’t be tied down to nothing. Not even a kickass frat.”
“What about Missy?” I taunted.
A slow smile spread across his face and he ran his hand through his thick, eternally messy dark hair. “Dude, she’s fucking hot.” Then he held out his hands like he was squeezing something. “And she’s so good in bed.”
I slapped him on the back. “You’re totally whipped.”
He knocked my hand away. “Shit, like hell I am.”
I could have stood here and ribbed him all night, but we had shit to do, and the longer I dragged it out the more anxious I got. “Okay, so let’s take your truck across campus and park in a lot near the building, but not too close. We can jog over. I just need you to stand lookout in case someone comes. Just text me or something to let me know I gotta get out of there.”
It only took a few minutes to drive to an empty lot and park. It took even less time to jog to the building. I left my varsity jacket in the truck and Braeden did the same. Both of us were dressed in jeans and dark-colored shirts so we blended into the night fairly well when we stuck to the shadows of the building.
The good thing was the streetlights on this side of campus were fewer and farther between because classes weren’t held over here and there weren’t any dorms. Students wouldn’t have any reason to come over this way at night.
Unless of course you needed to steal something.
When we got to the building, we tried the back door, the one that faced the parking lot. It was locked. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as we scaled around the perimeter, looking for a way in. When every single door appeared to be locked, I felt myself start to sweat. I had to get inside.
“Pssst,” Braeden called from several yards away. He motioned for me and when I got to his side I saw that he’d managed to get a window open. It wasn’t a huge one, but I could shimmy in.
“The fuck did you do?” I whispered, pointing to the way the metal frame around the old window was bent and the lock was somehow popped out on the inside.
He grinned. “I got skills.”
I held up my fist for a pound. Then I mouthed, “Wait here.”
I hoisted myself up into the window and shoved my feet in first. I had to wiggle a bit to get my shoulders to pass through the opening, but after a few tries, I dropped down onto the floor with a soft thud.
I was in someone’s office, but I knew it wasn’t the dean’s. It wasn’t nearly big enough or nice enough for the head of the college. I moved stealthily through the room and peered out into the hallway. It was dark and empty.
I slid along the walls. It was eerily silent and still inside. There was no light at all, so I used my cell phone to provide enough to see. Everything smelled like floor polish with maybe a hint of lemon. Except it didn’t make it smell fresh. It smelled like the cleaning crew just added the lemon to take away the harsh smell of the cleaners.
It did
n’t work.
Maybe when we left we’d leave that window open in a poor attempt at airing out the place before everyone showed up to work in a few hours. Poor people. No wonder half the faculty at this school was cranky as hell. They were probably high off stanky cleaning fumes.
One of the hallways widened at the end to create a square, open room, kind of like an entryway. The wall to my left was lined with chairs and what appeared to be a sad-looking fake plant. On the other side was a wooden desk set up with various office supplies.
This must be the dean’s personal secretary. I glanced ahead at the large double wooden doors with a plaque on the front. I shined my phone at it and the polished gold reflected back at me. DEAN.
Bingo.
I tried the handle and it didn’t turn. What the fuck could he possibly have in his office that warranted locking his door?
I leaned my forehead against the wood and let the light on my phone click off. After a few moments of debating, I went and searched the secretary’s desk, thinking maybe she had a key.
She didn’t.
But she did have a drawer full of paperclips. I snagged one and bent it around so it was straight like a wire. Then I went back to the office door and used my phone to shine on the door handle.
Seconds later, the sound of a lock popping free echoed through the hall. I looked behind me to make sure no one was there and then slipped into the room, closing and the door behind me.
The dean’s office was big, which wasn’t a surprise. The most dominant thing in the room was the massive desk sitting in the center. Behind it was a wall of windows covered with closed blinds.
I wasn’t about to take a tour of the place. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. I surged forward and shone the light on his desk, looking for something I could take. My gaze settled on his nameplate, which was basically a long block of wood with his name engraved on it.
I grabbed it as my cell vibrated in my hand.
I glanced down.
GUARD!
Shit.
The sound of footsteps echoing down the hall, drawing closer, caused my heart to jump in my throat. I raced around the other side of the desk and slipped beneath it.
Seconds later, the handle on the door jiggled and opened. The only sound I could hear was the thundering of my pulse. I didn’t even breathe, just pressed myself beneath the desk and hoped the guy didn’t come all the way in. He didn’t, but the bright beam of his high-powered flashlight roamed about the room, inspecting the corners, suspicious.
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