Page 32 of Burn it Down

“For you? Always.”

She laughs and tugs me by the hand as we walk the edge of the square. The stone arches of the academic buildings curve above us and ivy creeps over every edge of the courtyard walls.

I could watch her like this forever. She’s so free, so happy.

She stops just beneath the tower bell and stares up. “It looks like a castle.”

I press a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re my queen, so that tracks.”

“You’re so silly…” she cuts herself off when she notices another building on the far side. “Look at that. Let’s go insidethe chapel,” she whispers, but we’re cut off by the reason we’re hanging out in the quad in the first place.

A deep voice cuts in. “You Kozlov?”

I feel Lakynn flinch at someone else saying our old name. I turn, already knowing who it is because this is Caiden’s contact in Ireland. I swear that motherfucker would know a guy on the dark side of the moon if I asked him.

This guy is American, and he looks just like Tristan Vale, the goalie from my short stint at Castlebrook University. Same build, same green eyes, same tightly wound fury underneath all that brooding.They’re identical twins, apparently, and I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart if I didn’t already know who I was coming here to meet.

I guess I won’t be sharing any rink time with this Vale because he’s got a rugby crest stitched into his shirt.

“Sebastian Vale,” he tells me, but he doesn’t offer his hand. He doesn’t need to. We both know why he’s here, and it’s not to make friends. He clearly owes Caiden, and this is the favor he’s been called in for.

I nod toward Lakynn. “My wife.” I don’t offer her new name because that’s nobody’s fucking business. I tug at my tie again, feeling myself get worked up over someone saying her name.

Sebastian’s eyes stay on me, and he nods once in her direction. Respectful. Distant.

Just how I fucking like it.

He pulls a card from his jacket and hands it over. “You know how this works. I know where you stay. If I call, you answer and I’ll return the favor.”

“Understood,” I tell him, but our conversation is cut short because a girl walks by and she looks worried, turning to look behind her at a guy following her. Sebastian curses under his breath, so I give the guy another glance. He’s dressed like me, so I assume he’s a student also.

Sebastian doesn’t utter a word of goodbye because he’s intercepting the fucker following that girl. Lakynn looks confused as Sebatian grabs the guy by the shirt collar and punches him hard enough in the face to knock him to the ground.

“Don’t fucking look at her,” is all I hear Sebastian say before he straightens his blazer and walks off in the direction where the girl disappeared.

Lakynn gasps, her fingers slip into mine. "I don’t even know what to say."

“Say I can punch people in the quad for looking at you,” I tell her teasingly. “It looks like it’s a school tradition.”

Lakynn laughs, shoving on my chest playfully. “You’re awful, Riven. I swear, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.” She giggles when I raise my eyebrows suggestively. It’s only when we’re walking toward the chapel that she says, “Do you think Sebastian is going to be a problem? He looks unhinged.”

I shake my head. "No. He’s one of us. If Caiden trusts him, that means something. And if he’s anything like his brother, if we leave that girl alone, he won’t give us a second thought."

She smiles knowingly, snickering that I would have the nerve to clock someone else for behaving the same way I do. "Sounds like someone I know."

Lakynn looks up at me before she says, “That girl looked like she was having a rough day, and I know what that feels like. It’s a small college, maybe I’ll meet her in a class or something and we’ll become friends. I’ve never had a girl friend before, not a real one.”

I wrap my arm around her as we walk. I want that for her. I want her to have friends and all the experiences she’s ever wanted.

“Just stay out of Sebastian’s way if you do meet her. I don’t want to have to fuck him up,” I tell her jokingly, but I’m half serious.

“I saw her look our way as she went by, and she didn’t look very impressed by your friend Sebastian. I’m not so sure it’s a love match,” Lakynn says, leaning into me.

“His twin played hockey back at Castlebrook. Absolute menace. He had this girl. I didn’t pay too much attention to them, but I think she was a ballerina. I swear he’d go feral if he didn’t know where she was for ten fucking seconds.”

Lakynn raises a brow.

I bite the inside of my cheek. “Guess the guys I associate with have something in common.”

She stands on her toes and kisses my jaw. “I’d say so, husband.”

Fuck. The word sets something off inside me. I grab her waist and toss her over my shoulder taking care to make sure my hand and arm are keeping her skirt down. I don’t have time to go on a murder spree right now. I want my girl under me panting my name, taking my cock and begging me not to stop.

She squeals when I grip the back of her thigh. “Let’s go home, baby.”

“My favorite place to be,” she breathes out and I pick up my pace.

Mine too, because Lakynn has always been and will always be my home.