Page 90 of Fractured Fate

Her smile brightened, and she nodded. “I know.”

Dinner cleanup was a quiet affair.

After Charlotte told him about her desire to go home, she told him about how she was at a stage where the important parts for her class were completed to make it possible for her to transfer to another program without failing. He didn’t realize how short summer classes were at her university, and she’d enrolled in the extended session. She still needed to square away things with her advisor, her landlord, and the financial aid department, but she wanted to leave within the week, if possible.

During the cleanup, he couldn’t help but think about what it meant to take her back to Rosebrook Valley.

He wanted her away from the psycho who kept inserting himself into her life, but he had grown to cherish the time he spent with her here, alone. Returning to their hometown would end that. Even if they returned at the beginning of July, leaving another month of his summer break before she had to make any decisions about school, he couldn’t stay with her like he did in this apartment. He would go back to Blackthorn Academy, and she would return to living with her parents.

The muscles in his chest seized at the thought, a fist gripping and squeezing at his heart. The idea of parting from her felt like someone had asked him to cut off a limb.

How had she worked her way so thoroughly under his skin?

Aiden sat on the edge of her bed with his forearms braced on his thighs, staring at the floor like it could give him the answers to explain his sudden need to not be separated from her.

He’d done his best to keep a physical distance between them to avoid tempting himself into pursuing the spark he’d felt between them since last fall.

Outside of hugging her, providing comfort when things were tense after his arrival, and outside of at night when she moved near him in her sleep, he stayed away.

Until today.

Until his need to take care of her won over and the enthralling taste of her lifeblood caressed his tongue and set his veins on fire.

His cock twitched in response to the memory, and his gums tingled above his canines.

Calm down.

The bathroom light switched off, casting the entire apartment into darkness except for the space where Charlotte’s bed was located. A small lamp on the nightstand draped in a decorative sheer fabric cast the room in a soft light.

Intimate light.

It didn’t help settle his desire for her.

She approached where he sat on the bed, but he didn’t look up until small toes wearing navy blue polish came into view.

Gone was the flowy sundress, replaced by a thin white camisole in a strawberry print with lace trimming the hem and sweetheart neckline. Short sleep shorts in a matching style with lace trimming the bottom completed the outfit. The red bow at the waist waved in front of his hindbrain like a cape taunting a bull.

He reminded himself the pajamas weren’t for him. She owned those before he ever spent the night with her.

He was sure if the air conditioning wasn’t broken, she might wear something more modest around him at night. She seemed too concerned with someone mistaking her intentions not to.

This was a case of his fantasies getting the better of him. Fantasies of spreading her out on the bed and peeling off the dainty pajamas with his teeth and making her writhe beneath him until she forgot her own name.

“Aiden?”

“Huh?”

“You okay? You’re kinda staring.”

He shook his head a few times in quick succession to rid himself of the mental image he painted. “I’m good.”

“Can I get in bed then?”

“Oh. Shit. Yeah.”

She giggled as he stood and stepped aside for her to crawl beneath the covers.

He barely suppressed the groan that rose in his throat by biting his knuckles as he got a mouth-watering view of her shorts riding up, giving him an eyeful of the bottom of her backside. No panty lines. She was trying to kill him.