Page 60 of Secret Obsession
I shrug. “Yeah.”
Her mouth opens. To argue, of course.
I step into her space and cup the side of her face, pushing my thumb against her lips. “Trust me, this is the easier of the options I have for you.”
“I’d love to hear the harder options,” she says.
Her lips moving against the pad of my thumb does something to me. My cock twitches, rising in my jeans. It reminds me that we were cut off earlier.
“I’ve got aharderoption,” Knox pipes up.
I slide my hand from her face to the back of her neck. I guide her with me, ignoring my brother entirely. Fuck him, really. She moves with me, her brow furrowed, all the way up the stairs and into my room.
“I’ll just stay in one of the empty rooms,” she finally tries.
“There are no empty rooms.”
We filled Steele’s and Greyson’s. Hudson Finch, one of the defensemen on the team, is taking Steele’s. And Tony Rodrigues, another new starter, has decided to take Greyson’s. They moved in early last week, although neither seem to be here at the moment.
Knox and I agreed that we didn’t need anyone in the basement room. After Steele’s stunt with Aspen, we took out the bed and converted it into a home gym. Just to discourage other… activities.
I close my bedroom door behind us, leaning on it. She steps into my space and rotates in a slow circle. I wonder what she sees. Some clutter on top of my dresser, a stack of textbooks and notebooks on the floor beside it because I usually do my homework downstairs, a calendar hanging on a nail with my practices and games, classes… and Willow’s schedule, added in orange marker.
She doesn’t notice that right away, though. She pulls back the burnt-orange-and-white duvet and looks down at my white sheets.
“What?” I finally ask.
“You’re just…” She shrugs. “Knox had black silky sheets. Do you know how much that screamstwenty-something bachelor? This makes me believe you actually change and wash your bedding on a regular basis.”
“I’m clean.” My voice comes out defensive.
“I didn’t say you weren’t. In fact, I’m agreeing—”
“But you were surprised. Which is fine. I like to be surprising.”
She eyes me carefully, then nods. I set her bag on the end of the bed, then go to my dresser and take things out of the second drawer. I drop it in the bottom drawer, which was mostly empty, and leave the upper one open.
“Put your stuff in there.” I pause. “There was some damage to your clothes, so… you might need to go shopping.”
She winces. “Did my toiletries make it? Makeup?”
“All ruined.” I keep my tone even, but the flash of anger that crosses her face makes me angry, too. Someone broke into her place and took their time destroying shit. They were thorough about it—they even stuffed underwear and socks down her toilet.
That won’t stand.
They worked fast, too. We were only gone for an hour, atmost.
Ronan Pierce is the only one who isn’t guilty, because we were at his apartment when it happened. Other than him, and my friends, there’s a wide-open range of suspects.
“I…” Willow trails off.
She seems lost.
“I need my car,” she finally decides. “I have some errands to run, obviously, and then I need to go to campus.”
Right. Herstudy time, clearly marked on my calendar, and on my phone, and in my brain. Except her car is back at her place, and I’m not really thrilled at the idea of her walking back to get it.
Or going anywhere in a vehicle that someone could’ve put a tracker on…
