Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
I’m not getting into Tom and Harriet’s feud. It’s about as heated as a shishito pepper.
“It’s new,” I say, which isn’t a lie. I know that I’ll be dumping a truckload of suspicion on myself if I continue not calling Harriet my girlfriend. It is weird. I understand that. Because if I knew with absolute certainty that I’d be in New York by the end of the year, I’d be screaming it off every rooftop in the city.
Harriet Fisher is my girlfriend.
I want it so fucking badly. I just can’t figure out if this is a cruel temptation—like I should want to keep my family safe more than I want to be with her. I don’t know…I don’t know, but I’m not going to stress about it right now.
They both pat my shoulders, congratulating me like I won an award, and I’m grateful when Eliot says they’ll stay in their rooms for the rest of the night.
When they leave, all I want to do is return to Harriet.
So I do.
45
HARRIET FISHER
“Want to spend the night again, Fisher?” Ben asks me through my earbuds. I’m bowed over a fluorescence microscope in Dr. Venison’s research lab. The small, empty room is pitch black except for the computer beside me. Proteins from a section of the thymus glow bright neon green on the screen, and I adjust the focus to sharpen the image.
I know what this looks like, but his call is not distracting me. I’ve been doing a mediocre job of concentrating on anything other than Ben before my phone rang.
In my defense, we just had sex for the first time and woke up together this morning. Legs tangled, my cheek on his chest, his hand sliding down my arm in a sleepy just-waking-up haze. I loved how he kissed my nose, then later how he split one of his smoothies with me after we showered. It feels like we’re together.
Like a couple.
Even if we aren’t labeling anything. Even if there is an expiration date.
It’s been a lot for my brain to handle, so I’m not beating myself up for working at a snail’s pace today. Or for even answering his call now.
My hand flew to the phone when it rang. I was also terrifyingly close to falling off the chair like a lovesick, demented fool. Thankfully no one is around. I signed up to use the microscope for the next two hours. No one will even open the door to this dark room without good reason because the light has potential to fuck up the results.
But even being alone, I’m trying so hard not to wear a dopey grin.
“Booty calling me already, Friend?” I tease. “I must’ve made a lasting impression.”
He laughs so brightly. “I’m afraid you forever changed me.”
“I’ve been afraid of that too.” I purse my lips so the smile will stop hurting my cheeks, but my insecurities do the job for me. “You sure you want me over again? Won’t your brothers care if we have another friendly sleepover?” I emphasize. “I’m guessing they’ll be home.”
“Yeah, they will be, but as long as you’re comfortable with it, they have no problem with you staying over.” He must pull the phone away to shout a distant, “Yeah, I have it, Colton! You too, man! See you soon!” Then back to me, “Sorry, that was a Kappa checking to see if I’m carrying my cub.”
His lion cub. The frat bestowed Ben with a teddy-bear-sized stuffed animal that he must tote around campus every day. They call Ben the “lion pledge”—and he said it’s the easiest pledge task. Of what he’s described, the “jeans pledge” sounded the worst. One unlucky guy has to wear the same pants until initiation while Kappa brothers hack away at the material every time they see him.
They’re already jorts.
“You name your lion cub yet?” I ask.
“I was actually hoping you’d do the honors. Want to brainstorm tonight?” He’s still waiting for my answer. “I have a chapter meeting, then I don’t have much else going on.” Off my silence, he adds, “We don’t have to do anything but watch a movie and go to bed. I just like being with you. Last night was honestly the best sleep I’ve had since the last time you were over.”
Giddiness returns, and I fall forward, hand to my hot cheek. My heart wants nothing more than to spend every night with him, but will my grades plummet? Will he fill 100% of my brain? Then again, even when I’m not around Ben, he’s become a mental fixation—so it’s not like I can easily detach. Might as well give in, Harriet. He won’t be around forever.
Okay, that solidifies it.
“Yeah, I’ll spend another night with you,” I agree, but five minutes after our call ends and I return to the microscope, I start majorly overthinking about his brothers.