Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Was he serious? “You’re going to let me stay here?”
“Until I’ve had a chance to deal with Randall. I don’t want you back at the frat house. You need to be someplace where I can keep an eye on you.”
“He’s not going to kill me or anything.” Why was I trying to convince Dante of that when he was going to let me stay here? Having him go all growly and protective had scrambled my brain even more than whatever drug I’d been given.
“He already could have. He’s dangerous, and I won’t have you anywhere he can get to you again.”
“If I’m going to stay here, I’d rather stay with you.”
He raised his brows. “Don’t go there.”
I sighed. That was exactly where I wanted to go. “I’d be happy to repay you for all your help.”
“Then repay me by not causing me any more trouble.”
I smiled at him. “I am a lot of trouble. You could punish me for all of that.”
He closed his eyes, and I watched his chest rise and fall. He was trying so hard to deny what he wanted.
I sat up and laid a hand on his arm, but I jerked it back when he jumped.
“Alex.” There was so much in his utterance of my name—a plea to stop, desire for me to touch him more, and some kind of aching pain I couldn’t quite understand.
Without saying anything else, he stood and walked into his kitchen. He came back a few minutes later with a sandwich for me. “I’m going to make a real dinner, but this will do for now. Eat this and finish your electrolytes while I’m cooking.”
“You’re going to leave me in here all alone? I could do anything.”
He glared at me, the look so fierce it seemed to press me back against the sofa. I knew he wasn’t a man to cross, but I couldn’t help myself. “You’ll stay right there on the couch.”
I smiled. “Yes, Professor.”
He started to say something, then pressed his lips together, turned, and left the room.
8
DANTE
What the fuck was I doing? He shouldn’t be here in my house. He was blatantly offering himself to me, and I was way too fucking tempted. I wanted him. I wanted to hear his breath catch when I touched him. I wanted him to learn what it really meant to do exactly what I said. I wanted to make him beg. I wanted him on his knees. I wanted him laid out naked underneath me, completely at my mercy.
But none of that could happen. My family connections had gotten me the position at the university. Remington’s clout could likely hold it for me through a hell of a lot, but the scandal of me seducing and fucking a student—a student in my class—that would be too much. I wanted this job. I needed this career. I needed something in my life that wasn’t blood and danger and hiding. I wasn’t going to hide myself here. I did too much of that with my family. Here, I was going to be as much myself as I could possibly be.
It’s your true self that wants him—wants to take him, control him, teach him.
I pushed that thought away.
I glanced toward the living room and saw Alex looking out the window as he ate a sandwich. I stepped back outside since I’d never gotten tomatoes the first time around. While I was out there, I called Rafe.
He answered almost immediately. “Hey, big bro, what’s up?”
“I need you to do a favor for me.”
“Am I going to like this favor?”
He definitely would. “You get to threaten a frat boy.”
“Ooh. I’m liking it already. Any sorority girls involved?”
“Rafe, I’ve told you—no hooking up on my turf.”
He huffed. “I don’t know why you get a whole college for your turf, but sure, whatever. I’ve got plenty of what I need at the casino.”
“Yes, you do. One of my students is having trouble. He’s being harassed by a guy in his frat.”
“You’ve gotten close enough to a student to find out all that, and I haven’t heard about him?”
I needed to sound calmer, less urgent. “Don’t make a big deal out of it, all right? This is serious. The guy slashed Alex’s face with a bottle. He had to get stitches, and this guy may have drugged him as well.”
“Fucking asshole. Don’t think I’m not going to ask more questions about this Alex though.”
“I can’t talk about that right now.”
“Oh shit, is he there? Dante, you going to actually relax and enjoy yourself tonight?”
“No, it’s not like that. He needs help, and he trusts me.”
Rafe laughed. “It is so much more than that. But tell me who I need to go put the fear of God and the Theriot family in.”
“His name is Randall. He’s in Chi Rho. I’m sure you won’t have trouble finding him. Make sure he understands that if he does anything to Alex—if we even suspect he’s done anything to Alex—he will suffer for it, but don’t hurt him now.”