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)
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head.
Niko studied me for a moment. “Let me guess. You don’t want to tell me because you don’t want Lorenzo to know whatever it is.”
“You’re right that I don’t want him to know.”
He smiled. “I won’t say anything.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t mean to, but I have a feeling Lorenzo has ways of making you confess things.”
Color rose in Niko’s cheeks. “I’m not saying that isn’t true, but there’s no reason for him to suspect that we talked. Would he think you were going to confess things to me?”
I shook my head. Did I dare talk to Niko? Lorenzo was going to find out about Alex eventually. Somehow, he always discovered whatever was going on with me and Rafe. “There’s a guy.”
“Ah.” Niko’s knowing smile had me reconsidering the conversation, but I kept going.
“He’s a student.”
“Oh, I see why that’s complicated.”
I scowled. “If I thought you were going to judge me, I wouldn’t have started talking.”
“Sorry. Go on.” I could tell he was trying hard not to laugh.
“If you tell Lorenzo—”
“I won’t. I swear.”
My instincts told me to trust him. My reading of Nikolai was that he was sincere and loyal. “There’s something about this guy. I couldn’t stop noticing him. I tried being an asshole to make him hate me. It didn’t help. I tried ignoring him, and I failed at that.”
“It sounds like he’s really getting under your skin.”
“He is, and then he came and tried to turn in a late assignment, having obviously been in a fight. He was a mess.”
“And you took him in and took care of him?” Niko asked.
“Not then. But I did after I found him passed out on my lawn.”
His eyes widened. “I would never have had the nerve to go to a professor’s house.”
“He’s bold. He goes after what he wants. But he’s also been hurt, and I don’t know… I guess I feel bad for him, but also I understand what he’s going through.”
Nikolai nodded. “When you have family in this business, you tend to understand being hurt and scared. So have you—”
I shook my head. “I kissed him. That’s all.”
“But that’s not all you want to do.”
Not even close. “I want to save him. I want to make him mine.”
“And it’s only the fact that he’s a student that’s holding you back?”
I sighed. “He’s too young.”
“Look at me and Lorenzo. Not that there really is a me and Lorenzo. I just mean that I can sympathize with the age gap thing.”
I smiled. “There is definitely something between you two. My brother is obsessed with you.”
“No, I don’t think—”
I held up a hand. “Nikolai. He would do anything for you.”
“And would you do anything for your man?”
I thought about that and remembered how I’d felt when Alex was lying in my yard, looking half-dead. I also remembered when I kissed him, how soft his lips were, how he’d opened and welcomed me, how he seemed to need me desperately. “Yes, I would.”
“Then find a way to make it work.”
“I’m glad you found a way out and came to get exactly what you want, but my situation is different.”
Niko shook his head. “If I could escape my father, you can find a way to have your man.”
Was he right? Did I dare try?
12
ALEX
It was all I could do not to return to Dante’s house. The whole next day, I kept wondering what he was doing. I considered stopping by his office, but I managed to control myself. I would see him in class, and I’d be able to gauge how he was feeling about finally giving in and kissing me.
Damn, it had felt so good. I wanted more, and I was sure he did too, despite him sending me away.
The one time I’d seen Randall since my return, he’d quickly hurried out of the room, and his friends had gone with him.
“What did you do to him, man?” Mitch asked. “The dumbass is acting like he’s terrified of you.”
I shrugged. “Nothing. I told him to leave me alone, or there would be consequences.”
“What kind of consequences?”
“I left that up to his interpretation.”
Mitch shook his head. “He looked like he was about to shit himself.”
“I hope he does.”
Mitch high-fived me. “He probably thinks you’re going to sue him, and his parents will freak. You probably should.”
If I told my uncle what Randall had done, that would be exactly what happened. But I didn’t need to get involved in that. We didn’t need his fucking money, and that would only make him angrier. Apparently, whatever Dante’s family had done, it had worked.
The morning of our next class, all I could think about was how Dante would act when I walked in. Would he be cold and harsh with me, trying to push me away, or would he be unable to help himself from smiling, treating me with warmth?