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Niccolò stopped me. “JJ! I just got a text from Dex to say they’re doing two-for-one cocktails at Revolve tonight. Are you coming out with us?”
“You should go.”
I stiffened at the low voice behind me. What the fuck? Killian had come here to see me—we’d even prearranged it—and now he wanted me to go?
“Really? I thought we were going to spend time together.”
“We will. But I’m not going to take you away from your friends.”
That niggling feeling that something was wrong was back, but I did my best to push it down. Instead, I shrugged. “Maybe. We can talk about it later. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
25
When JJ left the studio, a heavy silence fell. I wasn’t sure who was the most uncomfortable. Me or my two students, who were no doubt seeing me in a whole new light after my little display with JJ. Loveridge’s—no, Ander’s words about JJ acting listless and unlike himself had stuck in my mind, though, and the second I’d seen him onstage, looking so beautiful, dancing with fluid, graceful movements alongside Alyssa and Leo, the only thought remaining was that I wanted to tell him that he had nothing to be worried about. Not only that…I wanted to show him he was mine. Even though it could only ever be temporary. And that was why we needed to talk. To lay our cards on the table.
“This is awkward!” Niccolò said brightly, giving me a wide smile. “So. Ander and Elliot are your students. And they live with your boyfriend. So awkward!” He collapsed into laughter, and after a minute, Ander joined him.
Folding my arms across my chest, I rolled my eyes at them both. “He’s not my boyfriend.” No matter how much I wanted—no, it didn’t matter what I wanted.
Niccolò’s laughter instantly stopped. “Not your boyfriend? What are your intentions with my bestie, then? You’d better not hurt him.” Stepping up to me, making himself as tall as possible—which was still significantly shorter than I was—he placed his hands on his hips, glaring daggers at me.
“That’s between me and JJ.” With a sigh, I continued. “But you have my word that I will never knowingly hurt him.”
He nodded, holding out his hand. I raised a brow.
“We have to shake on it. You agree not to hurt him, we shake hands, and then it means you can’t break the agreement.”
Right. Unfolding my arms, I took his hand, shaking it firmly. For some reason, he held on much longer than was socially acceptable, pumping my arm up and down. When I was finally able to retrieve my hand, a smirking Ander took his place. Wonderful.
“You’d better shake on the agreement with me, too. JJ’s not only my housemate, he’s my co-parent. His well-being is very important to me, Killian.”
I gritted my teeth at his use of my first name, and he grinned.
“Co-parent?” I ground out against my wishes, my curiosity getting the better of me.
“Yep. We share custody of a snail called Sid.” Before I had a chance to reply, he whipped his phone out of his pocket, proceeding to scroll through several photos of what appeared to be a Giant African land snail. Somehow, this extremely bizarre moment lightened the atmosphere, and by the time he put his phone away, my jaw had unclenched, and my shoulders had lost tension I hadn’t even realised I’d been holding. When he held out his hand, I took it without hesitation.
“You’re a good friend to JJ, Ander.”
His jaw dropped, but he recovered quickly. “Thanks. Fuck, this is gonna take a while to get used to.”
“You’re telling me,” I muttered. My sunshine boy’s face flashed in my mind. He was worth every single one of these awkward moments. “I suppose you can refer to me by my first name, if you must. Outside of lectures.”
“I’ll take it. Hey, did you hear that, E? We can call him Killian now.”
Elliot’s wide-eyed, slightly panicked gaze flew to mine. I couldn’t help the smirk from tugging at my lips.
“I hope you’re not terrorising my poor friends, Dr. Wilder.”
I turned, a helpless smile spreading across my face as JJ came to stand at my side. His hair was still damp from the shower, and he smelled delicious.
“Me? Terrorising your friends? I think you have me confused with someone else.”
He arched a brow at me. “Oh, really? There’s another LSU lecturer with the same name and reputation as you, is there?”
“Joshua. Behave.”
A slow, dirty grin curved over his lips. “Maybe I don’t want to.”
