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That didn’t stop me from taking a peek back at him on occasion, and each glance concluded with the same result. He didn’t move outside of his head bobbing, and he didn’t open his eyes either. He was just there until, well, he wasn’t. He once again got off first, and though I hunkered down in my seat, made myself small, he didn’t look at me. He just left.
And that was the second day.
By the third day of him sitting there, I had enough. It’d been a full week of this shit. A week where I’d seen him and been forced to ignore his large presence. Since this was the third spotting, I noticed no one on the bus was aware of him but me. They must have gotten used to his presence because there were no more whispers about the Legacy guy who was taking the bus when he definitely had a nice truck. Even if he didn’t, I was sure he could hire a chauffeur to take him to his classes. He had money like that.
I angled around to look at him at the back of the bus that day, refusing to make myself feel small. I was tired of playing small when it came to this guy.
I was tired of him tormenting me.
He was every day he was there, and he had to know that.
I need you with everything in me.
One of the last things he said to me played suddenly in my head, and I certainly didn’t need him. What I needed was for him to stay away and utilize the size of this campus. The two of us didn’t need to see each other. We were different majors in different departments. There was absolutely no reason for the two of us to run into each other.
I got up that third day. I stalked over, and even though I felt sick with wobbly legs, I approached him. His hood was up, his head down, and he had his notebook out again. He’d been so engrossed in his task again he didn’t look up at me, and what he was doodling gave me pause.
Flowers.
There were flowers in the corner spaces of his notebook, beautiful flowers of black and gray, and though they didn’t take up much space, they drew my attention. They were on a page of notes, I assumed, he took for a class he had. The notes took up the majority of the space, but again, the flowers drew me in the most. They looked like the tattoo on his hip, the same flower over and over.
Making myself look away, I stood tall. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He didn’t hear me at first. Or at least acted like he didn’t. He glanced over a moment or two after I spoke, but once he did, he instantly tugged his hood down. His wild curls spilled out of it, and when he pushed them back, I spotted an earbud in his ear. He took it out. “Hey.”
I almost wanted to laugh. He greeted me like an old friend. Like casual conversation between us was normal.
Like he wasn’t a son of a bitch who continued to torment me.
I swallowed. “Why are you here on this bus?”
He eyed the space around him, and his eyebrows knitted together. Like my question confused him, and I took inventory of the darkness under his eyes. It appeared he wasn’t sleeping, which reminded me of that day at the cabin.
A block of ice formed around my heart, and I made myself forget those memories. If Ares Mallick could or couldn’t sleep, it was none of my concern, and even with the darkness, he was still the most handsome guy I’d ever seen. He was steal-your-breath handsome, beautiful, and the thought in my head made me hate him even more. He shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, why are you taking this bus?” I wouldn’t back off from this. It was weird he was taking the bus, and I wouldn’t let him make me look crazy. “You don’t ride the bus. You have a truck.”
“I do.”
“So why are you taking the bus?” He was making me feel like a fool.
And my voice was shaky. I was nervous because he was beautiful and being around him did steal my breath. I wished it was just because he was attractive. I wished desperately it was only that. I could pass off attraction.
I could pass it off.
Coming back here was a bad idea, and I wanted to backpedal. I couldn’t now that I was standing in front of him, and when he pulled his curls away again, he sighed. His nostrils flared, his shiny nose piercings glinting off the light in the bus. Reaching up, he used his long wingspan to tug the cord to make the bus stop. Most people had to stand to do that, but Ares Mallick didn’t.
“I’m taking the bus because it’s more economical than my truck,” he said, and my mouth parted. He spoke casually, a reasonable answer.
Things weren’t so simple with him, and as the bus cruised to a stop, Wolf got up. He took his time, gathering his things slowly. Once he was done, he towered over me, but I didn’t back down. No matter how good he smelled or how shitty it felt to be this close to him, I didn’t move.
It did feel shitty. It did fucking hurt, but I refused to waver. I stared him right in the eyes, and he did the same for several moments before wetting his lips.
“See you around, okay?” he stated, then eased past me.
See me around.
Again, he said this casually. Like he actually would see me around, which he wouldn’t. I wanted to laugh, but I was too pissed off.
