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She jerked back, as a bark of laughter burst from her lips. “Well, that will never happen.”
A primal need to toss her on my bed and tear her clothes from her body stormed through me, but I stifled it, merely emitting a grunt in response. I straightened and extended my hand again. “Then you have nothing to fear.”
She stood without taking my hand and dropped her tablet back inside her bag. “What kind of break did you have in mind?”
“You dislike surprises?”
“So far, the surprises at the academy have included being attacked by alien beasts and having to climb across an open lava pit, so it’s fair to say I’m not a fan of Drexian surprises.”
Her hesitation was understandable. “I promise this is not as scary as that.”
“Low bar,” she muttered as I opened the door to my quarters.
I questioned my own impulsive idea as I peeked into the dim corridor, which was empty and silent. I was taking a risk by leaving my room with her. I was chancing us getting caught. But I needed to convince myself that there was more to our relationship than tutoring and keeping secrets, although this was one more secret we’d both have to keep.
“You have heard of the unofficial graduation requirements, correct?”
Jess narrowed her eyes at me. “I might have heard whispers about them, but I also might have thought the whole thing was a myth.”
“No myth.” I stepped into the hallway and motioned for her to follow me. “There are four requirements that every cadet must fulfill before they leave the academy.”
“Or what?” She asked in a hushed voice as she joined me.
Of course, Jess would challenge the requirements. The woman seemed to question everything I had been taught to accept without question.
I closed my hand around hers and tugged her forward as I started down the corridor. “You would never fail to complete a requirement, would you, Jess?” I shook my head, knowing I’d pegged her correctly from the start. “You have always been a good girl, haven’t you?”
Her quick inhalation told me I’d hit the mark. She’d always been a good girl, and I’d always been a bad boy. Which was why I couldn’t resist her, and why she was hurrying down the halls of the school after-hours with me.
Chapter
Eighteen
Jess
“You could tell me where we’re going.” I stayed close behind him as we hurried along the dark walls of the academy, the light from the sconces sending undulating shadows dancing across the ceiling.
“If I did that, you might refuse to come.”
Well, that wasn’t comforting. It was bad enough that I was sneaking into the cadet dormitory tower every night, but now I was running around the slumbering school in the dead of night.
Torq had been right. I had always been the good girl who played by the rules. I’d been the smart girl who busted her ass and always did everything right so no one would remember that I came from nothing. I was not a rule-breaker or a troublemaker. I’d never been rich enough or spoiled enough to get away with those types of things. There would have been no one to bail me out if I’d gotten in trouble, so I’d never set a toe out of line.
That is, until I’d come to the Drexian Academy. Since I’d been at the alien school, I’d been involved in secret coaching sessions and late-night tutoring sessions in a cadet’s room. Now I was skulking around the depths of the building with a Blade I had no business trusting.
So much for being a good girl.
I’d hated that Torq had pegged me as one though. It made me sound so boring and predictable. Not that anyone—least of all me—could have predicted that I’d become entangled with one of the hottest and cockiest Drexian cadets in the academy. I still had a hard time believing that I’d gotten roped into making a deal with him. What was sometimes harder to believe was that he’d stuck to his end of the bargain and hadn’t given me a reason to slap him.
“The night is young,” I said to myself as we jogged down a twisting flight of stone stairs.
“What?” Torq swiveled his head as we reached the bottom.
I glanced at the narrower corridor, and recognition tickled the back of my brain. “How much farther?”
“Not far.” A smiled teased his mouth.
He was enjoying this. Of course, he was. Torq was exactly the kind of entitled rule-breaker who never gave a second thought to doing things that could get them into trouble. A high-born like him had probably never gotten in serious trouble in his life. Which begged the question why I was with him, since I was neither entitled, nor high-born, or likely to emerge unscathed if we got caught.
