I’m grateful for the darkness, that she can’t read all the features on my face like she could if we were under lamplight. “I think they’ll be okay.”
Bristol shrugs. “If I found out my roommate’s father was mafia, I’d be a little freaked out.”
“What about if your boyfriend’s father were mafia?” I ask. At least I don’t have to worry about her making a colossal fuck up like Harper did the first time she met his parents.
Bristol slides a leg between mine, hooking herself around me. It’s a small but possessive gesture. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?”
“Only if you’ll say yes.”
“Absolutely.”
I pull her atop me, my hands at her lower back as I drink her scent in.
“Are you sure we won’t kill each other?” She laughs, brushing her lips over mine in a tentative kiss.
“That’s a promise I can’t make,” I confess. We tend to run hot and cold, except now, I suspect things are going to get hell of a lot spicier between us.
Nineteen
Harper
I should be afraid of Luca. He murdered a man, but I know it was to protect the family, my family.
I’m trying to accept that I can’t know everything he’s involved in, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
After class, I pick up Zeke, and we grab dinner at the dining hall before bringing him home. Nova accompanies me through all of it, and I wonder how much is want and how much is playing bodyguard because the guys are at practice and she’s been told to babysit me.
Is she working for Dante now, too?
Zeke doesn’t want to be carried home, so I keep a close eye on him as we walk along the sidewalk, making sure that he doesn’t get too far ahead.
It does help to have another set of eyes keeping lookout.
I feel overly paranoid lately, but after the incident at the daycare, how could I not?
The clouds are rolling in fast, and while it’s warm today, the air is suddenly chilled. We head inside the house and Nova locks the doors, setting the security alarm. We’ve been more diligent about turning it on when we’re home. I’ll admit, I’m one of the worst when it came to setting the alarm, always forgetting about it, because I had felt safe.
Nova drops the mail on the kitchen table and sorts through it. “Shit. Ashton got a letter from the Student Conduct Office. That can’t be good.”
“Isn’t that for disciplinary measures? Ashton hasn’t done anything. Did something happen during a game or after?” The guys are always fighting during a hockey game, but that wouldn’t result in any type of letter from the student conduct office, would it?
Nova exhales a heavy sigh. “No, I think I know what it’s about.”
“What?” I glance up at her, concerned.
“The teaching assistant in our Criminology class said some things that were inappropriate. I thought I took care of it, but Ashton had bruised knuckles and the following session in class, the teaching assistant had a bruised jaw. I was hoping I was wrong about those two.”
Grimacing, I glance at the enclosed envelope. It’s impossible to read through the thick packet, the paper folded in thirds.
“Maybe it’s something else?” I’m trying to be hopeful, but if Ashton assaulted a teaching assistant, then it’s grounds for expulsion.
I get Zeke ready for bed, dressing him in his pajamas and reading him a story before tucking him in for the night.
The wind picks up, and I can hear thunder rumbling off in the distance.
Zeke is tired and crabby, and before the story is finished, he’s already fallen asleep.
I give him a kiss goodnight and quietly close the door behind me.
