Page 5

Either he's smarter than he looks, or he clocks the tone because he stumbles to his feet, scrubbing his hands down his face.

"You look familiar," he slurs, blinking at me.

"That's because I'm your worst nightmare," I growl, and then catch sight of his half-chub. Jesus H. Christ. My temple throbs. "Follow me."

"What? Where?"

"Follow. Me." I don't give him a chance to say anything else before I grab him by the nape and drag him out of Nova's room, straight across the hall to Larissa's room. I don't knock before throwing it open. She didn't respect Nova's space. I'm not respecting hers.

"Jesus Christ, Nov—" Larissa blinks at me. "Oh."

"You left this in Nova's room," I growl, shoving Toby through the door into her room. He loses his balance, landing half on top of her on the bed. "Leave anything else in there, and I swear to God, Larissa, it'll be the last thing you do."

"You asshole!" she shrieks at me, trying to shove Toby off her.

"You want the apartment? You got it," I snap. "But until I get her shit out, you and your little friend are to stay the fuck out of her room."

"She can't leave without paying rent!"

"The hell she can't. She isn't paying another goddamn dime. Don't like it? Try to sue. I dare you." I meet her gaze so she knows I'm not fucking around with her. "You'll never be able to rent again when I'm finished with you."

Larissa gapes at me, her face paling slightly.

Good. She knows I mean it. That's all I need to see. I slam her door while Toby is still trying to regain his balance and then stride back to Nova's room.

I find a large tote in the closet and grab whatever will fit inside. Maybe I'm an asshole, but I skip the underwear drawer. Nova will probably kill me for it, but if it means her hands are on me, I'm willing to die. Besides, the thought of her running around in her little skirts with nothing underneath is far too enticing a possibility to pass up.

At this point, there isn't much I wouldn't do to get her hands on me. I'm that desperate.

Her little stuffed baseball bear dangles from the foot of the bed. I grab it, tucking it under one arm, and then detour to the bathroom in the hall. Once inside, I sweep everything off the counter into the bag.

Is it all Nova's? Probably not. Do I care? Hell no.

Larissa's lucky I'm not stealing—and burning—all her shit right about now.

Within five minutes, I'm on my way back out, determined that it'll be the last damn time Nova sets foot inside. From now on, she's staying with me.

We both know that's where she belongs, even if she's too damn stubborn to admit it.

She doesn't say much on the drive to her brother's place. She's too busy glaring at me like she wants to set me on fire. Any other day, she might be intimidating with that disgruntled look on her face, but she just looks cute as hell with her stuffed bear hugged to her chest.

"You going to say whatever's on your mind, or just keep trying to murder me with your eyes, Starlight?" I finally ask, shooting her a smirk.

"You can't move me out of my apartment, Huxley!" she growls.

"I can, and I did," I say, throwing an arm over the back of the bucket seat. My fingers brush the ends of her long hair. "You aren't safe there. You can stay with me until we find you a new place."

"Uh, no." She shoves my arm off the back of the seat. "You can go home. I'll stay at Nathan's until he gets home. Where is he anyway?"

"New York."

"What the fuck? In the middle of the season?" Her scowl deepens.

"They needed someone on the team to do a walk-on role for some movie, and we had a few days off this week." I shrug. "He decided to take it."

"Good, then there's no reason for you to stay at his place. I will."

"No can do," I say cheerfully. "I agreed to stay. You know I'm a man of my word."