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said my name and sniffed, letting me know she was crying.
Heart instantly leaping into my throat, I pushed up from the couch where I’d been writing my latest literature essay for my hard-ass, totally hot English professor. “Aspen? What’s wrong?”
“My...are you...I just really need to see you right now. Can I come up?”
“Come up?” Wait, what? “You’re here? Outside? Right now?”
“Yes, I...it’s a bad time, isn’t it? I’ll leave.”
“No! Don’t go. My roommate just left. Come up. Your timing’s perfect.” I rushed to the door without bothering to end the call. She’d never come to my place before, so whatever was bugging her must be big. As soon as I popped my head into the hall, I saw her exit the stairwell. Her face was white, eyes swollen and red, and her hair was a scattered mess.
“Baby? What’s wrong?” I yanked her into my arms, kissing her unkempt locks. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
When she burrowed into me and buried her face into my chest, my heart twisted painfully. I hated seeing her this way.
“It’s my dad,” she finally croaked.
I squeezed my eyes closed. She’d told me all about his diabetes and pneumonia. Sounded like the guy was going to bite the big one any day. “Is he—”
“They’re going to amputate his leg. But his circulation’s so bad they’re not certain if that will even help.”
“Jesus. I’m sorry.” Kicking the door shut, I carried her into the apartment and sat on the couch where she coiled into my lap.
“And the worst part is my mother didn’t even call to tell me. It was their housekeeper, Rita. She...she thought I should know. And now I can’t go see him because then they’ll know Rita’s feeding me information, and I don’t want to get her into trouble because she’s always been so nice to me, but why...why wouldn’t my own mother tell me about this? How could she possibly think I didn’t deserve to know?”
Probably because she was a cold, selfish bitch who never considered her daughter’s feelings, I wanted to say, but held my tongue. “I don’t know.” I rubbed her back and kept holding her, trying to show her the best support I could.
“I don’t think they’ll ever tell me they love me,” she whispered. It broke my heart. My mom had never said the words either, but I’d always had Caroline, and Colton, and Brandt. And strangely, I was glad I’d ended up with the parent I’d had. At least I’d had freedom to do whatever I’d wanted. I’d never been controlled and brainwashed the way Aspen had. I’d never felt alone or repressed while I was being neglected. Not the way she had.
Loathing her parents with a burning passion, I laced our fingers together, palm to palm, and pressed my forehead to hers. “Not saying it to you is their loss.”
She studied me, her lashes still wet from the tears she’d cried and her nose red. But she still looked beautiful enough to take my breath. Anyone had to be stupid not to tell her how they felt about her.
I opened my mouth to tell her...shit, I don’t know. She’d completely altered my world in the past few weeks, and I wanted her to know how amazing she was. I wanted her to know what she did to me. It reminded me of the next quote I wanted to slip to her.
"When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe." -Maya Angelou
But Aspen set her fingers over my lips to keep me quiet. Then she smiled softly and leaned in, dropping her hand from my mouth so she could kiss me. I groaned against her lips and slid my palms into her hair. Her bottom shifted until her warmth covered my erection. Then she ground down on me, and hell, I had to bump back up into her. My fingers found their way under her shirt and to the back of her bra where I opened the clasp.
Just as I began to swoop my way around to the front, the door to my apartment rattled before swinging open.
Aspen yelped out a scream and dove against me, hiding her face in my chest, and I scrambled to sit up, pulling my hands out of her shirt.
Ten stepped inside. “Man, I forgot my fucking wall—” He jerked to a stop. “Shit. Sorry. My bad.”
He stuck his hands in the air and began to back out of the apartment, but Aspen lifted her face and glanced at him. Slamming to a halt, he stared at her hard.
“Get out!” I yelled, and grabbed a couch cushion to throw at him. But it bounced off his head unnoticed.
Tipping his face to the side, he studied her from a different angle. “Why do you look like...?” Then it hit him who she was. His eyes bugged. “Holy shit.”
“Out,” I ordered, scooting her off my lap so I could jump to my feet and block his view of her as well as charge toward him.
The fucker still didn’t move. “Jesus Christ, man. She’s—”
I pushed him into the hallway and shut the door.
And that’s when he lost it. “You’re banging the teacher. Oh, my fucking God, you’re banging the fucking teacher. Holy shit, Gam, this is so...boss. You are the man. The man!”
