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I waited, even though I shouldn’t. But I wouldn’t ask what he figured out because I wasn’t sure if I could handle what he was about to say next.
His voice was thick and tinged with agony that clawed at my insides when he confessed, “It wasn’t men I craved. It was only you. It has always been you.”
My jaw worked violently. My fingers curled into tight fists. It was either that or grind my teeth down to the roots. Or, for shit’s sake, simply go back and knock him the hell out.
It took everything I had to make sure a shake wasn’t detectable in my response. “Too bad you didn’t figure that out twelve years ago.”
I don’t know if he heard me and I didn’t care if he didn’t. My message had been loud and clear. The only thing I was willing to give him at this point was already coating his throat and stomach.
I yanked the door open and slammed it behind me, but before heading downstairs I made sure my private entrance was secured so he couldn’t follow me.
Because if he did…
If he did, I’d struggle to find the strength to push him away.
CHAPTER 9
Ronan (Then)
A pounding on my dorm room door made me jump out of the seat at my desk and rush to unlock it. It wasn’t normally locked, especially when Dominic was out, but my roommate had headed home for the weekend for some family thing.
While I studied, I tended to lock my door to make sure I wasn’t disturbed. I needed to keep my grades up to keep my scholarship. Partying was great, working was great, spending time with Tate was great, but my grades needed to be better than great. They needed to be perfect.
A solid education, and a degree, would hopefully give me a solid foundation for the rest of my life. If I ended up not being successful, I didn’t want it to be because of a lack of trying or slacking off. So, I did all my assignments, as well as any extra credit when it was offered, plus I studied. A lot.
Sometimes Tate helped me. But my guess was it wasn’t due to his knowledge being greater than mine but because he wanted to spend time with me.
At least, that was what I hoped and allowed myself to believe.
We hadn’t made any plans to study together tonight, so I had no idea who stood on the other side of the door. As soon as I yanked it open, my breath caught. It was Tate with his bursting-at-the-seams backpack flung over one shoulder. A few strands of his dark hair had fallen across his forehead, his blue eyes were bright and his cheeks were flushed.
But then, it was a blustery fall day and he’d probably either hoofed it over to campus from his apartment on foot, or rode his bike.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Dom’s gone for the weekend, right?” He nudged me with his shoulder to move me out of the way so he could step over the threshold. As soon as he did, he shut and relocked the door.
“Yeah. He went home. He’ll be back early Monday.”
He turned back to me and grinned.
“What?” Suspicion colored my question and I narrowed my eyes at him.
He moved past me and set his backpack on Dom’s bed, unzipped it and pulled out a laptop.
It looked brand-new. He already owned the most recent model and that one certainly didn’t need to be replaced.
“You break your other one?”
“Nope,” he answered as he shoved it at me. “It’s not mine.”
My brow furrowed. “Did you steal it? Whose is it?”
“Yours.”
My frown deepened and I stared at the Apple MacBook still in his hands. My chest filled with dread. “I can’t afford that.”
“I can.”
That laptop cost over a grand. That was why I didn’t have one. I couldn’t even afford a new Windows-based laptop, forget an Apple. That was why I used my old dinosaur and prayed to the computer gods that it kept working every time I opened it. “I can’t pay you back.”
He shrugged. “Okay.”
What? He bought new laptops like it was nothing? “Tate…”
He shoved it into my gut, forcing me to grab it. As soon as I did, he let go and I was stuck holding something I had always wanted but knew I’d never be able to afford.
I held it out to him and shook my head. “I can’t take this.”
“It’s not a big deal. Don’t make one out of it.”
It was a huge deal. “It is.”
“Roe…”
“Tate, this is crazy. I can’t accept this.”
“Yes, you can. You’re going to need a good computer for the next four years. Plus, I wanted to do this for you.”
“It’s too expensive.” Even if it wasn’t, I couldn’t have him buying me a freaking laptop. Like he was my sugar daddy or something. I loved Tate for being Tate, not because of his family’s money. I didn’t care about that at all.
