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“No, it’s fine. Mari’s going to join us later. Honestly, she has the better notes.” The door closed behind me as I unshouldered my bag and spread out my textbooks and notes.
“Do you think we should pull some supplementals off the shelves?” He was already moving to leave.
“Well, I don’t see how that would be a bad idea. I feel like Caste goes outside of our text material anyways,” I conceded. He held the door open for me, and I watched as he walked to the psychology section. “I’ll check the next row; we can spread out,” I whispered.
I need Mari to show up already.
I dumped Brent into his aisle and put some distance between us. I was hardly paying attention to the books as I ran my hand over the titles. There was a murderer running around campus and no one had any solid leads. It was hard to imagine that Ghost was responsible. How could someone go from tender to murderous in the span of hours?
Not to mention the fact that I knew him.
How could I know a killer? My circle was small, and I was confident I knew these people pretty well. At least well enough to determine if they were a damn killer or not. I bet Caste would have the psycho pegged and mapped out. The woman was cruel, but she knew her stuff.
I looked back to where I originally left Brent and saw he paired up with Daniel. I wanted to groan and roll my eyes as far as they could go.
I perused the books in front of me when a dark shirt crossed my view. It was a loose-fitting punk band shirt that was worn well enough to have some holes and fraying. I peered over the shelf just above my head and caught a glimpse of dark hair and a flash of jade eyes scanning books.Hmm, I wonder.
“Jai?” I spoke quietly so I didn’t disturb the other students around us. A soft hum of a response came from him before he bent down to the space that was free and in my line of sight. “Are you busy right now?”
He shook his head, and I held up my hand to tell him to stay where he was. I rounded the stack and looked to see Brent and Daniel walking back to the private tutor room with a small stack of books. Jai was leaning against the shelves when I turned toward him. His presence was intimidating, but the energy he gave off in my company put me at ease.
I motioned for him to lean down so that I could whisper. I still had to stand on tiptoe just a bit in order to cup a hand around his ear. His hair was shorter on the side and tickled my fingertips. I inhaled and caught a hit of his cologne. He smelled…delicious.
“I do?” he responded to my thoughts, and I realized they came out aloud. My face flushed and I stepped back. His arm circled my waist and kept me in my embarrassment.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I said it out loud.” My breath hitched when his hand slid around my back and the tip of his finger edged my waistband. Holding me like this brought up flashes of yesterday and how he didn’t let me go that entire conversation.
“You can tell me all the thoughts you want. Especially where they concern mydeliciousness,” his low voice teased as he turned his head and cut that wicked, taunting glare at me. Offering his ear again, he asked, “How can I please you today?”
“Do you think you could join me for this study session? Just until Mari arrives, and then I’ll let you go.” The shorter sides of his hair brushed my forehead as he continued to hold me in place
“Why do you need me? I don’t have psychology.” His voice was soft, gentle.
“I don’t want to sit with Brent, and to make it worse, Daniel ran into him. I blew him off last week—” I took a pause as something dawned on me. “If you don’t have psychology, then why are you in the psych stacks?” I laughed lightly to the side of his face.
“Research paper for English lit. Did he do something to you?” he demanded, squeezing my hip harder. The pressure made me stumble, and I steadied myself against his chest.
I shook my head no, and it caused my nose to brush against his ear.
“No, I just feel uneasy given how Brent seems interested in Mari, and Daniel is just…persistent. I’d feel more comfortable with you there.” I was uncomfortable around most men, but that was a suitcase for another time. No need to dampen his day with those stories.
“More comfortable? With a third man?” He huffed a laugh and shook his head, but I understood his logic.
“You’re…big?” I replied, and I swore I heard the breath leave him. “Bigger and intimidating to them, I mean. Plus, you make me feel…at ease,” I tacked on to lessen the awkwardness.
“I doubt you’d feel comfortable if you knew me better, Bexley, but I’ll come with you.” He released my waist, and he made his way to our room of his own accord without looking to make sure I was even following him.
My eyes wandered down his backside, stopping right where the edge of his T-shirt bundled above the curve of his ass.Fuck, my eyes and mind are drifting again.
He got to the door but didn’t walk in. Instead, he waited for my approach and held it open. I didn’t miss the way Brent’s eyes flickered between the two of us and how Daniel stiffened.
“Oh, hey, Jai. I didn’t know you were joining us too.” There was an annoyance in his voice, and I shirked his scrutiny to hide my indifference.
“Yes,” I rushed out as Jai opened his mouth to speak. “I thought the more the merrier. Jai has this paper to write, and he could benefit from our research.” He tipped his chin upward in agreement, and I pulled one of the textbooks from the pile. None of the words appealed to me, and I felt unsettled for a different reason. I glanced out of the corner of my eyes and saw Jai deep in his study.
He had his computer out and the muscles in his forearm rolled as his fingers moved over the keys. Occasionally, he would flip through a few pages and take a few notes. I looked back to my book and felt a pair of eyes on me. In my peripherals, I saw that Brent was staring at me and his textbook was untouched.
Maybe bringing Jai into the mix was a bad idea.
