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Gideon’s waiting for me. He holds out his hand in invitation and I lace my fingers through his, allowing him to tug me into the living space, where Hardin is arguing with whoever knocked on the door.
I tense when I recognize the voice. Cohen Faulkner.
“I’m telling you, mate, she doesn’t want that shit. Toss it.”
“And I’m telling you, I can’t just toss mail left for students at the security desk.”
Mail? I hurry toward them, yanking the door open farther but keeping the door as closed as possible. I remember Fielder said they’ve made the rooms larger for us, and Cohen will probably notice I have three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a kitchen when I should have just a studio apartment.
His frustrated expression relaxes when he sees me, and I feel a tug of guilt. I should have checked in with him after our conversation in the parking lot. I should have given him a chance to apologize. With so few friends here, I can’t really afford to lose the ones I have. “Ro.”
“Cohen.”
Hardin growls at me, but I ignore him. “You got mail for me?”
He nods once quickly, and I look down at the brown box in his hands. “It came to the security desk this morning.”
I tilt my head. “Why would it have gone to security and not the mailroom?”
He shakes his head. “I have no idea.” His light green eyes flick up to Hardin and then back to me. “It has a postmark on it, though.”
“As if that explains things.” Hardin shakes his head. “Did you order something, love?” Cohen stiffens at the endearment, but I ignore it, trying to think If I’ve done any late night ordering recently, or if this could be something for my videos.
I shake my head. “I’m honestly not sure. Maybe Desi sent me something.” I reach for the box, intending to take it from Cohen, but he backs up a step as I do.
“What-”
Hardin’s arm slides around my waist and I can feel Gideon just on the other side of the door, listening to our entire conversation. “Can we talk?” Cohen asks in an echo of what he’d asked in the parking lot.
I flash back to him, calling me a whore and then nod, hesitantly. “So long as you aren’t planning on calling me a whore.”
He winces and shakes his head. “I won’t. I promise.”
I move to follow him, and Hardin tightens his arm around me again. “Not fucking happening.”
“Give me a minute,” I mutter to Cohen, before turning and placing my hands on Hardin’s chest to push him back into my dorm. He goes willingly, tugging me along with his hands on my elbows.
“I’m going to talk to him,” I say as the door closes behind us.
“Ro, sweetheart, we can’t listen in like we could before. We don’t have Fielder’s power.”
I roll my eyes. “You know I have conversations with people all the time that you don’t hear, right? I think he just wants to apologize for being an ass. I’m going to give him that opportunity.”
Hardin shakes his head vehemently. “Love, it’s not safe for you to go off with him.”
“I’ll walk him to the elevator. That’s what? Twenty feet away? Thirty at most. And I can call for you if I need to. You’ll be able to swoop in and save me.”
They exchange a look and shake their heads. I frown. “What is this? Why are you so against me justtalkingto him? You know he’s the only person who tried to help me last quarter, right? I consider him someone I can trust.”
Gideon jabs a hand at me. “That’s the problem. You trust him, but what if you can’t? We don’t know anything about him, and Fielder hasn’t been able to dig up anything.”
His mouth snaps shut as my brows climb my forehead. I hold up a hand. “I’m sorry, what? You’re digging into him? Why?”
Hardin runs his hands down my arms. ‘Relax, love. We look up everyone that works here. It’s a hell of a lot easier to get faculty to do as we want if we have something to hold over them.”
“Why don’t you just magic them into doing what you want?”
Gideon runs a hand down his face. “It doesn’t work that way. No witch has the power of persuasion.”
