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“You don’t care about your boyfriend's abuse of money and power?” White-hot anger hits me at her negative words toward Noble. Before I can lash out, the professor walks into the room, telling everyone to put everything away but a pencil.
“We’ll finish this later.” The blonde jumps up from her seat and hurries out of the room.
I can only surmise that Nathan was Noble’s workout. He got him removed from the school? And I’m guessing the same went for Rob. I suppose that’s why I hadn’t run into him again at the frat house. My thoughts are interrupted when the professor drops the exam on my desk.
Why didn’t Noble tell me? Now I understand why people are staring. Oh, crap. This explains why the guy I bumped into leaped away from me so quickly.
A mixture of emotions fills me. For so long, I’ve tried to slide by under the radar to not draw attention to myself. I just wanted to get an education. It was better to not make a fuss. At least that’s what had been ingrained into me. Both Rob and Nathan are assholes who get off on making women uncomfortable. It’s kind of nice knowing this time they got a taste of their own medicine.
“Begin,” the professor announces. I let out a breath and focus on the task at hand. When I’m done, I drop my test on the professor's desk before I head out. I’m done early, so Noble won’t be here. I exit the building and head across campus, not sure where I’m going.
That overwhelming emotion to run fills me. No one has ever stood up for me. Why does this scare me so much? Emotions build in my chest, the pressure consuming me. Now Noble is going to get in trouble because of me. I don’t understand why he wants to be with me. What do I really bring to this relationship? We don’t make sense. This can’t work. It won’t work.
“Kitten.” I spin around to see Noble standing there. “You run, I'll just chase you,” he says softly. I burst into tears, the floodgates opening. “Baby.” Noble wraps his arms around me, pulling me into him. “I’ve got you,” he whispers. Words no one else has ever said to me before.
CHAPTER17
NOBLE
Autumn keeps sneakingpeeks at me over her book, and while I’d like to think it’s because of my charisma and sexual magnetism, I have a suspicion it has something to do with the reporter fromThe Campus Recorder. We haven’t really addressed her earlier tears. Her initial excuse that it was just stress-related sounded like a lie. I toss my pen aside.
“Want to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“What the reporter was asking you about. Why you cried.”
She shrugs lightly and runs her highlighter across a page. “I told you earlier that I was feeling overwhelmed with all my schoolwork.”
“There are tutors here, if you need them.”
“You’d be okay with that?”
“If they were women, sure. If it was a guy, then I’d be jealous as hell and would want to sit in on every session so that I could glare at him and reassure myself that he wasn’t going to make a move on you.”
Her lips twitch. “You’re a little silly if you think I’m that attractive to other people. I hardly know why you’re with me, Noble Patton White.”
“You’re wrong. Guys are always eyeing you. I nearly have nervous breakdowns every time we leave my place,” I joke.
She doesn’t look up from her paper when she replies, “If I feel the need, I’ll get a tutor, and if it’s a guy, we’ll have it here so you won’t have to go far to stare menacingly at the tutor’s head. As for earlier today, if you want to tell me something, you would tell me.”
I don’t think she meant it as criticism, so I don’t know why I feel guilty suddenly. “Shitty things happen in this world because shitty people exist. I can’t prevent everything bad in this world from affecting you or us, but the things I can take care of, I will, because that’s the privilege I have as your man.”
“Is this you admitting that you had two students removed from campus?”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
She sets her highlighter on the table and contemplates me for a long, uncomfortable moment. “I think I’d like it if you said something to me first.”
“I didn’t want to place that burden on you. The whole purpose of me telling you what to do when we’re in here”—I gesture toward the bed—“is so you don’t have to think. You just enjoy the moment, experience the pleasure. I get off on that too, so don’t think it’s a one-way street. It’s something we both want.”
“I’m not saying that I’m going to object or that I don’t want you to take action, but that I’d rather know what’s going on than find out from a nosy campus reporter. I wouldn’t have that embarrassing deer in the headlights look, and I’d be prepared.” Her smile is sweet, and there’s no bite to her words. I feel like shit.
“I was wrong. I’m sorry.” I get up and cross over to her. By her side, I get down on one knee and press her hand against my mouth. “Forgive me.”
She cups my chin and then moves her hand around to stroke my hair. “I’m not mad at you at all. Just keep me in the loop.”
I nod. “Will do. I got the school to expel both Rob Track and Nathan What’s-his-face, and it wasn’t just because it wasn’t fair to any of the other students to be at risk. This university is funded by my granddad’s money, and I don’t need Track or the other kid to be blackening its name.”
