This made sense since these guys were his friends, but Ares also knew how strongly I felt about one of them specifically. I growled. “You could have asked me. I could have driven the car over to the school.”
His eyes narrowed. “No offense, little. But no one is driving that thing. Not after all that fucking work we did on it.”
I got that but still.
“And if you haven’t noticed, this thing also weighs a ton.” He jerked his thumb back toward the mural. “I wasn’t going to ask you or Bru to help me with it. I think you know why. Your brother and I probably could have handled it, but I wasn’t about to risk you raging on my ass for even asking him.”
My smile started slow. We really had been spending too much time together. He was really starting to get me and how I worked. I would have raged on his ass.
He smiled too. “Anyway, we’ll be out of your hair soon. Go back to bed. We don’t need anything from you.”
Well, now that I was up, trying to go back to sleep would be hilarious.
Especially knowing Dorian was here.
He was currently out of the car, helping the guys to finish loading up, and I didn’t miss him pass a glance in our direction.
Ares hadn’t either. He’d returned back to the other part of our piece, but still had eyes on the situation. Currently, he messed with tethers while his friends completed the other job. Thatcher and Wells eventually got inside the flatbed once their group finished, but Dorian hadn’t joined them.
He came over to help Ares, and I twitched when I was forced to share more space than was comfortable with him. I mean, my garage wasn’t a small garage, but he was in there with me.
I shifted in my high-tops, hands clenching in my hoodie. I tried to put off disinterest, that I didn’t care one way or the other that Dorian was in my space, but who was I kidding? I did care.
I still did.
But this didn’t mean anything to me. I told him things were too late. His apology was too late, and I meant that.
I kicked back a foot against my Chevelle, making sure both boys knew I was there. This was still my space, and they were both inside it.
“D, you still got those extra bungie cords in your car?”
“Yeah, in the trunk.” The dark prince tossed him his keys. “Should be some in the roadside emergency kit.”
Now Dorian’s car wasn’t far away. But it looked like miles.
Especially when Ares left us.
The tall boy sprinted away to his friend’s Audi—also parked outside my house. Ares opened the trunk, and Dorian kept his distance while he waited. I averted my eyes, and his head lowered, a sea of perfect blond breezing in the wind.
“Hey.”
I panned in his direction, clashing suddenly with dark eyes. I was surprised he’d actually spoke to me.
I’d been more than clear before.
But here he was, hands in his pockets. His dress pants fitted tight to his muscular legs, his stance wide and his signature combat boots gracing his feet. He never did give a fuck about the school’s dress code. His sleeves were shoved up above his thick forearms. His shoulders lifted. “How you been?”
How have I been?
I wondered if I should tell him before or after he’d once again made a fool out of me. Who knew how far things would have gone in the computer lab had I not stopped it.
In fact, I knew exactly what would have happened. He would have made me his whore once again. How easy he got me to bend for him.
I looked away again, and by then, Ares had come back. He was well aware his friend had been talking to me, waving him back to help. For whatever reason, Ares
“Wolf” Mallick continued to look out for me, and how weird their dynamic had changed. When I’d first met them, Ares had clearly answered to him.
Today, as it seemed, something different was happening, because not only did Dorian leave, but he also assisted Ares with no hesitation. Ares directed, and Dorian did what he asked, shocking the fuck out of me. Dorian was so crazy, his control crazy. He’d made me bend to that more than a few times too.