A throat clears behind us in that annoying way a person does when they’re not impressed with being ignored.
“I’m going to like him, aren’t I?”
Rick grins. “It’s inevitable.”
He slips away from me, and although that’s probably best because Rex was adamant about not fucking on his bed, it also leaves me with a problem in my shorts.
I clear my own throat, adjusting myself as best I can before turning around to face everyone.
Rex and Joey both drop their eyes to my crotch, and I fight the urge to cover myself with my hands.
“Well then,” Rex says, not a shy bone in the man’s body. “I see what all the fuss is about.”
“He’s a bottom,” Rick says in a nonchalant way as if we’re discussing the weather rather than my sexual proclivities.
“What a waste,” Rex says, his teeth digging into the corner of his bottom lip.
“Stop,” Joey says, smacking his boyfriend’s chest. “You’re going to scare him.”
“We’re leaving,” Rick says as he hugs both the guys before stepping toward the door.
“Very well,” Rex says. “Solve your domestic issues elsewhere.”
I step forward, holding out my hand for Rex to shake, holding my breath to see if the man is willing to forgive at least a little of whatever Rick may have told him about me.
I cringe at how much trouble this is going to bring me when he smacks my hand away, but then he pulls me to his chest in a hug.
“Shallow grave if you hurt him,” he says into my ear, not bothering to lower his voice to a whisper.
I shake Joey’s hand on the way out the door, nodding in relief when he says, “See you soon.”
I grab Rick’s hand before we make it past the threshold.
“Did you see the way he was all aggressive?” I hear Rex say as we leave, and I know it means the man still isn’t Team Landon.
“And now you’re horny?” Joey asks. “To the bedroom. Let’s take care of that.”
Rick laughs as we descend the stairs from the second floor. “He likes it rough.”
I pull him to a stop on the concrete. “And you know that how?”
“You’ll see when you get to know him better. The man has no filter. I know more about their sex life than I know about my own.” He pulls my hand to his lips, brushing a kiss there before letting it go.
I give a weak smile as we start to walk back toward campus. I’m glad he dropped my hand, but not a hundred percent for the reason he may think. I just kissed a guy in front of witnesses—other than whoever it was that night out in the hallway at the clubhouse, and that’s a lot different from admitting my feelings to Mazie.
I don’t want him to take the tremble in my palms the wrong way, but it was an adrenaline rush, both good and bad. Good because I’ve never felt freer in my life. Not good because I spent too much of my brain power wondering how Rex and Joey were going to react instead of giving Rick all my attention. I feel like I cheated both of us in that moment.
We don’t say a word as we make it back to the dorm, and I keep my eyes mostly on him because I just can’t seem to stop watching the man.
So I see it when it begins to happen. First his smile fades away, then the frown takes over as his footfalls grow more aggressive.
The man is stuck in his head, getting more and more pissed with each step he takes. At the rate he’s going, I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t end up in a fistfight before we make it to our room.
I’m left confused as we enter our dorm building, but that starts to transform as we make it up the stairs and then into our room.
He doesn’t sit on his bed, doesn’t give me the opportunity to speak. He fiddles with shit in the closet, keeping his back to me the entire time.
I’ve had enough of him ignoring me, of his mood changing so fucking quickly it leaves my head spinning.
I grab his arm, turning him to face me, and lean in to kiss his stubborn lips, but he shoves me, his hands on my chest so rough it makes me ache.
Or maybe that’s the heartache I feel at the angry look on his face.
“Rex may be into aggressive shit, but I’m not.”
I soften my features, taking a step closer to him as my eyes drop to his lips, but he pushes me away again.
For a man not into aggression, he sure isn’t having difficulty expressing himself that way.
“The sexual stuff is off the fucking table,” he says. “We’ve already taken things too far.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I manage. “You kissed me back at their apartment.”