“Don’t.” The word rips from my lungs. “You don’t know the first thing about me.”
Cole’s eyes narrow, glistening with suspicion. “I know you’re hiding something. Your transfer file is sealed.”
“You stole my transfer papers?” I gawk at him.
“I didn’t steal anything. I paid some tech geek to hack the school database.” Cole sucks the end of the Twizzler with slow, meticulous precision before biting the end off.
“Why?” I swallow, my throat dry.
It’s not the important question here, but I need to know why Cole went to such lengths when we’ve barely said two words to each other over the last few weeks.
Now he’s too close. To me... to the truth.
This is bad.
So fucking bad I can hardly breathe.
He teases the stick of strawberry candy against my thinned lips. “Tell me your secrets, Little Dove.”
“Cole...” My voice wavers.
“You should have graduated last year. Why didn’t you?”
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I curl my hand, pressing my nails into my palm, trying to appease my racing heart. “Cole, please don’t do this.” Tears spring from my eyes.
“I won’t ask again, Hadley.” The air thickens with his anger.
He’s angry at me?
But I didn’t lie.
He knows me... he knows the girl I am now.
I lift my chin in defiance. Cole might be looking at me like he’s one second away from forcing the truth out of me, but it will be nothing to the way he looks at me if he discovers the truth.
I need to distract him, flip the tables someh
ow.
Steeling my spine, I reach for him, curling my fingers into the waistband of his jeans. “Did you really come here to unearth my secrets, or did you come here for something else?” Batting my eyelashes, I gaze at him with reverence.
“Your attempt at distracting me, won’t work, Little Dove.” He growls the words, but I can see his thin rope of control fraying as I dip my fingers under his t-shirt and meet warm skin.
Cole hisses as I paint circles on his stomach. “You’re playing a dangerous game,” he warns, but it’s coated in lust.
“Or maybe I’m playing exactly the game you hoped I would.”
I push myself into his strong body, forcing him to track backward. I don’t stop until Cole hits the edge of the bed.
But he isn’t stupid. He sees my intention and grabs me, flipping us so quickly that before I can blink, I’m pinned underneath him on the bed. “Who’s the guy, Hadley?”
“G-Guy?” I choke out, because he can’t know about Tim. There’s no way... not unless...