She sucks in a sharp breath. “So, somethinghashappened?”
“Yes. And no.”
Her jaw falls open. “Have you slept with him?” Her eyes hold me in place, begging me to elaborate.
“No. We… just did other stuff.” Things that set my body on fire just thinking about. On the nights when I haven’t had nightmares, I dream of him and all the things he’s done to me.
Our conversation is interrupted by the loud roar of a motorcycle engine ripping through the air. The sound commands the attention of everyone around us, and we give it because motorcycles aren’t allowed on this section of the campus.
There’s a massive sign saying so right at the entrance of the driveway.
Despite that, the biker dressed in full black continues up the path, not caring who he’s upsetting or which rule he’s breaking.
Lorelai smirks when he guns the engine louder and tears up the hill like he’s riding out of aMission Impossiblefilm.
“Someone’s asking for trouble.” She laughs.
“I think it’s more the case of begging for it.” There are a ton of badass guys who come here, but they know that the kind of trouble they’d get in with the dean or even the Pakhan isn’t worth it.
This guy clearly doesn’t care.
When he gets closer and I take note of his familiar muscular build, my nerves spike.
The bike stops at the edge of the hill, a little over twenty feet away from us.
My poor heart stops when the biker pulls off his helmet and I realize it’s Desmier.
“Oh my God.” Lorelai’s voice pierces through my shock. But I’m still staring at Desmier, trying to figure out if what I’m seeing is real. Or ratherwho.
Desmier is here.
He’s back.
A bubble of excitement rises in me at seeing him, but I push it away as quickly as it forms.
He’s back, and he’s here to do what?
I feel I should have guessed it was him the moment I heard the bike, but I didn’t know he owned one. Even so, only someone who lives by their own rules and completely disregards everything else would ride a motorcycle through the restricted section of Raventhorn University like they own the place.
Since he’s never picked me up before and I thought the guards were on their way to get me, I can’t imagine he’s here looking for me.
Desmier swings one powerful leg over the bike, stands, and gazes at me. With his hair messy, a fuller beard, and all that leather wrapped in his bad attitude, he looks sexier and forbidden.
A twinge of annoyance—and what feels like jealousy—hits me when I realize I’m not the only girl who notices. Every female with eyes in our vicinity has formed the same opinion and they can see Desmier looks like the seriously hot and dangerous guy most mothers warn their daughters to stay away from. I’m sure mine would have been the first in line to issue the warning if she were still alive today.
“Hey, Valkyrie. Come on, let’s go,” he shouts, and something inside me withers away.
He’s talking to me. And he saidlet’s go? As in home?
On that bike?
“Valkyrie?” Lorelai gives me a salacious smile and her face becomes as animated as it does when she hears juicy gossip.
I glance at her, but shock is preventing me from speaking. From the alabaster look of my hands I know the rest of my skin has turned ghostly pale.
“This is not happening,” I mumble when I notice people now casting curious glances my way.
“Hey, baby girl, come on.”