Professor Solomon chuckles, still smoothing my hair under his fingers. “I think you might be concussed, Love.”
“Don’t call me that.” The request is unreasonable, at best. It’s my last name, after all. But I can’t stand the way he says it like it’s a nickname, or like a pet name.
“All right, baby girl.” That’s worse. “Whatever you want.” He has to know I’m still upset, and I shudder when he runs a hand down my arm. “Can you sit up for me?”
“No.”
“Blair—” Oliver breaks off suddenly and hisses a soft curse. “I didn’t mean to hurt you—”
“You’re killing people that remind you of mybest friend.” Hysteria is flooding back to me, and it makes my head throb. I groan, dragging one hand up as if to touch my head, but Professor Solomon catches my fingers in his.
“No, don’t do that,” he murmurs. “Not yet. You’re all right.”
“You’re going to kill me.” Fear twines through my words, and I finally open my eyes to see that he’s much closer than he has any right to be. This close, I can see the fullness of his parted lips, and the way his eyes are such a prettier shade of brown than I’ve ever seen before.
“Never,” he promises in such a sweet voice that I almost believe him. “Oh, Blair.” I cringe away from his fingers that stroke my lips, but he doesn’t seem to give a damn. “There are a lot of things I want to do to you, but none of them are meant tohurt you. I hate that it’s reached this point, but now, at least, I can explain a few things to you.”
“I don’t want to hear them.” He presses his thumb against my lip and my eyes narrow. “I’ll bite you,” I promise, showing him my teeth.
As if to encourage me to do so, he slides his thumb across my lips and pushes past my teeth until he can press against my tongue. I set my teeth against it, eyes still on his, andbite.
But he just… doesn’t care. He doesn’t move or pull back. In fact, he just fuckingchucklesand slips a finger under my jaw to hold my face like this, so I’m unable to look away from him unless I close my eyes.Does he not feel the pain from my teeth?
“Oliver fucked up,” he tells me emphatically, every word enunciated. “He’s not what you think he is.” I try to move my lips, to say something, only to realize that in this position, with him able to hold my jaw, I can’t say a damn thing. His smile widens when I suck in a nervous, shocked breath at the realization. “He can’t always help himself. Though, I’m working on that. He won’t get caught from this, I promise. And he’s not going to kill your friend. Though perhaps, if you give two shits about the women in this city who look anything like her, you’ll tell her to back off, okay?”
He says it so sweetly, like the kindest suggestion, but it’s not that. Not by a long shot.
“You’re going to have to stay here for a few hours, as much as you obviously don’t want to. I’m afraid you might have a concussion, and I just want to watch you to make sure you’re okay.”
When I shake my head, he only smiles empathetically and goes on, “Like I said before, this wasn’t how things were supposed to go. It was supposed to be him, then me once you were more open to the idea. And maybe, at some point, we’d letyou in on the rest of it. But not until you liked us much more than you do right now. But that’s all right, isn’t it?”
I bite down so hard that my jaws ache, but he still doesn’t even flinch. He doesn’t even seem tonotice, quite frankly. Finally he releases me, and forcefully helps me to sit up, though even through that he remains so gentle and steadies me as I lean back against the sofa with nausea rising through my body.
“There you go,” he praises, like I’ve done something worth celebrating. “How’s your head?”
“It doesn’t hurt enough for me not to walk on out of here,” I promise hoarsely, glancing down at the hand I’d bitten. He notices, and shows me that, apart from a red mark on his thumb that looks like it’s bruising, he’s absolutely fine.
“Your roommate isn’t here,” he reminds me, as Oliver sits down gingerly to my right. I flinch away, but he grabs me gently, his face still etched with worry. “You’re not going home tonight.”
“I’d rather go to a hospital.”
“You don’t need a hospital, Blair,” Professor Solomon snorts, getting to his feet. “You just have a bump on your head.”
“Then let me go, Professor—” I break off when I say it, hating that I still want to call himProfessor.
He notices, though, and the smile twitches into place on his lips. “It’s Rook,” he informs me gently. “Outside of class and school, it’s Rook. Don’t be like him when he acts like he’s getting away with it during class. He’s just trying to get punished.”
“What?” I murmur, looking at Oliver who grins apologetically. “So you’re…” It clicks in my brain and I close my eyes again, thumping back against the plush sofa with a wince. “You were totally just fucking with me this whole time.”
“Blair.” Oliver sounds shocked, and a little bit hurt. “What do you mean?”
“You’re withhim, notme.”
“Oh, wonder girl, no.” He draws my hand into his lap, though I can’t help turning to dig my nails into his skin defiantly. But just like Rook, he doesn’t bother to even do me the courtesy of flinching. “Well, yes, I suppose. I love him. He keeps me out of jail, and he’s been my everything for years… until you came along.”
I open my eyes, feeling just as nervous now as I had a minute ago. “But—”
“But just because he’s my everything, doesn’t mean you can’t be too.”