Page 82 of Cole

I collapsed against him when I finally finished. Cole wiped my mouth gently with his sleeve.

“All done?”

I nodded, exhausted now.

I looked down at Grant’s inert body. “Did you kill him?”

“Not yet. He’s on thin ice, though, I’ll tell you that. Let’s get you home.”

He shifted, and I clung to him as he stood.

“I should go,” I mumbled, stumbling about like a newborn foal. My head felt marginally clearer, but the drug was still obviously in my system.

“I don’t want to trouble you,” I muttered, and was rewarded with Cole’s dry chuckle.

“It’s too late for that, baby. You trouble me, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

I blinked up at his face. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He pushed my hair off my sweating forehead. “Are you?”

I nodded. “I’m sorry for all of it.”

“I’m not,” he said after a moment. “Come on, let’s get you to campus.”

“How?” I wondered. Would I even be able to hold onto him on the bike?

“This asshole is lending us his ride,” Cole said shortly.

I didn’t know when I closed my eyes again. Sometime after telling Cole my room number. Next thing, I was in bed, and he was standing at my pinboard, staring at photos of himself.

I tried to push myself up in bed and failed, but the noise made him turn around.

I’d been right. He looked far too ridiculously hot and oversized in this tiny dorm room.

“I’ve had stalkers before,” Cole murmured, “but this kind of organization is next level. I’m impressed.”

“I wasn’t stalking you… or, if I was, I guess I was pretty successful at it.”

He moved closer and sank onto the edge of my bed, rolling me toward him.

“Successful how?” he wondered.

I breathed out, a long, content exhale. He was here, near me, and I felt better than I had in weeks, despite also feeling like complete shit.

“I had you, didn’t I?” I managed to get out. God, nothing was coming out right.

Cole gave a bark of laughter at my phrasing.

He reached out and wiped something from the corner of my mouth without flinching. Good god, if it was vomit, I’d die.

“I suppose you did, Goldilocks, and I had you. The real question is what we’re going to do about that now.”

I swallowed a burst of emotion. “You told me to stay away from you. You ended it.”

“Ended it,” he repeated. “You told me there was nothing to end, remember? At the diner? You weren’t into it, or me…”

I snorted. “God, you’re gullible. A guy like you really shouldn’t be so gullible.”