Page 64

No. “Yeah, ’course.”

“Hey, isn’t that your⁠—”

“Whatever happened with you and that girl,” I blurted. “The one from the party.”

I had no idea what the fuck I was saying, but I also knew I didn’t want him to ask me about Elliot Vaughn when I was likely to mortify myself by stammering or blushing, for fuck’s sake.

“Who, Jess?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

“She’s fucking hot, but I don’t know, man.” Roberts started talking about the girl while I tried desperately not to stalk across the small cafe and press myself between Vaughn and the woman he was sharing skin with.

My heart rate ramped up until I could feel it in my neck. I wondered idly if adding caffeine to the mix was really a good idea. Probably not. But I also knew that I would mainline that shit for all I was worth rather than look like I was here for no other reason than to stare at Vaughn like a creep.

Hopefully, I looked interested in whatever Roberts was talking about until the barista called my name, and I lurched forward to grab my cup. “Thanks. Uh, good luck with the… studying, man. And… Jenn. Or whatever.”

I turned and walked out so calmly that I banged my sore hip on one table and my elbow on the edge of the door. My stomach twisted with embarrassment, but at least I was out of there. And now I knew I’d have the room to myself for a little while longer.

Unless he brought her back there.

If he thought for one fucking second that I was going to let him fuck her in our room, he was mistaken. Because I was not. There was no fucking way.

I stewed the entire walk back across campus until I felt like my face was going to explode. Now that I’d felt Vaughn’s hands on me, been the center of his sexual attention, I couldn’t stand the idea of him doing it with anyone else.

To be fair, maybe I hadn’t been okay with it for a while. But only because he was annoying as fuck, and it was an invasion of privacy happening in my own room.

I closed my eyes and growled a little.

And yes, now that I thought about it, I wouldn’t have been okay with it even if he’d hooked up somewhere else.

But why? Why the fuck did I care what Elliot Fucking Vaughn did?

I didn’t want to. But I did.

“Fuck.” I threw my untouched coffee into a nearby bin and then kicked the bin for good measure. “Fuck.”

I stormed the rest of the way back to Whitman, too caught up in my head to have any situational awareness. It wasn’t until I was stepping into the elevator that I felt someone move up behind me and press me into the far wall.

I threw my elbow back and whipped around, belatedly hearing him expel a whoosh of air before I shoved him into the far corner of the metal box.

“Vaughn? What the fuck?” My hands shook with adrenaline. “Thought I was being jumped. Fuck!”

His surprise morphed into regret as he held up both hands. “Sorry. I thought you knew it was me. Been following you since BB’s.”

I folded my arms across my chest to keep from reaching for him. “No, I…” I swallowed instead of telling him I’d been thinking too deeply about him to realize he’d been stalking me. “No.”

His eyes moved up and down my body, assessing me. My skin prickled with awareness, but I was still too wound up about Rowan to see it as anything good.

“Where’s your lady friend?” I asked stupidly.

Lady friend? Jesus fuck.

Vaughn bit his lip to keep from smirking.

It didn’t work.

“My lady friend⁠—”