Reid smirks. “If you think so.”
“It’ll be fine,” Summer adds, stroking Reid’s impressively muscular arm.
Reid gives me a look and says, “It better be.”
SIX
WHEN I see Arrow waiting for me after class, I try to hide my smile.
My day is suddenly looking up.
“Pull the short straw again?” I ask as I walk up to him, grinning.
The look he gives me lets me know he’s not impressed. “Rake’s on a run, wanted me to pick you up.”
“Where did he go?” I ask, wondering why he hadn’t said anything.
“Club business,” Arrow grunts back, then rubs his beard.
Fuck, he’s hot.
His eyes snap to mine and narrow. It’s then I realize that I said that out loud.
Holy shit.
“I mean, fuck, it’s hot,” I blurt, clearing my throat.
It isn’t really that hot, so I sound even more stupid.
I look down so he doesn’t see my flushed cheeks. The last thing I need is for him to know the extent of my attraction to him, so divulging shit like that is not something I need to be doing.
“You’re pretty hot yourself, Anna,” he replies. Was that amusement I can hear in his tone?
I look up and, yes, his eyes are dancing with it. I decide to play it off with a shrug. “What? You’re a good-looking man. Is it a crime to admire the wrapping?”
“Fuck,” he whispers quietly.
“What?”
“Be easier if you weren’t attracted to me.”
My eyebrows raise. “Why is that?”
A muscle tics in his jaw. “I think you’re really something, Anna. But people I care about get hurt. If you’re smart, you will hide what I can so easily see in your eyes because it makes me tempted to take what you’re offering.”
I look down.
I do want him.
I don’t know what he saw in my eyes, but I can only imagine. I wish my eyes weren’t so expressive.
My phone vibrates, so I pull it out of my pocket, glad for something to do.
“Who’s messaging you?” he asks.
My head snaps up. “A friend.”
It was Damien, wanting to meet up to study.
“This friend have a cock? ’Cause then we got a problem,” he rasps, grinning and showing off his straight white teeth.
“So what, I’m not allowed any male friends? Never mind, don’t even answer that because I don’t want to hear what you have to say,” I snap, shaking my head in astonishment. “Give you men an inch, I tell you what.”
“You done?” he asks, obviously sick of me rambling on. “Besides, pretty sure it’s meant to be the man giving you inch by inch.”
Did he just make a sexual innuendo?
“For now,” I say, wanting to have the last word. “And I wouldn’t know about any inches because I’ve been having a dry spell for quite a while now.”
“How long?” he asks, watching me intently.
“Long enough.”
“Hmmmm,” he replies, then clears his throat.
“I’ll be picking you up tonight as well, after your shift,” he says when I don’t speak.
He reaches out his big hand and I pass him my bag. “I don’t remember telling anyone about my job.”
His brown eyes search mine. “Rake is fuckin’ confused as to why you got yourself a job when he gave you a shitload of money that should last you all fuckin’ year.”
“I don’t want his money, I want to make my own money.”
It was as simple as that.
“Stubborn.”
My lips tighten. “I’m not lazy. I can work to support myself. Only a lazy woman is impressed with wealth, while hardworking women can go out there and get money themselves.”
Arrow shakes his head. “Your brother wants to help you; cut him some slack. Christ, you’re a pain in the ass.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to him, and it’s nice knowing the money is there if I ever get in a bad spot.”
“Did you tell Rake that?”
“Of course I did,” I reply, frowning. “It was a generous thing to do.”
“It was very generous. Rake is a good man.”
I nod. “I know; trust me, I know. I’d do anything for him too. I’m just hoping he will give me a little more freedom.”
He shrugs, like it doesn’t bother him either way. “Take it up with him. Let’s get moving.”
I don’t move a muscle.
“What?” he barks.
“You don’t have to be so rude. A please wouldn’t go astray, you know,” I grumble, stepping toward his bike.
“Anna, just get your little ass on my bike. I have to make a stop on the way and I’m already late, so stop fucking around,” he says quietly, then turns his back to me.
“I want to make a stop too,” I say.
“We don’t have time.”
“We do,” I say. “It will only take an hour max.”
He tilts his head to the side. “Better be fuckin’ important.”
“What the hell is your problem exactly? I think I prefer your silence and your grunts to your being an asshole,” I snap.
I grab my bag from his hand and hitch it over my shoulder. “Go where you need to go; I’ll take the bus home.”
Without another look at him, I turn and head toward the bus stop. It’s no big deal to me, I have no problem taking the bus. I take three steps before his hand clamps down on my bicep and pulls me to a stop. “Rake wanted me to take you home, so I’m taking you home.”