With Every Heartbeat(4)

I tripped in reverse as he came closer, my eyes going wide.

My behavior caused him to jerk to a halt. His mouth opened and apology entered his gaze, but he said nothing. He cleared his throat and pointed toward the back door of the frat house. “I can...I’ll show you where she is.”

Nodding my compliance, I stayed mute as shame flooded my limbs. The guy had only been trying to be nice and help me out, and I’d been shying away from him as if he were an ax murderer.

Way to make a first impression to Cora’s boyfriend, you idiot.

He moved around me, purposely giving me a wide berth, and opened the back door, only to step aside to let me enter first. I drew in a breath and skipped up onto the small back steps, coming close enough to him that I could immediately notice how incredible he smelled. Clean and male with a subtle hint of spice.

“Thank you,” I started to say, but his friend broke in, calling after us.

“Hey!” I turned in time to see him waving his hands. “What the hell, man?”

“Oh.” From the surprise in Quinn’s voice, I think he’d forgotten about the other guy completely. “This is Cora’s new roommate. I’m going to help her find Cora.” Then he glanced at me. “That’s Ten. He’s my roommate.” He let out a small sigh and rolled his eyes before adding, “Unfortunately.”

“I heard that,” Ten said, setting his hands on his hips. “If you leave now, who’s going to talk me out of kicking Belcher’s ass?”

Quinn frowned and glanced at me before turning his attention to Ten. “Can’t you talk yourself out it?”

“Probably not.”

Quinn motioned me with a tip of his head to go ahead and enter the house. “Don’t worry. He’ll talk himself out of it,” he assured me with a sigh.





After I reassured Zoey Blakeland that Ten wouldn’t start any fights without me, her lips loosened with a relieved smile. My stomach followed suit, loosening with its own relief.

I had desperately wanted Cora’s friend to like me. Cora had told me about Zoey’s past, her strict, abusive father, her shielded homeschooled upbringing, her shy demeanor. I had felt like a kindred soul to her the moment I’d learned of her because I could too easily relate to a lot of words Cora had used to describe her. I’d actually been hoping I could maybe, possibly, I don’t know...finally talk to someone else who understood some of the things I’d been through.

But then stupid, idiot Belcher had shown me that picture of my friend Noel’s girlfriend topless, and yeah...Zoey Blakeland’s first impression of me was shoving him against a wall.

Awesome.

She probably thought I was exactly like her father. She’d certainly shied away from me quickly enough when I’d merely walked toward her. Now I was going to have to work double-time to convince her that was the first time I’d ever shoved anyone anywhere. I was the least violent person I knew. I mean, I had been...until tonight.

My hands were still shaking, surprised by how quickly I’d manhandled the baseball player. But Noel was one of the few friends I had. I couldn’t handle anyone disrespecting his girlfriend by showing off topless pictures of her.

Realizing I was actually capable of such violence messed with my head, though. Made me worry what I might be truly capable of doing.

“So, uh...” I didn’t know what to say to Cora’s new roommate. The first thing to pop into my mind was that she was early. We weren’t planning for her to make it into town until Sunday evening. But I thought mentioning that would make her feel as if I didn’t want her here, when the idea of Cora having her best friend on hand was actually nice.

Unprepared for this, I scratched the back of my head. “Cora’s this way,” I said and started for a back hall I used a lot to avoid running into too many people, but then I wondered if I’d freak her out by taking her into a long, dark hallway alone. So I changed directions, except she’d already been following me to go the other way, and we collided into each other.

“Sorry.” I grabbed her shoulders to keep her from toppling over.

She might be tall for a girl, but she was still a dainty thing. I was like a big, bumbling buffoon next to her sleek, willowy frame. Feeling her all soft and pliable under my hands made her seem extra feminine and sweet, which in turn made me more aware of how male I was, which was...awkward.

Really awkward.

She smelled good, too. I caught myself leaning in to catch another whiff so I could figure out what the heck that scent was. I stopped cold when she looked up at me with big seafoam green eyes.

And oh...wow.

I totally didn’t mean to freeze, but I was thunderstruck, and I paused for way too long of a second.