Chapter 6 : School House Issues

Days passed with not a single peep from Nash since the letter I had received on my doorstep. And every single day that passed I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder for him. As if he was going to jump out of the shadows to take me down or something. Crazy? Perhaps, but then again, I knew nothing about him and the only thing I had heard were the rumors that Becca had told me.

Not that I want to know how the hell she knew about his sex life.

I mean… this man who I barely knew acts as if he has known me forever even though both of us know that wasn't true. And though I’m hesitant about letting him near me… I can’t help but want him to be closer. I can’t help but feel safe around him.

Safe around a complete stranger.

Even my mind played tricks on me on a regular basis. My thoughts slipping to the gorgeous curves of his muscles and the dark somber expression hidden within his eyes. The way it might feel if he wrapped his massive firm arms around me and pulled me close to him. His tall broad frame towered over me by at least a foot or so.

And though I should have been scared or intimidated… I wasn’t.

I was lusting after a man who screamed danger just by the way he looked and the attitude he carried. God, I was fucking hopeless.

Making my way down the halls of Bedlam I moved from class to class trying to bury my mind in the amount of work that was required of me this year. It was already two weeks into school and it was obvious that the professors were all uninterested in dealing with the social politics of the school, but at least strived towards making the classes interesting enough to stay awake in. Their lessons proving to be engaging and more attention-keeping than the drama that lingered daily with other students.

Though, the entire first period of my day I was convinced that I was going to run into Nash lurking around campus. Or perhaps it was that I was hoping I’d see him. I wasn’t sure but it wasn’t until the end of my third class that I realized I was being overly paranoid, and someone was obviously playing a prank on me.

There was no way I was actually interested in him. No way that he would honestly want me. All of this was just someone’s idea of a fucking joke.

A joke I didn’t want to be part of.

That is until I made my way towards the courtyard to meet Becca and Noah and came face to face once again with a brick wall that toward over me and made my heart all but stop beating within my chest. My balance teetered as he quickly grabbed my arm stabilizing me before I plummeted to my ass on the tile flooring.

“We keep meeting like this.”

His dark sultry voice made my thighs press together as I stood speechless for a moment, quickly gathering my wits before I clutched the strap of my bag a little bit tighter to me, turning my look of shock into an angry glare. “Well, if you would stop getting in my way, we wouldn’t keep meeting like this.”

I hadn’t paid attention to who was around us, but the male snickering that came from behind him following my low commentary made my eyes dart to see who was standing nearby. My eyes came to rest on a tall, well-built brunette covered in tattoos over his arms with an eyebrow piercing and deep chocolate eyes.

“She is feisty, isn’t she?” the guy stated, before patting Nash’s shoulder brushing past us through the double doors I had just come through.

I knew this guy… or I should say I had seen him around. He actually knew Noah, and even though they didn’t hang out from what I knew I had seen them speaking many times over my time at the school.

Yet, as I watched him retreat, I came back to the realization that I was once again left with Nash, and even though there had to be forty other students in this hallway trying to get to their next class or wherever they were going—I felt alone.

Taken back by his very forward comment I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Up until two years ago, I wasn’t one to have sarcastic comments or quick comebacks. I was a shy, timid young girl who just wanted to survive. Yet, the day I graduated and Sasha helped me to escape the fate I thought I had been sealed too… I promised that little girl she would never have to worry again.

I grew a backbone and decided to fight for my life.

And I had… until I met Nash.

Everything about this man rattled me. He was gorgeous, and dangerous at the same time and his interest in me was borderline stalker. But that stalker tendency for some odd reason…. turned me on.

Though you would think I should be terrified of him after Trevor.

“You seem speechless.” Nash’s voice brought me back to the present. My eyes rolled, showing my disdain for his presence as I tried to walk around him only to have him step back out in front of me again. His persistence was annoying but it was also quite enticing. I wasn’t trying to play a game of cat and mouse with him, but I couldn’t deny that his chasing me was quite invigorating.

“Will you leave me alone,” I snapped in a low and irritated tone.

“Why would I want to do that?”

No matter how fucking sexy he was with those deep, mesmerizing eyes and rigid jawline that hid the dark tattoos of his neck, I had to stay focused. He was like every other man on this campus, and I wasn’t going to let him derail what I was trying so hard to build for myself.

After everything I have tried to do to fix myself after being under Trevor’s rule.

Taking a deep breath, I pinched the bridge of my nose with my eyes closed before opening them once more to face him. “Look, I don’t know what game you're playing but let’s just make shit clear, okay? Yes, you helped me out the other night and I appreciate that but you didn’t need to step in. I would have figured it out. But I will make it very abundantly clear right here and now, that I’m not interested in whatever you think you want from me. I don’t have time for distractions.”

He stood there like a giant towering over me as he seemed to process everything I had said, and then without a word he stepped aside. Relief slightly washed through me thinking that I had finally gotten my point across, but the moment that I went to pass him he grabbed my arm once more and forced me to face him.

“I’ll let you think you won this round, gorgeous. Just do me a favor and make sure you go get something to eat. You already missed breakfast; you can’t miss lunch as well.”

Every part of me wanted to lash out and scream at him with all the frustration that he built within me, but instead of doing just that… I stood staring at him with my lips parted. His hand gently letting go of my arm as he reached up and tenderly brushed a loose strand of my hair behind my ear, before helping me to fix the strap on my bag.

“Why are you doing this?” I whispered staring deep into his eyes trying to wrap my head around how one moment he was cocky and the next, he was so kind.

He smirked, the corner of his lips turning up as he took a step back. “It’s my job to take care of what’s mine, and I don’t want to see you go hungry.”

There he went again claiming that I was his as if I was a prize to be won. I didn’t mind the chase per se, but his automatic delusion that I was his and he hadn’t even done anything to win me was becoming an irritation that I couldn’t ignore.

Before I could even open my mouth to speak, Nash stepped away. My eyes left to stare at the empty spot he had once been occupying as he disappeared through the crowds of people down the hall as if he hadn’t just blown my mind.

He had kept me held up in the hallways having to listen to him, but then when he says something like that he just disappears before I can even address it! This man was infuriating beyond belief! But just in a very sexy kind of way.

“Jesus Christ…” I muttered to myself, a groan of irritation and desperation to rid myself of the conflictions that weighed on me escaping my lips as I forced myself forward and out of the building.

I swear, if I’m not careful… he will be the death of me.

***

By the time I finally met up with Becca and Noah, I was shaken to my core and utterly confused by what I was supposed to do. I had dealt with the shit Trevor had put me through for years, but his actions were always made clear. Nash was completely different. I didn’t know what to expect, and though part of me thought I’d be severely bothered by that.

I wasn’t. I was bothered with anticipation.

“Girl, are you okay?” Becca asked the moment I sat down in the white backed chair at our usual table inside the cafeteria. My mind was a complete blur as I tried to focus on what she had asked me.

“Uh, yeah. I just have a lot on my mind.”

“I see,” she muttered before turning her gaze to Noah. “It doesn’t have anything to do with a particular tattooed Viking of a man who keeps stalking you does it?”

Jesus.

“Do you really have to describe him like that?” I replied with a huff. “Plus, I the heck would you know?”

She shrugged picking up a fry off her plate. “I have my ways. From the sounds of it, the man has obviously got it bad for you.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

Noah chuckled. “Not what I heard.”

I whipped my eyes in his direction, furrowing my brows. “What are you talking about? I take it you’re her source.”

It was clear that the comment he made was one he wasn’t supposed to make by the way he quickly closed his mouth. His eyes had gone wide, and he seemed to sit up a little bit straighter. Even Becca glanced at him with curiosity, so whatever it was he knew she hadn’t been privy to yet.

“Noah, are you holding out on us—”

“No,” he snapped. His body was rigid as he quickly stood to his feet, surprising both of us. Noah wasn’t known to act the way he was, and the fact that he didn’t even give Becca a kiss when he turned and walked off had both of us completely baffled. If he hadn’t been her source then someone else was, but the way Becca loved the gossip around campus… who knew how she got her information?

Not that it was important.

Noah was the kind of man who was easygoing and laid back. He rarely ever raised his voice unless it was commentary watching the latest football game. The man was like a giant teddy bear, willing to help anyone he could.

So, the nature of his behavior being completely out of character was disturbing.

“What the hell just happened?” Becca asked as she stared at the space he had once occupied.

Hesitating, I opened my mouth slowly and let out a heavy breath. “I have no fucking clue.”

I could slowly see the irritation growing behind Becca’s eyes as she dropped the fry in her hand on her plate with a bit of aggression. I hadn’t had the pleasure to see her angry many times, but the few times I had—it wasn’t pretty.

“He’s hiding something,” she replied, stating the obvious.

“Yeah, that was pretty clear.”

Wrinkling her nose, she faced be. “He knows how I feel about secrets.”

“You? Girl, the secret literally was about me. How do you think I feel?”

She gripped the edge of the table with a nod of her head as she stood to her feet. Whatever was going through her mind at that moment was going to be some shit starting stuff. “Nope, I’m not accepting this. I’ll call you in a bit. I’m going to murder my boyfriend and find out what the fuck his problem is.”

She didn’t bother waiting for me to reply as she grabbed her brown satchel, throwing it over her shoulder as she stormed out of the cafeteria pushing through the glass double doors like a woman on a mission.

Once again, I was alone. Which honestly didn’t bother me considering it meant that I wouldn’t have Becca grilling me about whatever she thought was going on.

Reaching across the table I pulled her food towards me. A single chicken tender and a few fries rested on the plate. “No point in letting this go to waste,” I muttered to myself as I tossed a fry into my mouth.

My mind quickly swirled back to Nash and the way he spoke to me today. How the deep earthy aroma of his cologne wrapped around me in a way I hadn’t expected, and just the closeness of him seemed to stop my heart as my thighs pressed together.

I couldn’t deny how gorgeous he was, and the way he said I owed him made me feel… powerful. Not to mention the way he popped up randomly and was making sure that I was eating. All of it, though kind of weird… made me feel wanted.

Biting my bottom lip I tried to decipher how I felt about that.

If I wasn’t careful, I’d be a goner around him.