I jerked my chin up, abrupt and awkward. “Okay.” I could take a deep breath now. “Okay.” I felt better. Lighter.
Creighton moved in again, and his thumb swept over my cheek before he went back to his desk. “Your roommate. Nogoskeski.”
I frowned. “I don’t know their last names.”
“Ah. The boy. Blond. Tattoos.”
“Heath.” I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like whatever was coming next.
“He’s from North Fairmount.”
“Wait. What?” No. That couldn’t be. Then ... Oh, shit. North Fairmount was a tough neighborhood. He was from Cincinnati. And that meant—he knew me. If he was from where Creighton said he was from, then he definitely knew Creighton.
“He has two brothers who are mine.”
Creighton meant that they’d joined his army. I hated them, his soldiers. They were more like Creighton’s followers. Once they vowed to follow him, their sense of loyalty became like a cult. No one understood how it happened. They thought there was brainwashing or blackmail. There wasn’t. In the beginning it was just money.
As soon as someone made an oath to Creighton, they began earningfast. That was one thing about Creighton. He didn’t care about money like most might’ve. It wasn’t the reason he did what he did. I knew hehad money. He hada lotof it, but he only took a small percentage of it. The rest was shared with his army. The longer someone was loyal to Creighton, the higher their percentage grew, and that type of money ensured loyalty.A lotof loyalty.
I was dazed that Heath knew me. “But Heath’s not? Not one of yours.”
“No. The file I have on him said he’s mostly estranged from his brothers. He barely talks to his mother. He left for college and has not been back since. He spends his holidays with the male roommate that came with him tonight.”
A belated thought crossed my mind. What an odd way to refer to Marshall. “Uh. Yeah. That makes sense. They seem close.”
Creighton’s phone began ringing, but he ignored it. His attention, like all the time, was centered only on me. It used to make me feel like the most important girl in the world. I don’t know if that was where my crush originated from, but I’m sure it helped fan that flame.
My throat swelled again.
Creighton saw me.
He always saw me.
I felt myself melting. It was innate. It just happened when I was in his presence because that was just how it was with Creighton. He had a part of my heart, and I’d long ago accepted that I’d have to be okay not ever getting that chunk back. It was his. His alone. Whether he knew that, though, was a different story. For how ruthless he was, I—no. I couldn’t finish that thought.
It wasn’t right.
“You seem to be enjoying your new place.”
My gut flared. “You got me in there, didn’t you? It’s the only explanation for how an undergrad got placed in one of the best graduate residences.”
He didn’t reply at first, then when he did, he spoke slowly, as if cautiously, “You ran from me, Blake. Ineverwant to experience that again. And how I found you—I never want to experiencethateither.You want me to be a certain type of man, but I am not. I am not a good man. I’ve always known that about myself. I am who I am. I’d rather you hate me and be alive than be a nice guy and you be dead.” He didn’t blink.
His phone began ringing again. He ignored it again.
I cursed and crossed to where it was on his desk. I answered swiftly, mocking, “Felonious Creighton Lane’s phone. One moment please. I’ll transfer you to his current location in his demonic lair line. There might be some screaming in the background, but pay no attention. Beeeeeeeeeeee—aahhhhhhhh—noooooooo—don’tkillme—eeeeep. Here you go.” I shoved it at his chest as I reached for the door.
He stopped me just as I opened it. “Blake.”
I was still boiling, but I waited.
“You remember our agreement.”
I was confused. “Wha—” I remembered.
Our agreement was that he would stay awayuntilI went to him. After that, it was considered null and void. I’d agreed in that moment because I hadn’t considered he would trick me like this, but Creighton didn’t adhere to “that’s not fair” or “you tricked me.”
The facts were that I came to him.
