“Awesome. Let’s go to your room? The study rooms off the library hold bad vibes for me.” I shuddered, thinking about the way Alex had pinned me to the shelves and how I’d had to threaten him to get out of there without being sexually assaulted even worse.
Jordan frowned, walking with me in the direction of the dorms—away from my lecture with Alex. “Why? What happened in the library?”
I groaned. I’d said that out loud, and no one other than Rafe really knew anything had happened. “Okay, I’ll give you the abridged version of events, but don’t flip out on me. Deal?”
Jordan just cocked a brow and leveled me with a no nonsense glare until I started talking.
Chapter 15
“I’m going to kill him,” the crown heir of New America declared as we reached his dorm room and I finished recounting the events of my “study session” with Alex.
I smiled. “No, you’re not. Neither am I, no matter how badly I want to. We’re not going to start the next world war over my bruised dignity.”
Jordan wasn’t totally listening anymore, though. He kept muttering as he unlocked the door and held it open for me to enter. “I’m going to gut him with my daggers then braid his entrails into a belt and wear it as a trophy so everyone knows what happens to anyone who fucks with my girl.”
I froze just two steps into his dorm room, then swung around to stare at him. “Uh, what?”
Jordan frowned. “What? He deserves it.”
I shook my head. “No, not that. You just called meyourgirl.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Jordan shrugged, kicking his door shut with the heel of his shoe. “Well, you are. Kind of.” Wow, he was just going to own it.
My heart squeezed, but this time it was more of a painful squeeze than a love thing. “Jordy…” I released my breath with a heavy sigh. A headache was building behind my eyes, and I rubbed at my forehead to try and hold it off. Stalling for time, I sank down on the edge of his bed.
“I know,” he said before I could continue with… whatever I planned to say. “I know, we haven’t discussed anything, and I know Alex really fucked with your trust.” I snorted a bitter, humorless laugh of agreement. “And I also know there’s something between you and Rafe…”
I stopped breathing.
“I just want a chance,” he finished, his voice soft but threaded with hope and sincerity. “I’m not asking you for promises or commitments… just a chance. I really like you, Violet.”
My heart squeezed again, but this time it was accompanied by those flappy fucking butterflies that made me want to go all doe-eyed and flirty. Fucking hormones were going to be the death of me, I swear.
“I feel like such an asshole for saying this,” I said, leaning back on my hands so I could peer up at him. “I really like you too, Jordy.”
A relieved smile washed over his face, quickly replaced with a small, thoughtful frown. “But?”
I bit my lip. “But Alex shattered me. I don’t think I can put myself on the line like that again so soon, and I really,reallydon’t want to drag you into all his drama and bullshit.”
Jordan’s lips tightened, but he gave a small nod of acknowledgement. I loved that about him. Helistenedto me and didn’t immediately dismiss my opinions simply because they didn’t line up with his own.
“And?” he prompted.
I sighed. “And…” I dropped my face into my hands, scarcely believing I was admitting this aloud. “There’s…somethingbetween me and Rafe.” As soon as I said it, I panicked that I’d just totally fucked up my prospects with Jordan and hurried to backtrack. “It’s probably nothing, just, I don’t know. Curiosity. Or like when you get an itch in your heel and you can’t quite scratch it, so you just keep thinking about it, you know? Like that. I’m fairly certain we will be at each other’s throats again in about three days; I just don’t want to lie to you. And I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating on anyone if… you know… if anything happened.”
Jordan was silent, watching me, but there was no defeat on his face. “Let’s just keep going as we are and see how things eventuate. Rafe and I are aware of each other. There’re no secrets. And no commitments from anyone, right?”
It was like he was handing me my every dream in a single package, but I was a realist— there was no way this wasn’t going to explode in my face eventually.
Did I care though?
Staring into his sexy-as-fuck face, his arms braced behind him on his bed, drawing attention to the heavy muscles, it occurred to me I might be slightly shallow and selfish because in this second, I wanted to give it all a shot.
And if it blew up in my face, I’d handle it like I did with Alex. By beating the shit out of Rafe.
