Smiling against her neck, I kissed her once more before I let her go. “Challenge accepted.”
Chapter 27: Mia
When we rejoined the others at the table, I couldn’t meet the eyes of the others. I knew my face was flushed, and I knew I would be obviously reacting to Ash. Because how could you not? Six-four of muscle and gorgeousness, and add on that he seemed to actually care about my well-being. It was hard not to swoon a little when he turned the charm on.
“Bruised?” Gray asked as he took a bite of muffin. The plate for the muffin was beside my refill of coffee.
“Is that for me?” I asked suspiciously as I resumed my seat, Ash pressing in close to me.
Ava, who had her head buried in her backpack, looked up and immediately launched forward, slapping Gray’s hand.
“Dude! No!” she scolded him. “Didn’t I tell you she gets hangry?”
“I don’t get hangry,” I protested as I widened my eyes at Ava to shut her up.
“Yes. You do.” My best friend was intent on ignoring me. “You get all grouchy, and it’s awful.” She squinted at Gray. “Actually, so do you . . .” Looking between the two of us, she stood suddenly. “I’ll get another one.”
“Get me one!” Ash called out as he leaned back in the booth. Jett stood up too, and I was going to say she could manage to get two muffins when I saw him reach into his back pocket for his wallet. He wasn’t crowding her. He was paying so she wouldn’t have to. Maybe Iwasa grump when I was hungry?
Gray, now free to eat my muffin, polished it off in a few bites, just as Quinn returned from the bathroom. She looked at him, the muffin, and then him again.
“You’ll pay for that,” she told him as she sat down. “Sorry, Mia, that was supposed to be for you.”
“Ava’s replacing it.” We sat in silence. I hated awkward silences. “Well, you all missed your first class, sorry.” I turned my head to look out the window. “What did your brother say?” I asked Gray.
“The guy didn’t show,” Gray told me bluntly. “Which means he either realized he could ask for more if he made a case against Quinn or he’s a shady fucker.”
I watched three girls cross the campus, laughing together, their spirits seemingly light. Behind them were two guys and another girl. They were obviously all together as the girls kept checking behind them to include them in the conversation. I envied them. Their simplicity.
“You okay?”
I looked back at Quinn, who was watching me carefully. “Yeah, are you?”
Tucking her hair behind her ears, she looked down at the table. “I think I’m slightly freaked out,” she admitted as she looked back up at me. “And I feel so bad that you got targeted by him.”
“Onyx is looking into whether he was supposed to be here legitimately.” Gray was speaking to Ash, but he glanced at me briefly. “When he finds out, we’ll know if you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Okay.” My hands clasped together under the table, and when Ash placed his hand on my thigh, I didn’t care how desperate I looked when I leaned into him slightly.
“So moral of the story,” Ash spoke gruffly. “When I tell you that someone will meet you, you stay put.”
“All of you,” Gray added with a pointed look at Quinn to which she nodded.
“How will you stop it?” I asked as Ava and Jett came back with a plate of muffins. My hand shot out and snatched thebanana one before anyone else could. “Before anyone else takes it,” I defended myself as I started to unwrap it.
“See?” Ava jabbed Gray with her elbow. “Hangry.”
“Will you stop?” I asked with a groan as I peeled the banana off the top. “He already hates me; do you need to add fuel to the fire?”
Gray smirked but remained quiet. Normal people would defend my accusation. He just reached over and picked up another muffin.
Jett picked one up, too, and pushed it to Ash. “We got you this one,” he told him casually.
My face scrunched up as I looked at his. “That one looks healthy. You can always tell when they put the thin drizzle on the top.” I pointed to the thin white coating. “I bet it’s lemon something,” I told him before I pointed to the one with the chocolate chunks. “You look like that one would float your boat more.”
“I like lemon and poppyseed.” Ash grinned at me as he said thanks to Jett. “And you can’t give me shit about a healthy muffin when you have banana bran in front of you.” He pointed to the three remaining on the plate. “You look more like a berry and white chocolate girl.”
My snort was loud. “Do you know how many calories are in that muffin?” I broke my bran muffin into pieces. “Much more than this one, and it has a higher sugar content too.”
