Ronan grins. “Fair enough. I’m just hanging out until practice starts in like a half hour.” He starts to say something else but suddenly goes very still. His gaze shifts over my shoulder. The playful expression on his face disappears, and I know exactly why before I even turn around.
My stomach drops.
Because I can feel him.
The same way I felt him last night.
I slowly look over my shoulder toward the stone staircase that leads up toward the main path.
Sebastian Vale stands there.
Watching us again.
The morning light catches on the dark waves of his hair, and he’s wearing a heathered green crewneck with white lettering across the chest that says Knights Rugby. The fabric stretches across his broad shoulders, making him look even larger than he did last night.
His expression is hard, and not at all the same vibe I got from him in front of the pub. He doesn’t look angry exactly, but he’s intense enough that my pulse immediately picks up.
His green eyes move from me to Ronan. I glance back at Ronan just in time to see the color drain slightly from his face. I mean, I don’t blame him, Sebastian could probably snap him in half if he wanted to, and by the looks of it, he just might.
“Someone I should know about?” Ronan asks me, and I hate when people do stuff like that. He knows who Sebastian is, clearly, but he wants me to feel like I’ve been caught doing something I shouldn’t be. I’m literally on a walk and these two just showed up, and as Juniper would say, red flag, that sounds like their problem.
I shake my head. “I think you know him as well as I do, Ronan.”
But even as I say it, the words feel wrong.
Because the truth is I feel like I know this man better than anyone at this school, and I don’t know why. I planned on looking him up last night when I got home from the pub, but then I got that text and it wrecked my whole night. I looked for him this morning, just to see if there was anything that would jogmy memory of meeting him before. He’s American, so maybe I briefly met him in one of the schools I attended, but I doubt it. He’s kind of memorable, with the brooding eyes and the way he looks like he wants to kill every man who breathes near me.
Sebastian’s eyes find mine again, and something in his eyes changes. He’s looking at me like I want to be looked at for the rest of my life. I’m losing my damn mind over this guy who should scare me. Is he trying to scare me? I don’t even know at this point.
I should feel afraid.
Everything about him should make me uneasy.
He’s huge. Intimidating. Staring at me like he’s trying to memorize every detail of my face. But instead of fear, warmth spreads through my body.
A calm, steady warmth that feels dangerously close to comfort. No one has ever looked at me the way he does. Like he already knows me. Like he’s been looking for me, and has finally found me.
Ronan shifts beside me.
“I’m getting the distinct impression he doesn’t want me talking to you,” he mutters, and there’s not even a tiny bit of a laugh in his tone like there usually is.
He glances back toward Sebastian again, and then suddenly stands up.
“You know what,” he says quickly, brushing grass off his hands. “Coach is probably looking for me.”
I blink.
“You said practice wasn’t for another half hour.”
“Yeah,” he says, already backing away. “But… you know how coaches are.”
His eyes flick back toward Sebastian one more time, and whatever he sees there makes him swallow hard.
“Enjoy the rest of your walk,” Ronan says quickly.
Then he turns and heads back toward campus without another word.
I watch him go, confused. When I look back toward the stone steps again, Sebastian is gone also.
