“Like how long?”
Jesse’s jaw tightened. “A while, Caleb. I don’t know.” He slashed a hand through the air. “These things don’t run on a timer.”
I snapped my mouth shut. We stared at each other, the odd, brittle tension pulling tighter.
Wait, were wefighting? We’d gone through all sorts of emotions together. He’d paddled my ass. Had sucked me and fucked me. Had edged me until I was a babbling, incoherent mess. Hell, he’d been furious with me when I left the car while he fought Ulfrik. That anger had been real.
But this anger was different. Jesse’s fury on the patio had felt like a river flowing between us, his emotion sliding all around me because he’d been so damn worried I might get hurt.
This was like a door closing.
The silence stretched. The brownie sat in my stomach like a rock.
Jesse looked down at the wrapped portion I’d left on the coffee table. He gestured to it and cleared his throat. “That’s the last of those. I need to do a grocery run. And I should stop by the college. I’ll find out as much as I can about Dean Welch’s status.”
Reality crashed back.
It was Sunday.
I had classes tomorrow.
“I have to figure out school,” I said. “I can’t blow this semester.” My words tumbled faster, urgency making me want to race out the door and sprint to campus. “I’m supposed to do an internship. I’ve already skipped a bunch of lectures. If I fuck this up, I won’t graduate.”
Jesse frowned. “We’ll figure out your options?—”
“I don’t have any,” I said. “I can’t keep missing class.” A new fear crash-landed in my head, its edges hard and spiky. What if Jesse said I couldn’t go back? What if he claimed I was toodangerous to be around regular people? He could unravel all my plans. Stop me from graduating.
I pulled my hands from my pockets, blood rushing in my ears. “I’m getting my degree.”
He dropped his stare to my hands, which I’d curled into fists. When he looked up, his eyes were a shade lighter.
A light band of pressure wrapped around my chest.
I jerked my head to the side before he could force me to lower my gaze. Frustration and panic rose, climbing into my throat, which burned like I’d just knocked out a couple laps on the jogging trail. Then the burning was in my eyes.
I squeezed them shut because I wasnotgoing to fucking cry like a pathetic little bitch.
All at once, the tension disappeared. Justpoof, gone.
“Hey,” Jesse said, and he was suddenly at my side, his warm hand on my bare shoulder. “Hey, hey, hey. Come here.” He pulled me into his arms.
And I let him. I went, blinking rapidly before my stupid tears could fall.
He wrapped both arms around me and spoke in my ear. “You’re going to finish your degree, okay? I promise.No oneis taking that from you. No one. I swear it, Caleb.”
Relief swept me. It might have swept my feet from under me if I hadn’t been leaning on Jesse. I rubbed my nose against his shirt, inhaling laundry detergent, hints of his body wash, and the spicy, foresty scent that always clung to him.
He pulled back and studied me with chocolate-brown eyes. “I’m not a former college professor for nothing, and you’re not the first student to need special accommodations.” He squeezed my shoulders. “We’ll figure this out. I’m going to help you. All right?”
I exhaled, and some of the hot, tangled agitation in my chest loosened. Not all of it. A weird, persistent unease clung to my ribs. But I nodded.
“Yeah,” I said. “Okay.”
He didn’t look entirely convinced, but he released me. “I’ll speak to the people in the registrar’s office after I figure out what’s going on with Welch. I’ll ask about online classes and independent study. We’ll make this work.”
The unease settled more deeply in my bones.
“How long will you be gone?” I asked.
