And back.
Because Sylvan Connor is standing directly in front of me, staring down at my bare throat.
He’s in a white shirt beneath a long beige coat, brown slacks that show off his high black boots, and he looks more put together than nearly every man in here. Including Ace, still dry humping me from underneath.
My lips part as my pulse pounds.
“Dangerous” by Sleep Token starts to play and my cheeks heat.
Sylvan cocks his head, then he reaches for me, and I notice he’s wearing black leather gloves.
His fingers follow the curve of my throat, just above Ace’s head, but the latter’s eyes are closed.
I gasp, and I hear Ace moan, because he has no idea who is behind him.
Or maybe he does.
Ace is a junior at Drayton, and it seems like nearly everyone but me knew about Sylvan Connor and Faust fucking Darling.
Fuck.
As Sylvan’s finger comes up and over my lips, pulling my bottom one down, I remember Tas.
Right beside me.
And when I try to turn to look at her, Sylvan grabs my face, his fingers pressing into my jaw to keep me looking at him.
“Not at her,” he says, his voice low and quiet, but I can tell Ace hears him, the way he goes rigid beneath me, in a different kind of way. “She doesn’t mean anything to me.”
I gasp as I jerk away from his hold, and Ace snaps his head up, twisting to look at Sylvan.
When I’m free from the hockey player’s grip, I turn to look at Tas, hoping maybe she’s too wrapped up in Clay to notice us.
But Clay is gone, and Tas is staring at me, and, yep, those are definitely tears in her eyes.
EIGHTEEN
SYLVAN
Winning two games back-to-back should be the highlight of my weekend. The only reason I’m at Drayton is to play hockey. Anything that comes after that doesn’t matter. It’s my escape. The reason I can leave home behind.
And yet it isn’t hockey I’m thinking about at all as Tasia and Neve stare at one another.
It’s the fucker beneath Neve, his handsstillon her ass, even as he shouts something at me that I don’t pay attention to.
“You… know him?” Tasia gasps, standing now as she stares down at Neve with hurt in her expression.
“No,” Neve says coolly, and I’m grudgingly impressed. Maybe she’s strong, but the first night we officially met, she was running away from an idiot who ended up dead ten minutes later, and the second time, she was getting choked by his friend in her own apartment. She was surprised I knew him. The average person is always amazed at what social media can do.
I knew she wasn’t a coward, though.
Not when she held her own between me and Faust, the first night.
Faust nearly broke my leg last night, but I’ll deal with that later. He doesn’t like her; he just wants someone to protect.
He has no idea howtoo latehe is for that, though. I’m already here.
“Heknowsme.”
