I knew we were on display, and I hated anyone noticing how weak and pathetic I looked, but more than anything, I hated students assuming Ezrah and me were a couple. There was no way in hell I’d even think of this man as my boyfriend. Even as he gently rocked me back and forth, cradled in his firm and warm embrace, never in a million years would I want him, Ezrah bloody Warwick, as my boyfriend.
He pressed my head against his chest and held my head there, and at first, I thought I was going to explode as it made me worse, but I had no clear way to communicate with him because the hitched breath took my words away. So I tried to wrestle his arms off me, but it only made him clamp his hand against my head even more, pushing it hard against his chest.
Then I felt a solid, strong thudding of a heart against my skin, and the beating rhythm was hypnotizing, pulling me under a soothing spell. His hand continued to stroke my hair, and hewhispered words too quiet for me to pick up, and Dean’s voice echoed in the background, waving in and out as I became more and less aware of my surroundings.
Several moments passed, and my breathing eased, and the brick in my chest dissolved, and I loosened my grip on his forearm. “Are you alright, Adina?”
I nodded, and he released his hold on me, but I was self-conscious of the students in the room, and he read my mind. “Let’s go for a walk in the fresh air,” he suggested, and I murmured, “Yep.”
He helped me to stand up, grabbed my bag, and threw his bag over his shoulder. I kept my eyes low because I didn’t want to see the looks on students’ faces, studying the strange scene before them.
Ezrah kept his arm around me as he led me down the stairs, across the front of the class, then out into the hallway. “I’m okay now,” I told him meekly and tried to pull away, but he kept his arm around me, pulling my body close to his as we walked down two flights of stairs.
Finally, we’re outside, and I breathe in the fresh air as he leads me to a raised garden with a concrete wall for us to sit on. My chest hurts, and the environment was surreal and glassy as nausea stirred slightly, then dissipated again, but I still felt ten times better than moments ago.
“Did you drug me?” were the first words I spat once we sat down.
“No,” he sniggered. “Not that time. You had a panic attack.”
My mouth was dry as a desert, and I unzipped my bag to search for a bottle of water that I always had. It didn’t matter where I went or for how long, my bag always contained a bottle of water and my knife. There was no knife because these assholes stole it, but luckily, I had water.
I took a sip to wet my dry mouth, swallowing slowly so I didn’t unsettle my already delicate stomach. “How did you know what to do?” I asked him, avoiding his eye.
“Part of gym training, first aid, and all of that. You’ll be coming back to the gym tomorrow, won’t you?” he said, brushing aside his explanation and quickly changing the subject. Yep, this man had many secrets.
“Can you teach me how to kill my enemies?” I proposed, shooting him a sharp look, making him smile, which wasn’t my intention. It was clear that I was no threat to him at all, and that annoyed the living crap out of me.
“You can never kill us, sweetheart,” he replied, smug as fuck, then he grew distant for a few beats before adding, “And we’re not your only enemies.”
“Yeah, I know,” I mumbled, taking another sip, then swallowed the refreshingly cool water. “More money, more problems.”
“Pretty much,” he said, cocking his head as his hand affectionately pulled my head closer to him, where he kissed my cheek, then pressed his lips against my temple, holding it there for a few seconds, breathing in the scent of my hair. When he pulled away, I lowered my eyes, shyly unsure what to make of his tender side. “Don’t worry, the class will think you were having a killer orgasm.”
“Oh god, no,” I slapped my hands over my face in embarrassment. “Is that what it looked like?”
He sniggered mischievously, “Nah, I’m only fucking with you. Although there was a fair amount of sighing and moaning, if I weren’t a decent man, I’d get hard.”
“Says the man who drugged and kidnapped me,” I hit back as my body started to feel normal again. “Because ‘decent’.” Then a terrible thought struck me. “Did you do anything to me while I was drugged out?”
“No,” he answered swiftly, and I glared at his face to read his expression, and it seemed like he was being honest, but I’ll ask Lev as well to see if his answer was different.
I sighed, “Anyway, thanks for you know, what you did in there. Everything just built up inside of me, and nothing makes any sense.”
“No big deal. I was hardly going to allow you to flip out alone,” he said flatly, “especially whilehewas around.”
“He?” I questioned.
“Dirty ol’ Deano,” he replied, and I snorted at the ridiculousness of his comment.
“You can’t honestly believe that Dean the tutor would do anything worse than what you did to me?” I contended, and he shrugged casually, like it’s no big deal
“He likes to fuck his students,” he said, taking my water bottle from my hand, unscrewing the lid, and then taking a few sips without asking.
“With their consent, which again, is not as bad as what you and Lev did to me,” I rationalized.
“It was all for the ultimate cause,” he exclaimed proudly because he had achieved his objective and was satisfied with the result.
“To control me?” I was horrified by his blatant disregard for my feelings, but who was I kidding? He’s a Warwick, of course, the number one goal was to protect his family and his own skin from being arrested by the police.
