On my way down, I lose my footing and nearly fall down the last set of stairs. Instead, I bump straight into Orion Navarro’s pecs, headfirst.
“Ow,” he groans. “Watch where you’re going.”
“Sorry,” I mutter, as I quickly pull back. “Hey, you carry a notebook with you, right? Can I see it?”
He frowns as he pulls out his notebook from behind his vest. “Since when do you like poetry?”
I snatch it from his hands and go to the last page, which is still empty, and I rip it out.
“Hey! That’s expensive premium-quality paper.”
I hand it back to him and snatch his pen from his vest. “Sorry, but it’s important.”
“For what? You just destroyed one of my best notebooks.”
I start penning down the words. “I’ll buy you a new one.”
He peeks over my shoulder, making me all too aware of his breath on my neck. “At least let me see what you’re writing down then.”
I glance at him, and a blush spreads on my cheeks just from how impenetrable his eyes are when they’re locked in like this. It’s hard to look away while I’m trying to protect the note in my hand. “It’s private.”
“Private enough for you to steal a paper from my notebook?” He throws me a snooty glance. “I think not. Either you share or I will take that back, thank you.”
When he tries to snatch the paper out of my hand, I sigh out loud and say, “Okay, fine. It’s a warning for Sunny.”
He snorts. “Are you going to threaten her? I’m sure that’ll work out fine for you.”
“No,” I hiss, leaning in to whisper so the world doesn’t have to hear. “She’s in danger.”
His eyes widen. “What? What do you mean, ‘in danger’?” He leans in even closer, planting his hand on the wall beside my face. “Tell me. Right now. I must know.”
“A cop is snooping around campus, looking for a killer.”
His eyes widen. “That’s her, isn’t it?”
I nod.
“Well fuck. What are you gonna do?”
“I’m warning her. That’s what I’m going to do.”
“Oh …” His brows furrow, and a filthy smirk forms on his face. “So you’re the one who’s been leaving her notes without telling a soul.”
I’m nearly ready to smack that smirk off his face.
“I didn’t know you were the only one allowed to have secrets,” I retort.
He shrugs, then takes back the pen I stole from him. “I’m just saying, you’d better be careful about interfering with her plans if I were you. She doesn’t like being told what to do.”
“Yeah, well, neither do I.” I shove him out of my way.
“Wait, isn’t there something else we can do?”
“We?” I frown, stabbing his chest with my index finger. “There is nowehere. There is me. And then there is you. Andyou’dbetter stay out of my way.”
“What do you mean? C’mon, we’re in this together now.” He wraps his hand around my finger, keeping it in place, and with every passing second, I become more and more aware of just how muscly he is. “We both know what she is, what she does. We have a common interest in keeping her safe.”
“That makes you my rival. Nothing more, nothing less.”
