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I twist too late, already knowing I’ve been played. He’s gone, cutting through the water fast and clean, putting distance between us before I can get a hand on him.
I just stand there staring after him before a laugh breaks loose. Because of course he does that. Of course the shy little scholarship student finally grows teeth. And I love it more than I should.
Doesn’t mean I’m letting him get away with it, even if he’s already halfway across the pool by the time I turn.
He catches the edge by the locker-room side and hauls himself out in one quick movement. Water streams off that narrow body in silver lines under the lights. He stumbles on the wet tile, breath tearing out of him, then spins back toward me, soaked, flushed, wild-eyed and furious. “Stay away from me,” he snaps.
“Or?” I let my gaze drift over him. The soaked hair. The flushed skin. The way his hands strangle the towel. Honestly, if Dad could see me right now, he’d revoke my assignment on principle.
He backs up another step on the wet tile, jaw set, one hand clenched tight around the towel he yanked off the hook. “I mean it.” His chest is heaving. His eyes are huge.
“Aw, you don’t like the attention?” Pushing wet hair back off my face, I pout at him. “Most people would kill for a smile from me.”
He rolls his eyes so hard I’m honestly impressed. Turning away, he drags the towel over his hair. “I know who your family is,” he mutters. “I know what people say about the Virels. I can assure you, I haven’t done anything illegal and I don’t want to be involved in whatever trouble follows people like you. I don’t know what you think I did, or what you think I know, but I don’t belong in whatever this is.”
I just look at him because that, at least, is true. He doesn’t belong in any of this, not with people moving around him in the dark and men like me already looking too hard. He got unlucky.
But that doesn’t change a damn thing.
“You’re right.” I step out of the pool, catching his gaze drop before it snaps right back to my face. Water runs down my body and hits the tile between us. “You did end up on the wrong radar.”
Rowan scoffs and looks away, his fingers finding the medical band at his wrist, as though he needs something solid to hold on to.
“But that’s not your problem anymore.” Closing some of the distance again, slower this time, I hold his gaze. “It’s mine.”
Rowan looks away again, tightening his grip on the band, and for the first time all night seems genuinely lost for words.
“Get lost,” he finally snaps, voice rough and breathless before heading for the locker room at a pace that’s not running but suspiciously close to it.
I stay where I am, water dripping down my face as I watch him go. Holy hell. All long limbs and wet skin and stubborn pride. He keeps his shoulders locked back, as though that could hide the shaking. He doesn’t look back, just keeps walking, as though he can outrun the fact that I’m still here watching every step.
“Don’t worry, baby. You can keep running if you want. I’ll still find you.”
His shoulders jerk, but he doesn’t look back, and I drop backward under the water.
By the time I surface again, the door has already swung shut behind him, the bratty little no and rough get lost still echoing through my head. The cold water barely registers, and somewhere along the way this stopped being something Dad asked me to do.
I’m having way too much fun.
Finally, I get out, bracing both hands behind me on the tile before pushing myself up. My cock is still half hard, and that alone almost makes me laugh. All that from a few minutes of him fighting me like I’m the worst thing that ever happened to him.
He’s going to be so much trouble.
The air hits my skin, but I barely notice while pulling on my clothes, my mind replaying the way Rowan looked when the fight finally went out of him.
I wander back to my dorm through silent corridors before dropping onto my bed and pulling out my multi-slate.
The first thing waiting for me is the family group chat.
Virel Disaster Committee
Lucan: Somebody tell me why Rafe is apparently throwing people through furniture again
Rafe: In my defense, he started it
Lucan: You say that every time
Marius: Is he still conscious?
