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He held up a hand in surrender. “I’m not saying she did anything. I’ll reserve any judgment until we get the full police report back. In the meantime, unless you need anything else, are you ready to go?”
“Yes.”
We spoke to an officer on our way out and I verified that nothing was stolen, then we headed home in silence, my brain ticking and anxious.
When we pulled up to the house, I turned toward him to try and get my thoughts out again. “Whitney is my best friend in the world. She’s been there for me—”
“You don’t have to defend her, Olivia.” He killed the engine, then stepped outside, leaning his forearm on the roof of the truck as he studied me in the dark of the cab. “My only loyalty in this is to you and Elizabeth, so you can trust that I will unapologetically and ruthlessly follow all leads, wherever they take me, and to whoever they take me, and let the chips fall where they may.”
We stared at each other for a long moment as I digested his words. “Well, they won’t lead to Whitney.”
A ghost of a smirk slid along his lips. “Great.” He drew back and slammed his door shut.
I scrambled to clamber out of the truck before he could round to help me out, earning myself a frown. “They won’t,” I urged.
“I said great,” he said as we walked toward the front door.
I grabbed his arm to stop him in the middle of the walkway. “But you don’t sound like you believe me.”
“I’ll believe the facts when I see them.”
I dropped my hand. “Fine. But I’m right.”
He nodded and turned toward the house.
“Would you mind making sure Sofia gets home safely to her dorm tonight?” I asked. “After everything, I’m worried about her too.” Honestly, I just wanted a few minutes to breathe without him in the house, but I’d be damned if I was going to say that out loud.
“No.”
I gaped at his broad back as he neared the front door. “No?”
He turned to me slowly and stared at me with his hooded gaze like I was dumb. “Unless Camden wants to up my fee to provide her protection too?” He inclined his head toward the locked door, silently indicating for me to unlock it. “That’s what campus security and the police are for.”
“Campus security?” Something in me snapped like thin ice. I’d had enough of being scared to live my life. I hated that I needed protection at all... and from what? Battling the unknown made me feel like I was being buried alive, clawing at the top of my own coffin and suffocating on my own agonizing, crippling fear.
I stormed up to him with all the fire my five-foot-two frame could muster, that debilitating terror surging through my veins. I was vibrating as I got right up into his face. “I thought you worked for me.”
He blinked down at me, completely unruffled, which only pissed me off more. “Technically, I work for your brother.”
“Semantics, asshole.”
One dark brow lifted. “I may be an asshole, but I’m not Uber for your teenaged babysitter. If you’ve got a problem with that—”
“I do have a problem with that.” I drilled an index finger into his chest for good measure as I opened my mouth to outline all of my many problems with the current situation, but before I could get one word out, he sprang into action.
He grabbed my offending finger and whipped my hand behind my back, then spun me faster than I could blink, shoving me against the porch wall, holding me captive with his chest against mine.
“Enough.” It was a whisper, but his gruff command was crystal clear. “Enough,” he said again when I tried to fight him, his hot breath puffing against my cheek as he dropped his head near mine.
We stood there in a rigid stance for several heartbeats, in a battle of wills. His need to protect me and do his job against my need to assert my independence in my own life.
Gradually, his hold on the hand behind my back loosened but he didn’t move away, his grip instead widening to span my waist, awakening a whole new surge of heat in my veins. I suddenly became aware of everything. The cadence of his breathing as it whispered across my face. His scent, a heady mixture of leather, ocean, and something darker from the night. The way my pulse beat black with flashes of crimson behind my closed eyelids as I sank into the moment in a reckless rush. The heat of his chest against mine and knowing he could feel my achingly hard nipples through my shirt.
What was happening?
What did I want to happen?
Everything, I suddenly realized.
