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“Don’t worry. It’s so good to see you, Mrs. Bennett.” Brett stepped back, still smiling at her, then turned to me. “I was thrilled to get to reconnect with Rose at Taylor Prep. In fact, I told Harper that I’d be the one coming to get her for school today. She put up a bit of a fight, but I won out.”
There was that same lazy grin on his face that made my heart flip when I saw it. He looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time.
“You always do,” I said, somehow managing to find my voice.
My mom glanced curiously between the two of us when I said that, but I ignored her. In truth, I couldn’t take my eyes from Brett. The summer had been good to him. He’d let his hair grow out a little longer and had gotten taller—if that was somehow possible.
“Then are you ready?” Stooping, he grabbed my luggage and backpack and brushed past me again, carrying everything out to the car he had parked outside.
“I didn’t think that students were allowed to bring cars onto campus!” I yelled after him as he loaded my things into his car. It was a two-seater with the top down, a deep navy blue that glittered in the sun and all-leather interior. The smooth and sexy curves of the car told me all I needed to know about how much it cost—more than we paid for our rent in a year. Two years. Hell, probably more than we paid for our rent in five years.
“We’re not. I’m taking us to meet the rest of the rogues and then we’ll go in together in a limo. That sound okay to you?” He shut the trunk and turned to look at me, lifting his hand to block his eyes from the early morning sun.
My heart flipped in my chest.
I was not mentally prepared to spend the day with all three of my rogues. I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to handle myself around them. Even the thought of being near them gave me shivers and I knew that I had to focus hard if I was going to make it through the day without looking like an idiot.
“You okay, sweetheart?” Slipping her arm around my waist, my mom pulled me closer. “I know that this isn’t what you expected, and if you’re not okay with it then I can still see about taking the day off.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine, mom, really. I’m just surprised.” That didn’t even touch how I was feeling. Not only was I surprised, but the thought of riding in Brett’s car with him—alone!—and then meeting up with the rest of the rogues before we headed into school was enough to make me feel giddy.
Even though the three of them had texted and called over the summer and had even asked to come and seem me, I’d made it clear that they couldn’t. I needed to be with my mom, not distracted by the rogues, even though I wanted nothing more than to see them.
So they all had their ways of coping with it. Jackie sent flowers to the house every single week. The first time, my mom had been a little confused, but by the end of the summer, she looked forward to seeing what type of flowers he would send.
Kaleb wrote me bits of poetry. Even though he was known for being a math genius, there was an incredibly soft side to him, and he tapped into it while we were apart. The poems arrived one a week, just like the flowers, but I didn’t share them with my mom.
She didn’t need to know that a lot of them referenced our time together on the beach trip.
And Brett? He’d not done anything, really, besides a lot of texting and sending me pictures of his trips and travels. But that didn’t matter to me, because he was the one who showed up to take me back to school. He was the one that I knew would have more trouble forming a connection with anyone, so this was a huge step for him.
And for us.
“Stay in touch.” My mom held me at arm’s length, and I saw the tears shining in the corners of her eyes. “A senior! I wish your dad could be here, darling, he’d be so proud of you. Just like me.”
“I know, Mom. Thank you.” We hugged one more time, then I turned to look at Brett. He was leaning against the car, waiting on me. As soon as I walked up to him, he swung the passenger door open for me and gestured.
“My lady.” I laughed and slid in, running my hands all over the leather. He slipped in next to me, eyeing me. “What do you think?” There was a different note in his voice, one that told me that he was really interested in knowing what I thought about the car.
For a moment, I just ran my hands over the leather and thought. This was a dream come true, although it was a dream that i didn’t even know that I had. Finally, though, I answered him.
“I think that I could get used to this. I mean, I love the limo, trust me, but this is different. This is…nice.” Even though I was sad about leaving my mom, I was thrilled to be going back to school, especially because I knew that I was going to get to see my rogues.
The harpies and the council were the farthest things from my mind right then, even though I was sure that I would have to deal with them before the day was over.
But right now, there was nothing that could stop me from enjoying my time with Brett. The promise of getting to see my other two boys made going back to school even sweeter.
“It’s good to see you, Rose.” He started the car and it purred to life under us. Reaching over, he rested his hand lightly above my knee. I stared at it, feeling heat spread from his touch. “Are you ready for this?
Was I ready? Was I ready to not only see my rogues and my two best friends, but also the other students who thought that I had no business being at the school? As much as I loved the classes at Taylor Prep, they were ridiculously hard, so was I ready to deal with that?
Without a doubt. “You know it.” I took his hand, linking our fingers together. “I’m ready. I know that I have you, Kaleb, and Jackie as well as my friends, and we’re going to make it through, right?”
He nodded, not taking his eyes off of the road. The way he drove was slow and lazy, hugging all of the curves as he moved the wheel back and forth. It was mesmerizing, like everything else about him.
“I can’t wait to be with you, Rose. That’s all I care about right now.”
There wasn’t anything else for me to say, so I just waited while we drove. It didn’t matter to me where we went—we were going to see my other two guys, and that was all that I wanted right then.
