Page 27

When I was finally able to tear my eyes from her, I noticed some random guy talking to her and my frown transformed into a scowl—another lecture unfolding in my head. He was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and fucking beanie. It was seventy-five fucking degrees.
She was being friendly enough, nodding her head and replying to some extent, but I wouldn’t say she was flirting with the guy.
I still didn’t like it.
She saw me and stopped in her tracks. “Ivan?”
“Hey, I need to talk to you,” I said, shooting her classmate a brief glare.
The guy frowned and looked me over, then turned to Emmy. “Hey, I’ll see you later at practice, okay?”
Emmy nodded and he walked off looking annoyed.
Good. I had never been jealous or territorial in my life, yet this girl had me ready to start swinging on any guy within twenty feet of her.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the building toward the grassy quad. “Does he know you have a boyfriend?” I snapped, dismayed at my own outburst.
That hadn’t been what I intended to say.
Emmy snorted. “First of all, you aren’t really my boyfriend and I doubt I’m in any danger from Kevin,” she said, throwing a little attitude. It was the last thing my frayed temper needed to hear. It made me want to check that attitude and remind her exactly how fucking much I was her boyfriend right now.
I shook my head to clear it. I didn’t have time for my newly developed, and incredibly inconvenient, emotional reactions.
“Look, Emmy, I’m trying to protect you. We have to maintain the image of us dating. I know that guy doesn’t matter, but we have to be consistent.”
Her obstinance faded before my eyes and she sighed, looking a bit shamefaced. “Okay, I get what you’re saying. You’re right. I’m sorry.”
With a satisfied grunt, I crossed my arms. “On the topic of safety, did you leave your room last night? Alone?”
She cocked her head at me, clearly trying to decipher if I already knew the answer. Finally, she blurted, “Yes, Delaney’s boyfriend came over last night and I felt weird just hanging in the room with them.”
A suspicion came over me. “Anything weird about the boyfriend? Did he look familiar at all?”
Emmy widened her eyes at what I was implying. “What? Are you serious?”
I stared at her. She was so naive. She didn’t know my world at all. Paranoid, suspicious, cynical, jaded—I was all of that. “Deadly serious.”
She frowned, clearly discombobulated at the notion of her roommate’s boyfriend being a threat. “Of course I didn’t recognize him. In all honesty, it’s hard to imagine some kid was in on a kidnapping three years ago.”
I wouldn’t put anything past anyone but didn’t share that with her. I only nodded my head, ignoring her last comment. When it came to her safety, everyone was a potential threat.
“Okay, fine. Back to my original concern. What did you say you’d do if you wanted to give your roommate privacy?”
Her cheeks flushed and she looked over my shoulder, not meeting my eye. She knew she promised to contact me.
She pressed her lips together, then burst out, “Okay, I know! But things were so…weird between us. I didn’t want to drag you back to my school when you ran out of there like your hair was on fire.”
My head jerked back in surprise and dismay. Fuck. This was my fault. I wasn’t holding a good boundary with her, and it was fucking up my ability to protect her. I ran an irritated hand through my hair, this time my annoyance aimed toward myself. I needed to reassert the reality of the situation and I needed to do it right fucking now.
I looked around and pulled her further away from the crowds of students around us. “This is an act, Emmy. The point of me being her is to protect you. Don’t let these girly notions in your head about what’s going on between us guide your decisions. If you go out, for any reason, you fucking call me so I can protect you.”
I was being unnecessarily harsh, the anger toward myself being funneled into my words, but it was another way to create a barrier between us. I needed to keep her at arm’s length because the alternative was too nerve-wracking to consider.
Her dark brows pinched together, her beautiful eyes snapping with anger. “You know, this isn’t all my girly notions. You...you flirted with me and were touchy-feely. Don’t yell at me for what you’re doing, too,” she replied, justifiably.
I sighed and rubbed a hand down my face. She wasn’t wrong.
“Okay, listen, you’re right, but I am going to play this by the book from now on. No more fucking around. No more slip ups, no more close calls. We are only going to have physical contact if the situation absolutely requires it. Otherwise, we will keep our distance until we get Orlov. Okay?”