Page 109 of Broken by my Bully

Haven

Professor Rooke gives me a double take when I step back into the living area. He’s perched on the edge of his sofa, cradling a cup of coffee in his hands. The fireplace casts a faint, warm glow over his face, smudging his features until it’s hard to make out his expression.

I can’t tell if his brows are raised in surprise or outrage.

“Is this okay?” I ask, stopping halfway to the sofa.

“Of course.” He clears his throat. “Glad you found something that…fits.”

I tug on a rolled-up sleeve. “I had to make it work.”

“It definitely…works.” He clears his throat again and flicks a hand toward my coffee cup. “Hope it’s still warm enough.”

“The massage setting on your shower made me feel so good, I think I owe it money,” I say, giving him a small smile as I come to sit beside him.

“It’s a great shower.” He nods a few times, his eyes fixed on the flames dancing over the pretty pebbles. “Great shower.”

It’s weird as hell sitting this close to him without underwear, even if there’s no way for him to know. No way I was putting on my soggy panties again.

Not after scrubbing myself clean with Bastian’s delicious shower gel, and then drying off with the fluffiest towel I’ve ever felt. I never realized everything I owned was so thin and scratchy. Because I’ve never had anything to compare it to, I guess.

I pick up my coffee, closing my eyes as I inhale the rich aroma.

“No bourbon this time?” I ask wryly before taking a small sip.

He laughs, and then immediately cuts off the sound. His eyes flicker over to me, and then dart away, like he can’t bear to look at me.

Oh, shit. Can he see the marks Kai left on me?

I grab the front of the hoodie, near the base of the hood, snuggling deeper into it like I’m still cold. After that shower, I’m definitely not cold.

“Here.” Bastian leans over, snagging the throw from the back of the sofa and dragging it over my legs.

I get the feeling it’s less about keeping me warm and more about covering me up. Maybe this hoodie was a bad idea. I should have looked for shorts or something.

Or a pair of Professor Rooke’s silk boxers.

Coffee splutters out of my mouth. Fuck, that thought came out of nowhere.

“You okay?”

“Hot,” I lie, wiping at my mouth and ducking my head to check I didn’t get any coffee on his dove-gray hoodie.

When I look up, I catch him staring at me again with his brown eyes. He looks away, sips his coffee, grimaces. “Why did you come here, Haven?”

My shower would have been a lot shorter if I hadn’t washed my hair, or spent long minutes under the massage setting. But I had a feeling Bastian was going to ask that exact question, and I was trying to figure out what the hell I would say.

“I, uh…have to take a few days off school.”

“Wh—?”

I hold up a hand, fending off his question. “It’s personal, and I don’t want to talk aboutit.”

He turns to stare into the fire. “You waited outside my door in the pouring rain to tell me you wouldn’t be in class for a few days?”

His voice is as hollow as the lie I’m trying to pass off as the truth.

“Don’t be dramatic. It was barely drizzling.”