Page 81 of Burn Bright (Cobalt Empire #1)

HARRIET FISHER

“ W ant to spend the night again, Fisher?” Ben asks me through my earbuds.

I’m bowed over a fluorescence microscope in Dr. Venison’s research lab.

The small, empty room is pitch black except for the computer beside me.

Proteins from a section of the thymus glow bright neon green on the screen, and I adjust the focus to sharpen the image.

I know what this looks like, but his call is not distracting me. I’ve been doing a mediocre job of concentrating on anything other than Ben before my phone rang.

In my defense, we just had sex for the first time and woke up together this morning.

Legs tangled, my cheek on his chest, his hand sliding down my arm in a sleepy just-waking-up haze.

I loved how he kissed my nose, then later how he split one of his smoothies with me after we showered. It feels like we’re together.

Like a couple.

Even if we aren’t labeling anything. Even if there is an expiration date.

It’s been a lot for my brain to handle, so I’m not beating myself up for working at a snail’s pace today. Or for even answering his call now.

My hand flew to the phone when it rang. I was also terrifyingly close to falling off the chair like a lovesick, demented fool.

Thankfully no one is around. I signed up to use the microscope for the next two hours.

No one will even open the door to this dark room without good reason because the light has potential to fuck up the results.

But even being alone, I’m trying so hard not to wear a dopey grin.

“Booty calling me already, Friend?” I tease. “I must’ve made a lasting impression.”

He laughs so brightly. “I’m afraid you forever changed me.”

“I’ve been afraid of that too.” I purse my lips so the smile will stop hurting my cheeks, but my insecurities do the job for me. “You sure you want me over again? Won’t your brothers care if we have another friendly sleepover?” I emphasize. “I’m guessing they’ll be home.”

“Yeah, they will be, but as long as you’re comfortable with it, they have no problem with you staying over.” He must pull the phone away to shout a distant, “Yeah, I have it, Colton! You too, man! See you soon!” Then back to me, “Sorry, that was a Kappa checking to see if I’m carrying my cub.”

His lion cub. The frat bestowed Ben with a teddy-bear-sized stuffed animal that he must tote around campus every day.

They call Ben the “lion pledge”—and he said it’s the easiest pledge task.

Of what he’s described, the “jeans pledge” sounded the worst. One unlucky guy has to wear the same pants until initiation while Kappa brothers hack away at the material every time they see him.

They’re already jorts.

“You name your lion cub yet?” I ask.

“I was actually hoping you’d do the honors.

Want to brainstorm tonight?” He’s still waiting for my answer.

“I have a chapter meeting, then I don’t have much else going on.

” Off my silence, he adds, “We don’t have to do anything but watch a movie and go to bed.

I just like being with you. Last night was honestly the best sleep I’ve had since the last time you were over. ”

Giddiness returns, and I fall forward, hand to my hot cheek.

My heart wants nothing more than to spend every night with him, but will my grades plummet?

Will he fill 100% of my brain? Then again, even when I’m not around Ben, he’s become a mental fixation—so it’s not like I can easily detach.

Might as well give in, Harriet. He won’t be around forever.

Okay, that solidifies it.

“Yeah, I’ll spend another night with you,” I agree, but five minutes after our call ends and I return to the microscope, I start majorly overthinking about his brothers.

Maybe I should ask them if it’s okay? It’s their space too.

I whip my phone back out. The night Charlie, Eliot, and Tom spontaneously showed up at the End of the World, they exchanged their numbers with me, and then this morning, Ben and I ran into Beckett near the elevator in the apartment. He asked me for my number as well.

So I text all four of Ben’s brothers at once, starting a group chat.

Harriet

Is it okay if I spend the night again? I won’t bother you or anything. Just want to make sure you’re all comfortable with me being there.

I press send. Then I add really, really fast.

Harriet

You can say no if you want to.

I send that one way too quickly, and I groan at myself. “Of course they know that. Ugh, Harriet . Why?” I don’t have to second-guess for long. My phone is already pinging.

Eliot

Always welcome, never a bother. It’d take a force beyond human capabilities to make a Cobalt uncomfortable.

Charlie

I don’t care what you do.

Tom

Just don’t blast shitty music in the living room, Harry.

Relief begins to wash over me, then my phone rings. “Oh fuck.” I spring back off the chair, holding my phone out like it’s contracted a staph infection. Beckett is calling me?! Why? Oh no, is he going to grill me over the phone? Ask me what my intentions are with his baby brother?

I intend for him to rail me tonight, if you must know. I have a love-hate relationship with my brain right now.

“Okay, you can do this,” I pump myself up, then answer the phone. It connects to my earbuds. “Hey?” I’m praying that didn’t sound hostile.

“I don’t mind if you spend the night again.”

I wait for more, but he says nothing after. “Did…did you just call to tell me that?”

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t text.”

I pause for the joke. “Wait, you’re being serious? Is this like a seventeenth century Cobalt Empire role playing thing?”

Beckett lets out a light laugh. “No. I wish.” His breathing sounds shortened. I wonder if he’s on a treadmill. Or moving very quickly somewhere. “It’s sadly a friend leaked my messages to a tabloid type of thing. Don’t take it personally. I don’t even text family.”

“Good to know.” I stare out into the pitch-black darkness of the lab. “Sooo you’re really okay if I just crash with Ben in the middle of the living room? Even if we…I mean, I’m not saying we will …but maybe…” Stop talking, Harriet.

Whyyyy does Beckett Cobalt intimidate me?

“You’ve already spent the night twice,” he says smoothly. “Third, fourth, fifth time—if that’s what Ben wants, it’s what I want. I have to run, but if you ever need a ride to the apartment, you can call my driver. Put this number in your contacts.”

I store the number Beckett reads out over the phone. My pulse beating a mile a minute.

Then he says, “One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Stick around. I haven’t seen my little brother this happy in a long time, and it’s definitely because of you.”

My eyes spring a tiny leak. What the fuck? I wipe my cheek quickly. I’ve just never been a source of someone’s happiness before. I can see how Ben feels around me, but to hear it from a witness makes this fact durable, solid, like it’s etched in stone.

Stick around. How do I even tell Beckett I’m not the one in threat of bolting?

In this moment, all I manage to reply is, “I plan on it.”