Page 9

After we ate, I was glad the guys from Ohio took the hint. I don’t know what came over Garret or why he decided to order me so much food. How did he know I would love a strawberry shake?

I lean my head back and stare at the stars twinkling on the black ceiling of his car. I didn’t think cars were equipped with stars on the ceiling. It’s dark but alive at the same time—beautiful with minimal light.

“They come with the car,” he says, as if he’s reading my thoughts.

I look out the window instead, watching my dorm building flash by. “Where are you taking me?”

“I need to stop at my house first,” he replies, as if he’s just going to sleep over.

“You could drop me off, so you don’t have to go back,” I reason, trying to hide the panic threatening to rise in my stomach.

I don’t want to go to his house, where it smells like him. Where I know what his sheets feel like, only to see them gone. Where I remember him bathing me and shaving me bare, where he told me I was disgusting.

He doesn’t respond, and it enrages me further, but I don’t push. I’m afraid he’ll snap.

He pulls into his driveway, and the garage door automatically opens to reveal a row of cars I’ve heard people talk about around John, like their precious collectibles. Different makes and models, but all share the same color: black. There are at least five or six, including the one we’re in. He parks in the empty spot and shuts off the car.

He closes the garage, and I watch through the rearview mirror with horror as it descends like a trapdoor.

“Get out,” he says, his voice a deep whisper that sends goosebumps erupting across my skin.

I do as he says, taking my bag and following him inside.

A shiver runs down my spine. What would John do to me if he found out? How would I survive his jealous wrath? “How long is this going to take? I have class tomorrow.”

He looks over his shoulder, and the intense look in his eyes makes me shudder. “As long as it takes.” His words float above me like dust in the late afternoon sun, with nowhere to go.

I walk to the couch in the living room and sit, avoiding the hallway he disappeared into. His house is grand and opulent like John and Mary’s, but decorated differently. I can tell things have been removed and replaced. There’s a cream and red chair that Mary would have picked out, with giant black letters spray-painted across it that read, CUNT.

Anyone could tell a man lives here. The rest of the furniture is black and gold. It looks Italian—modern, with a mix of traditional pieces like gilded mirrors and frames on the walls. Italian chairs surround a large rug with the same baroque details as the sheets in the room.

The rich black leather couch is modern yet comfortable. I take a deep breath, and a sense of calm washes over me. I can see myself in a house like this, with a man who loves me—sitting right in this exact spot, reading a book and waiting for my husband to come home from work to kiss me. A fairytale I could get lost in.

I wake up with a jolt and a shuddering sob. I look around and remember I’m not in my dorm. The smell of cinnamon teases my nose. The room spins, and I blink rapidly, hoping it will stop. I clutch my stomach, telling myself I’m safe and that I fell asleep, but then I remember that I’m in Garret’s house, and he never took me back to my dorm.

He disappeared.

It’s dark except for the light from the glowing flames of the electric fireplace. I grip the sheet covering my body and notice it’s the same one from that night.

“Do you always cry when you sleep?” My heart threatens to burst out of my chest. I wipe the tears off my cheeks with a clammy hand.

Garret is sitting in a single chair deep in the shadows, watching me.

Studying me.

“What time is it?” I ask, my throat raw.

“A little after one a.m.”

The last thing I want to tell him is about my nightmares. I pull the sheet away. “It’s really late. I should be heading back.”

“I didn’t want to wake you,” he says, as if he cares.

“So you watched me sleep?”

He gets up, and I try not to cower when he walks toward me. “Come,” he says, then turns around, heading down the same hallway he disappeared from, illuminated by long black modern sconces on the wall.

I grab my bag and sheet, dragging them along with me until he stops in front of the door. There are so many down the long hallway; I don’t remember which one I was in the last time I was here. All I could think about was leaving when the Uber arrived.

When he opens it, familiarity blankets me. The king-sized bed that felt like a cloud sits in the center of the room, like a bottomless pool of comfort.

I walk in and freeze. Something black moves toward me, and I step back in fear when the dog with the spiked collar growls.

I step back further.

Then a few steps more until my back hits something warm, hard, and solid.

“Shhh…” His breath fans my hair, causing goosebumps to spread along the side of my neck. “Don’t show him fear. Fear is what feeds the attack. Fear is what breaks you inside.”

“That’s because he isn’t about to shred you into pieces.”

“It’s his protective instinct.”

“That’s why you need to take me home,” I argue.

The massive Doberman seizes the moment to run up to me and sniff the sheets, then my legs. I turn my head to the side, a scream threatening to rise from my throat. The dog looks up, the dark orbs of his eyes resting on me as he sits on his back legs, analyzing whether I’m a threat.

Garret snaps his fingers. “Ace, stay,” he commands. The dog walks back to the foot of the bed and lies on the floor. “He knows your scent,” Garret rasps, inhaling the aroma of my skin. Heat spreads over my body to the juncture between my thighs. I can feel the stubble from his cheek against my temple, his breath fanning my ear. “You have nothing to be afraid of. Watch.”

The dog observes

us, his eyes following Garret’s hand as it slides around my throat. “Ace is a good judge of character. He keeps coming back to this room looking for you.”

I don’t know how to interpret that statement or how I should feel about it.

The dog growls when Garret’s hand tightens around my neck, stealing my breath. I should shove him away, but I'm terrified of what the dog might do. Will he attack? Will he shred me to pieces before Garret can stop him?

“He’s not growling at you, Rose. He's growling at me for touching you.” The dog’s ears point to the ceiling, and his snout is wet. Garret is right; he doesn’t look happy.

“How is that possible?”

“Ace is moody and overprotective when he sees something he likes—something worth protecting.” The dog whines and lowers his head, unsure of what to do. “See, even my dog wants you, Rose.” His lips skim my neck, causing my nipples to harden. My knees threaten to buckle. “You’re safe here.”

He releases me, and it feels like stepping into the dark, cold night when he moves away.

“If you want to take a shower, it’s through the door to your left,” he says, pausing at the threshold. “There’s a robe and a towel in the warmer. I’m sure you know how the shower works.”

I turn around, but he’s already gone.

“Read this part here,” Azriel says, pointing to the paragraph.

I’m struggling in my Literature class. I thought math would be a problem, but once the professor told us we had to write an analysis on a selection of written works, I didn’t know what to do. I had no choice; I had to sign up with Azriel for more tutoring.

I begin, but I struggle by the fourth word. I stop and glance at Azriel. My heart sinks when I see the grimace on his face.

“It’s bad,” I say with a frustrated sigh.

“Has it always been like this?” Azriel asks softly, a pitying look in his gaze.

“I struggle a bit,” I confess, placing a strand of hair behind my ear.

He stares at my assignment, and I know he must be thinking there is no way I’ll pass. There are times I want to give up and let them fail me, but my pride gets in the way. I know that if I had the right schooling, the right opportunity, I would succeed. I get the assignment, but I have to read to understand it. It’s like trying to fix a car with no tools.

He scratches his brow. “Do you have friends in your class that you can study with? Someone in the dorm who can help? Read it to you?”

I hadn’t thought about making friends in my classes for the purpose of studying. I can’t think of anything, knowing I’m on my own in a place like this, considering what I do. Who do I trust?

You trust Garret enough to stay in his house.

He took me to school instead of ordering an Uber this morning. He dropped me off in front of my dorm without a word and then drove off.He also made sure I had a bowl of fruit on a tray in my room in the morning, as well as new clothes in my size.

I don’t know what to think or why he did it, but I’m grateful.

“I didn’t think I could make a friend.” He looks up. “You know, after everything.” I scan the library as if someone is out to get me at any second.

“It doesn’t work like that,” he says, lowering his voice.

I lean forward. “How does it work exactly?”

Any help I can get will be welcome at this point. Staying at Garret’s house has clouded my judgment. John hasn’t texted me. It’s as if Garret has the power to keep him away, and I don’t know what to make of it.

“Keep to yourself and don’t fall into a trap.”

“What do you mean?” I ask curiously. I don’t have a guy in the Order who is in love with me and will keep me safe.

The current one ruling the school hates my existence. Garret doesn’t want me; he wants to destroy me.

“You say no at all costs, Rose. Do you hear me?” I nod. “If any asshole corners you, you say no. And you don’t go anywhere where you might find yourselfalone with them, especially Garret.”

“What about me?”

My stomach flips.

Garret takes the seat next to Azriel, looking at him as if he wants to slit his throat and play with his vocal cords.

Azriel looks at him unfazed and then at me. “I was warning Rose to be careful on campus.”

“I heard my name,” Garret points out. Then he glances at the designer sweater he left on the dresser this morning, as if he’s peeling it off my chest. “Nice sweater.” He gives me a wink.

My cheeks flush. Azriel looks at me and then back at Garret. “What are you doing, Garret?” Azriel says in a hard tone, like he’s scolding a child.

“I came to say hi.” He glances at my assignment in front of Azriel. “You need help?”

“No.”

Ignoring me, Garret picks up the paper with the list of works to choose from for an analysis. He scans the list and places it on the table, turning it around to point. “Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee .”

Azriel looks at me. We both know it would be difficult for me to read and analyze.

“She’s going to need a lot of help with that one,” Azriel begins.

“I’ll help her,” Garret says, snatching the paper. “You can help her with the math and stuff. I’ll help her with this.”

I’m about to protest, but Garret gets up and walks out as if his word is final and I’ve agreed to let him help me.

“Fuck,” Azriel says, rubbing his eyes.

I watch Garret through the glass window, wanting to stab him when he smiles at a group of girls.

“Why?”

“Because he’s fucking crazy,” Azriel mutters, as if that’s supposed to make me feel better.

“What do I do now?”

“Nothing,” he says. “There’s nothing you can do, Rose. The guys messed with him when he was younger. He got into some trouble and was always the crazy kid left alone in his big house, getting whatever he wanted. Then his father died two years ago, and he spiraled. He was put on medication. When his mother remarried after being left with nothing, he went dark. It was as if the lights were on, but no one was home. No one—and I mean no one—could change his mind once he set it on something. He smiles, laughs, plays along. But some of us know it’s all a lie. Garret doesn’t give a shit. He does whatever he wants.”

“What makes him so different from your brother or…the others?”

He exhales forcefully through his nose. “Simple. Garret doesn’t answer to anyone. He doesn’t have a father to respect because he’s dead. His mother even less, because all she cares about is her Bentley and how much is in her bank account. He basically grew up fending for himself in his father’s mansion, and it’s no different now that he’s dead. The only people he answers to are the Order. He has everything at his disposal.” He snorts. “Garret has so much money that there’s no way he can spend it all in three lifetimes. What does a man with power and an unlimited bank account do?”

The most I’ve had is twenty dollars to last me three days before I had to spend it. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Whatever the hell he wants. The Nox family has power and connections, and he’s the only Nox left. That is what makes Garret dangerous, Rose. He can do anything because his father made sure of it.”