“I’m immune to bullshit,” I shot back, rolling my eyes. He laughed, and I couldn’t help but smile at him. “I know your type.”
“Oh, yeah? What type is that?”
“You’re all impulse and no consequences. Do you even think about how your actions make other people feel?”
“Like that wanker I hit? I’m pretty sure he felt pain.”
“And the girls you use and throw away?”
“Pleasure. Definitely pleasure.” He fought against a smirk.
“Ugh. You’re shameless,” I scoffed. I looked up to see my dorm across the parking lot, and he stopped to face me.
“You think you have me all figured out.”
“You don’t exactly try to hide who you are.”
“You’re just going to judge me and walk away without giving me a chance to defend myself?”
“I’ve seen how you defend yourself.”
“Bollocks. I was defending you, remember?” His eyes narrowed, and I felt my stomach twist with guilt.
“I’m not your responsibility.” I pulled my hand from his and began walking toward the building.
“This how you say thank you for me saving your arse?”
My eyes narrowed as I turned around and I took a step back closer to him, worried someone would hear our interaction. “Let’s get one thing straight, I don’t know how you do things across the pond or whatever, but I don’t need some human coloring book swooping in to save me.”
“Are you taking the piss out of me?” His eyebrows pulled together, but he was clearly amused.
I scoffed, taking a step back. “I meant that it may not look like it, but I can handle my own.”
He shook his head, letting out a deep laugh. “You can handle your own arse. Got it.”
“You know that’s not what I was saying.” I shook my head as I felt my cheeks heating.
“Well, I may not look like it, love, but I’m actually a decent guy if you give me a chance.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.” I squared my shoulders before turning back around and walking a few steps in the direction of my dorm.
“Or you could get to know me,” he called after me, and I glanced back over my shoulder. “Unless you’re scared.”
“I'm not scared of you,” I snapped.
“You up for going down the pub? Give me a chance to redeem myself? I wasn’t really ready to go home, and you never got to finish your last drink.” He stared at me expectantly, and I got the feeling he’d never really had to try to get female attention.
“I should really get some sleep,” I said, shaking my head.
“Yeah. I get it. It was nice meeting you, Henley.” He smiled, shoving his hands deep into his jeans pockets. “Cheers.”
“Get what?” I asked, annoyed that he kept twisting my words and making it seem like I was a jerk.
“You don’t want to be seen with me.” He looked down to the ground, kicking around some stones. It was crazy how someone who looked so tough suddenly looked so dejected.
“If you want... maybe we can get just one drink or something?” He had just defended my honor in front of a crowd of people. The least I could do was buy him a drink.
“Where to, party animal?” A broad smile spread across his face, and I realized he was just playing me, and I walked right into it.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his jab as we walked across the parking lot. Pulling out my phone, I sent Gigi a quick message letting her know I was alright and her reply telling me the same was almost immediate.
“So, you don’t live on campus?” I asked, trying to make small talk.
“No, my mates and I rent a flat down on Sicily Street,” he explained.
“What were you doing in my dorm this morning then?”
Now it was his face that was turning red, and I shook my head, silently cursing myself.
“Never mind,” I muttered, not wanting to hear about who he had slept with the night before.
“I was... visiting a friend.”
“You have a lot of friends?” I asked as he shook his head. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was embarrassed.
Chapter Four
LUCAS
I flexed my fingers, the pull of my bruised flesh against knuckles brought me back to the first fight I had been in today, right before I’d first seen Henley.
***
I’d just walked out of Laney’s room; my shirt still saturated with the nauseating smell of lilacs from her perfume. My head was thumping from a night of drinking induced dehydration. My finger tips were still stained with smudges of ink from touching up her tattoo that she’d gotten on Spring Break in high school.
I heard their footsteps before they’d noticed me.
“Did you just come from my girlfriend’s room, asshole?”
I turned around to see Seth, the light gleaming off his freshly shaved head. Groaning as I stretched my arms over my head, I stifled a yawn.
“Did you fucking hear me?” Seth barked, emboldened by his friends at his side.
“Yeah, I fucking heard you,” I mumbled before running my fingers through my hair.
“Then answer me.”
“This is your girlfriend’s room?” I asked, nodding to the door behind me where Laney was. Her roommate Addy, the dickhead’s girlfriend, had left the room to take a shower at the end of the hall when I arrived. “Yeah.”
He took three large steps toward me and I cursed under my breath as I strained my neck to the side, letting the bones pop. He placed his hands on my chest and shoved me but I didn’t move.
“Seriously? Nice one, really,” I said with a laugh before I swung, my right fist connecting with his temple and sending him careening sideways into the doorframe. His eyebrow caught the edge, splitting it open and sending blood running down into his eye.
“You motherfucker,” he squealed as he clasped his palm over his face.
“I thought you said she was your girlfriend,” I quipped before I grabbed his shirt, forcing him to face me. He tried to swing, and I shoved him backward sending him falling on his ass. “Falling for me too? It didn’t take Addy long to get on her knees for me either,” I joked, and one of his friends laughed, pissing him off more. He charged, shoving his shoulder into my stomach, my back colliding with the opposite wall, knocking the wind out of me.
“Hey,” a voice bellowed from the end of the hall. My eyes snapped up to see campus security.
“We’ll finish this later, guys,” I called out as I darted for the elevator. I hit the door close button, leaving the prick and his friends to deal with the wannabe cops. The elevator stopped on the very next floor. I shifted my weight, ready for whatever was on the other side. At least I thought I was ready. When the doors popped open, I was face to face with Henley. Her eyes were wide and wild as she yelled for me to hold the door in a panic. I had to make a choice, close it and significantly improve my chances of getting away or wait for her.
I waited.
***
“So... where are you from?” She asked, changing the subject.
“London,” I replied with a nod.
“That’s...”
“England,” I finished her sentence.
“I was going to say a long way from home. Are you running from something?”
I laughed knowing what she was asking is if I was a fugitive. “To something.”
“What’s that?” she asked, looking over at me with curiosity like she’d just found a plot twist in some novel she’d been reading.
“I’ll let you know when I find it,” I replied vaguely, not ready to open up to a virtual stranger about my past. She nodded, but I could practically see the wheels inside of her head turning as she tried to figure me out.
“So you came all the way here with no plan?”
“Life is more fun without one.”
Taking a hair tie from her bag, she gathered up her long hair, twisting it around her hand before securing it on top of her head
. “It’s so humid tonight.”
“I’ve been here a few years and still haven’t acclimated.”
“See, now if you would have planned out your college choice better, you could be somewhere with a nice breeze.”
“But I would have missed out on this unplanned moment with a neurotic teenager judging me for my life choices.” My eyes danced over her flawless dewy skin. The mascara from her lower lashes had smudged beneath her eyes giving her a smoky effect. Pulling a tube of cherry lip balm from her bag, she rubbed it across her pouty lower lip before pressing them together, making a popping sound with her mouth.
Her eyes cut to mine as she grimaced. “What?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged, running my fingers through my hair. Normally the move would have been deliberate, but everything Henley did seemed to be out of innocence and her overcautious nature which made it even sexier.
“Do you want some?” she asked, as she held up the red tube. My fingers flexed as my arm hung at my side. I wanted to grab her wrist and pull her close enough that I could press my mouth against hers and taste the cherry from her own lips as I threaded my fingers through her long hair. But I knew if I tried to make a move on her, she’d probably slap me and run away. It was shocking that she was even walking alone with someone like me at night. Even as nervous as I’d made her, she had no sense of self-preservation. It was baffling.
“Aren’t you worried you’ll catch something?” I joked, and I saw the flicker of worry cross her face as her hand fell a few inches. I bit back a curse, wishing I could resist making her fluster. It wasn’t helping her trust me. “No, thanks.”
She shoved the lip balm back into her bag as she began to kick a pebble as she walked. “So,” she said, drawing out the word before huffing.
“Do you have to fill every moment with talking?”
Her elbow jutted out, poking me lightly in the ribs and I feigned injury, gripping my side and causing her to let out a small giggle. “Yes, I really do.”
“Then tell me something about yourself.”
“You want me to confess my sins?” She joked as she kicked at the pebble again, sending it scattering in front of me. I gently kicked it back to her.
“Will you?” I raised an eyebrow.
“No!”
“Alright. Tell me what you want to be when you grow up.”
“When I grow up,” she repeated, smirking at my choice of words. “Happy. I just want to be happy.”
“You’re not happy now?” I stopped walking and turned to face her.
“Life is... stressful.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Life hasn’t even begun yet. This is supposed to be the easy part.”
“Maybe for you,” she muttered as she began walking again.
“I didn’t say it was easy; I said it was supposed to be. People take one look at me and cross the street.”
“Whose fault is that? Why are you hiding behind all of that ink anyway?”
“I’m not hiding. I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve. Everything anyone wants to know about me is right in front of their faces. Most just don’t bother to look.”
She stopped again, gripping her handbag strap as she studied me and for the first time I’d wished I hadn’t shared so much of myself. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned every inch of my exposed flesh, leaning in closer to be able to see in the dim street lighting.
“What are you doing?” I took a step back.
“I’m looking at you.”
“Well stop.” I began to walk again as I chuckled. “It’s creepy,” I teased.
“You said that if I want to know about you, I should look at you, really see you. So I’m looking.” She called out, taking two steps for every one of mine to keep up.
“So now you want to get to know me, huh?”
“That’s what this is all about, right? You think I judged you unfairly and wanted to prove me wrong. So –”
“So what?” I asked, spinning around to face her. She didn’t even attempt to stop, colliding with my chest. An oomph escaped her lungs as I grabbed her forearms to keep her from tumbling backward and falling on her ass.
Her eyes traveled upward slowly and when they finally locked onto mine, her lips parted, and the warmth of her breath fanned across my cheeks. It was more than obvious what she was thinking. Her expression gave everything away, from the pink tinge of her cheeks to her wide eyes. “So... tell me why I was wrong,” she stuttered as her gaze flicked to my lips and back to my eyes.
I slowly unwrapped my fingers from her arms and forced myself to take a step back. “You’re not getting off that easy,” I replied, shaking my head as I began to walk again.
“Excuse me?” she sputtered, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her flustered tone as she took my words the wrong way.
“I meant, if you want to get to know me, you’re going to have to put in the time.”
“Fine,” she sputtered as she tugged at the hair tie in her hair, letting the soft waved fall against her shoulders. “I can spare an hour. Let’s get this over with.”
“That’s the spirit, love.”
Chapter Five
HENLEY
We made our way around the building to a little bar on the other side of the main road called Dive Bar as Lucas explained the difference between the bars here and the pubs back in London.
The place was practically empty, aside from a handful of locals and one table of girls. Lucas held up his thumb and index finger to the bartender to order our beers, and I pulled money out of my pocket to cover it. “What are you doing?” He asked, looking genuinely offended.
“I owe you a drink.” I shrugged and sat the money on the bar. He rolled his eyes and held out the beers.
“Can you hold these for a moment?” he asked.
“Sure.” I took the drinks from him as he turned back to the bar. He pulled a wad of money from his pocket, peeling off a twenty and set it down. He grabbed my bill and stuck it down the front of my tank top. I was unable to stop him with the beers in my hands. I glared at him, struggling to keep from laughing.
“Now you owe me a lap dance,” he replied with a wink.
“I could always pour this beer on you.”
“At least we would match,” he teased.
“Shit,” I muttered looking down at my still damp shirt. I wished I had stopped at my room to change into something else before going out again. “I look ridiculous.”
He leaned in closer, taking his drink from my hand.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered into my ear, causing every nerve ending in my body to tingle. I stepped back from him, hating how impossible he was to ignore. I pulled the money from my top and shoved it into my small messenger bag.
“Your little lines won’t work on me. I’m immune to your bullshit, remember?”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I’m up for the challenge.”
“Yes, because nothing will make a woman swoon harder than telling her she is just a game.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Yes, you did. Where did you get all of that money from anyway?”
Leaning in close enough for his warm breath top tickle my ear he whispered, “I sell drugs, coke mostly.” There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on his lips when he pulled back.
“Really?” I whispered back louder than I’d intended.
“You’re so gullible,” he laughed, shaking his head. I felt like a complete idiot.
“You play?” I asked, looking at the lone pool table in the back of the room.
“Do I play?” he replied sarcastically. “You’d be surprised at how good I am with a big stick in my hand.”
I rolled my eyes and made my way to the table, pulling out the balls to rack. I went first since Lucas was convinced that I would miss everything on the table. I drew back and shot, nailing the cue ball hard and sending it spinning down the table, sinking two balls. He looked shocked as I hit another in. On my next shot, I missed as I watched him st
aring at a group of girls who had wandered in and sat down at a table across from us.
“Your turn,” I murmured as I rested on my pool stick and drank down the remainder of my beer. He leaned over and hit the ball, completely missing his target as a thin gold chain fell from his white t-shirt, dangling a small cross. “I thought you said you played?” I teased.
“I didn’t say I played well,” he joked, finishing his beer. “I kind of feel like I’m being hustled.”
“I can’t be hustling you if we didn’t bet anything. I didn’t peg you as the religious type.” I motioned with my bottle to his chain with a small gold cross dangling from it.
“I’m not. It’s my sister’s.” His eyebrows pulled together, and I knew he must have been recalling something painful.
“So, tell me something good about yourself,” I changed the subject as his expression relaxed.
“Something good about myself,” he repeated as if struggling to come up with an example.
“You want to prove my first impression of you was wrong. Let’s hear it.” I leaned on my pool stick as I waited.
He shook his head as he chuckled quietly to himself. “Maybe it would be easier to lock you in a castle and give you a library.”
“You’re stalling,” I warned, but I couldn’t help but smile at his Beauty and the Beast reference.
“Fine. One time, when I was little, there was this old woman who lived a few houses down from us. She was always alone, I mean, she literally never left her house. There was this guy who would bring her food and her medicine, but he never stayed.”
“Was it her son or something?” I asked as I sank down on the edge of the pool table. Lucas leaned back against it next to me with his pool stick between his legs as he spoke.
“I’m not really sure. That’s what we’d always assumed. All the kids in the neighborhood said she was a witch or something. You know how kids are.”