He looked up, his body stiffening only slightly, and I looked to see what caught his attention.
“Crap!” Ivy said, her body frozen in the doorway and surprise written all over her face.
I ducked my face into the space between Romeo’s shoulder and jaw, hiding because she caught us but also because I was still quivering with need and didn’t want her to see.
“Hey,” Romeo said. “What’s up?”
“Uh, um…” Ivy stuttered. I smiled into his neck because Ivy was never speechless. “I can just come back.”
“It’s cool,” Romeo said, his voice still a little deep with passion. “You can stay.”
Disappointment flared in me, but then I realized it was for the best. I was getting far too carried away. Romeo adjusted my bra under my top and pulled his hand free. Already my skin ached for him, missed his touch. I was still hiding against him, and he chuckled and wrapped an arm around my waist to drag me along with him as he sat up against the wall.
I peeked at Ivy and saw she was debating on what to do. I noticed a couple girls walking down the hall, trying to see what she was looking at.
“Close the door, Ivy.” I reminded her.
“Right.” She did and then walked into the room. Her gaze kept bouncing back and forth between Romeo and me like she almost couldn’t believe her eyes.
A funny feeling wormed its way into my stomach, and some of the things I’d been worrying about before we started making out reared their ugly heads.
Then I remembered the night at the bonfire Romeo had walked Ivy to the car. “Do you two know each other?” I said, sitting up a little. Romeo kept his arm wound around my waist.
Ivy opened her mouth, but Romeo spoke before she could. “We go to the same parties. We made out a couple weeks ago, didn’t we?”
Ivy flushed. She glanced at me. I was surprised too. Surprised he would just call it out like that. It was almost like he was just putting it out there so it wasn’t between us.
That wall inside me cracked again.
“Um, yeah,” Ivy said. “At the bonfire.”
Romeo nodded. “Missy’s dating Braeden.”
“They’re just having fun,” Ivy and I replied at the exact same moment.
We both looked at each other and laughed.
Romeo grinned. “Ah, yeah. That sounds like Braeden.”
“I thought that was your motto too?” Ivy said, lifting her sculpted brow at him.
“That’s what they say.” He didn’t confirm or deny, and it frustrated me.
The only thing I’d learned tonight was that my body burned for him.
He slid off the bed and straightened his clothes. He seemed to fill up the small space. Ivy clicked on a lamp on her side of the room and dropped onto her bed to watch us. Romeo’s eyes slid down to my chest and he smiled slowly. Then he lifted his hoodie off the floor and tossed it to me. “It’s cold. You should put this on.”
I glanced down at my chest and grimaced. Both my nipples were so hard you could see them through my clothes. I grabbed up the shirt and shot my eyes toward Ivy, but she couldn’t see. Her view was blocked by Romeo.
“Walk me out?” he said, shrugging into his jacket.
“Sure,” I said. After I put on the shirt, I grabbed the bag of food we’d only half eaten and picked up his shake and handed it to him.
“Here.” I blushed. “You didn’t really get to eat.”
“Funny thing,” he said, stepping close. “I’m not that hungry anymore.”
Across the room, I thought Ivy might die.
“I’ll be right back,” I told her, stuffing my glasses back on. She shook her head and mouthed, Oh my God.
I grinned. I couldn’t help it.
We stepped out in the hall and everything went quiet. Various sets of eyes all turned and fastened on Romeo.
“Ladies,” he said and gave them all his megawatt smile.
Then he draped an arm around my shoulders and led me to the stairs.
As the stairwell door closed behind us, the entire hallway burst into chatter.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Romeo
“So you and Ivy?” Rimmel asked when we stepped out of the building and onto the sidewalk.
I mentioned it on purpose up there. I wanted her to ask about it. I was concerned Ivy might be using her to get to me.
Arrogant? Yes.
Impossible? No.
I felt a stark need to protect Rimmel. Besides, trying to hide my one-time make-out session with her roommate or any girl on this campus was stupid. Word got around way too fast. The last thing I needed was for some bitch to corner Rimmel on campus and spill a bunch of details that they embellished just to make her angry. Shit, it already happened today.
When I first found her tonight, I could feel the space between us. I hadn’t liked it. It made something in me feel hollow.
“There is no me and Ivy. There never will be.”
“But you two hooked up?”
“We made out. I did more with you tonight than I did with her.”
She ducked her head into my chest, and I smiled. She brought out these tender feelings in me I’d never experienced with anyone before. I used the hand that was already draped over her shoulder and tugged on her braid. “Some girls are probably gonna say shit, Rim,” I said. “Some bitches be devious.”
She giggled and looked up at me as we stopped beside the Hellcat. “Some bitches?”
I grinned. “Just keepin’ it real.”
She shook her head. I dropped my arm from around her and caught her chin with my hand and looked in her eyes. “When that happens, come to me. I’ll tell you the truth, even if I think it’s something you don’t wanna hear.”
She searched my eyes, looking for something. I don’t know what. I saw the doubt in her gaze, the wariness. It made my gut tighten. But then again, the words I just spoke made me feel that way too.
I was painting myself into a corner. I was an asshole. Here I was telling her I’d be honest when I wasn’t entirely. Yeah, I’d be honest about all the women I’d been with. But how could I tell her about the frat? About what I needed to do to secure my pledge?
She would never speak to me again.
“Okay,” she replied softly, drawing me out of my own head.
“You still mad at me?” I asked, releasing her chin.
She cocked her head to the side. “Mad? No. Confused? Yeah.”
“I can work with that,” I said.
She smiled.
“I gotta go to the Omega party tomorrow night. Come with me.”