Broken Bonds (The Bonds that Tie #1) - J. Bree Page 0,83

without risking you and the other Bonds and, despite what you all think, everything I’ve done is to keep you safe.”

His eyes burn into my skin, hotter than his power had been on my stomach last night. “Tell me who is threatening you.”

I shake my head. “I can’t tell you. I can’t tell anyone.”

I watch as he grinds his teeth again, something he clearly does when I piss him off. We’ve barely spent any time together and yet I already know this about him. “What if I promise not to tell the other Bonds, would you tell me then? We could keep it between us and I’ll deal with the issue.”

I laugh at him as I stand and sling my bag over my shoulder. “Nox is your best friend, you sit through all of his bullshit at the stupid dinners. There’s no way you wouldn’t tell him. It doesn’t matter anyway; I can’t tell you.”

The glare on his face gets darker and when I step towards the door, he doesn’t move away. I’ll have to brush against his body to get past him but as I move to do so, his arms shoot out and grab me. My breath leaks out of my lungs.

Too close. He’s too close and I’m too close to breaking the fuck down.

He stares into my eyes for a second before pulling a credit card out of his pocket and slipping it into mine. “That’s yours. You’ll use it for anything you need from now on. Order in food, pills, a new fucking bed, I don’t care. Just use it.”

Holy shit.

My brow furrows at him and I struggle to find the right words. “Why would you do that? I don’t want to take anything from you. If you could just get North to let me find a job, I can take care of myself.”

The hand he still has wrapped around one of my arms tightens. “Tell me you will use it if you need it.”

I roll my eyes at him for ignoring me. “Fine.”

I pull my arm out of his grasp and take another step towards the door, but he clearly has no intention of letting me go. He grabs me again, spinning until he can pin me against it with his body. A gasp rips its way out of my throat and he leans down, his eyes still hot with that intense heat of his, and he whispers, “Say it and mean it. There’s nothing worse than a liar.”

I swallow and gasp out, “I’ll use it if I have to but I still want a job of my own.”

He lifts one of his hands to trace the side of my face. “North will never risk losing you again. I don’t think he will ever let you find a job, but if you ask him directly, I’ll side with you.”

I can’t breathe with him this close to me, with the hard lines of his chest pressed against me, and he doesn’t make a move away from me, just holds me there against the door. The buzzing of his phone in his pocket pressed between us breaks the spell, and he curses under his breath as he steps away.

“Grab your shit, I’ll drive you down to the dining hall.”

He steps out of the room without another word, hovering by the door until I get it locked. The hallway is full of girls, all of them staring at him like he’s a slab of meat, but he doesn’t acknowledge them. He walks slowly enough that I can keep the pace without running, not that I would today with how freaking bloated I am, and then I realize that he knows that and is adjusting for me.

I don’t know what to do with that sort of consideration.

I’m just as awkward getting into his car this time around as I was the first time. I shoot Gabe a text to tell him where I am and then I shove the phone back into my bag. Gryphon doesn’t say a word and the three minute car ride is silent.

When we pull up at the dining hall, I clear my throat. "I really appreciate-"

"Are you going to try running off again?" he cuts me off, his eyes scanning the campus like he’s expecting me to be snatched off of the curb in broad daylight.

I frown and rub at the back of my neck, the little bump of the GPS chip still easy to find. It still kind of aches and I push