Elite (Eagle Elite) - By Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,37
grabbing my arms as I threw a sweater into the air.
“Trace.” This time his lips grazed my ear, and I stopped. Not because I wanted to, because I honestly couldn’t move my arms and speak at the same time when he was that close to me. “What are you doing?”
I hung my head. “Looking for hidden cameras.”
“What kind of guy do you take me for?” He flipped me around in his arms so we were face to face. I looked down. “The kind that carries guns and sends his friends to babysit me at my own dorm. The kind that knows the minute I’m done with my paper and magically appears at my door. That kind.”
Nixon burst out laughing. “Wow, sometimes you are just too much.” He reached into his back pocket. I slowly backed away. I mean, what if he pulled out a gun? Or a Taser or… crap. A cell phone.
“Ever seen one of these?” He flashed it in front of my face. “Chase texted me ten minutes ago and said you were close to being done.”
“He was sleeping. He—”
“—Is a light sleeper and was under strict instructions to tell me when you finished.”
“Why?” I crossed my arms. “So you could send in the next shift? Who’s it gonna be this time? Tex? Phoenix?”
When I said Phoenix he scowled.
“You done?”
“Yes, but—”
“Thanks, Chase, see ya later.” Nixon pulled me down the hall like a bat out of hell.
“Where are we going? And why are we in a hurry?”
Nixon didn’t answer. He swiped his card and the elevators opened. The minute they closed he hit the button for it to stop.
Holy crap. This was how I was going to die.
“Nixon, what the—”
He had me pushed back against the wall before I could finish my sentence. His mouth pressed against mine and his hands lifted me into the air, pressing our bodies tighter together. The metal of his lip ring sent electrical shocks through my system as it rubbed against my bottom lip. Good lord, I’d never kissed a guy like this before. Ever.
With a groan, he released me. I didn’t mean to touch him, I just did it. I grabbed his hand but he jerked free. “Please, no touching.”
Not okay. “Nixon, you can’t just—”
“—Yes, I can.” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the opposite end of the wall. “And I did.” He pushed the button again causing the elevator to continue its descent.
Son of a whore. I wanted to punch him in the face. I think he could tell too, because he kept smiling. Who the hell did he think he was? So, what? People were afraid of him because he was rich? Because his big bad daddy owned everything? That didn’t mean you could make out with a girl just because you felt like it. It didn’t mean you never had to make excuses for your behavior. And it sure as hell didn’t mean you could kiss a girl senseless then order her not to touch you.
“So is that how this works then, Nixon? You take, but you can’t receive?”
He bit his lip and stalked toward me just as the doors opened. “Funny. I didn’t think I was taking.”
“Oh yeah?” My eyebrows shot up.
“Yeah.” He grabbed my hand before I could pull it free. “I was giving.”
I stuck out my tongue.
“Do it again, see what happens,” he threatened.
I kept my mouth shut. Something had shifted between us this afternoon. Something big — I just didn’t know what it was. A day ago I was worried he’d look the other way if a car was barreling toward me. Now… well, now it felt like he would do anything to keep me close — almost as if he’d lost me before and knew what it felt like to be without me. But that was crazy. Clearly I’d never been kissed like that before, because my mind was conjuring up all sorts of crazy stories. I needed to stop reading so much.
We went outside and started walking across campus.
“I didn’t know.” He cursed. “About what Phoenix did.”
“I thought you told him to do that, because of our little challenge earlier about you not offering me protection and stuff.”
He stopped and pulled me next to him. “Do you really think I’m that much of an ass that I would really drug you, set you up to look like the school slut, and then take away your key card so you were up a creek with no paddle?”