from the projector screen and shifting in my seat to glare at him. "I mean it. You hurt him and I'll never speak to you again. Ever. Are we clear?"
He gave me a sidelong glance, running his thumb over his lower lip in a way that made me sigh in dread.
"Kody," I snapped, "are we fucking clear? Don't lay your damn hands on Scott or I'll castrate you."
His brow raised. "You'd have to touch my dick to do that... Now you're just giving me incentive."
My eyes narrowed with the promise of violence, and his grin spread wider. "Okay, okay, I get it. From this conversation forward, we won't touch the walking dead man."
I scrubbed my hands over my face, the implication not lost on me. "Kody, what have you fucking done? If Scott's in the hospital or—"
Dead.
"He's not in the hospital, babe. Damn, we're not that bad. But I promise, I'll have words with the guys after class and let them know your little friend is off limits for now."
These boys and their subtle edits of promises were going to be the death of me.
I blew out a long breath, picking my battles in order of urgency.
"What did you do?"
A sly grin curled his lips. "Me? Nothing."
In other words, Archer or Steele was responsible. I'd put my money on Steele, considering how he’d escorted Bark to his car when they’d cancelled my date with him. Fucking hell.
"Just... leave me alone, Kody," I muttered in a tired voice. "Pretend we never met or something. Act like you don't know me. It'd just be a hell of a lot easier for all of us."
He leaned closer, stroking my hair over my shoulder and making me shudder involuntarily. Kody playing with my hair was fast becoming one of my major turn-ons.
"I can't do that, MK," he whispered back, sounding broken and vulnerable for the first moment in the whole time I'd known him.
A lump formed in my throat, and I needed to swallow before I could get words out. "Why not?"
Stupid me, I turned my face to meet his eyes and almost crumbled at the guilt and regret shining through his gaze.
"Because, babe," he replied, his whisper husky and raw, "no one can survive without their heart, and you're mine."
Fuck.
I tore my gaze away with almost physical pain, letting my hair drop like a curtain between us as I turned back to the lecture. Thank god for that, too, so he wouldn't see the hot tear slip down my cheek at his words. Because if I really was his heart, how could he have betrayed me so badly?
Then again, I’d always known it was coming. Hadn't I?
Kody mercifully didn't say anything more, but he also didn't leave. For the rest of the class, he just sat silently beside me as I pretended to follow the lecture. My notes were probably total gibberish, but fuck it. When the lesson ended, I packed up my shit and bolted.
He let me.
It was actually surprising not to have him grab me or manhandle me or force me to talk to him the second we were out of class. But he did none of those things... probably because he knew his words had cracked my iron-clad exterior and taken root in my mind already.
Fucking hell. I could only hope he was joking about permanently signing up for that class, or this semester was going to be a thousand times harder than I'd mentally prepared for.
I ducked into a restroom, pulling my hidden phone out to text Bree. The "no phones on campus" rule was still enforced, but I'd grown accustomed to not being held accountable to rules while I was with the guys. Bree was just sneaky and handed in a fake phone at the gatehouse, like I was sure a heap of other students did. But I'd rather not flaunt it by texting in the corridors.
It was a simple, "Meet me in the library" message, but when she didn't immediately reply, I anxiously tapped my phone against my lips, thinking.
I had no idea what class Scott might be in, and he wouldn't have disobeyed the no-phones rule. His older brother was a cop, so he was a total rule follower. I just hoped he was okay and Kody had been bullshitting me. Archer wouldn't have done anything. Why would he? For one thing, he wouldn't risk his UFC career by punching some random guy in public. For another, that bastard already thought he'd won. He owned me,