to one of the chairs beside Stone, drying off his chiseled chest in the process. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it glistening with water, and it’s really nice. Both times. “The heat?” he questions with amusement.
“Shut up,” I say for lack of a better comeback.
“It was only a matter of time before they came to you,” Stone says.
“Who?”
“I told you. We don’t know.” He runs his fingers through his hair, pulling the ends for a moment before he maneuvers it back into place. It falls perfectly, and I suddenly hate him even more. He has no idea how I’ve struggled with my hair for ages. Ages, I tell you. I tug my hair out of its elastic because the weight of it on my head is adding to the headache the guys are giving me. I tame it down my shoulders as best I can and then blink when I realize I have the attention of all three of the guys. They’re staring at me intently as if I’m an animal in a zoo exhibit.
I calm my beating heart for a moment, schooling it back to beat out an even rhythm with a deep breath. “But Todd? I’ve gone to school with Todd since middle school. He’s harmless.”
“It only takes a wise man to arm someone.”
I narrow my gaze at Stone, but he stares back with the same even stare that looks like it belongs in boardrooms and not the untamed nature around us. Despite the fact that his statement sounded more like it came from a fortune cookie than a twenty-something year old, I suppose he’s not wrong.
At that thought, the wind picks up, tossing my hair around my face. I quickly tuck it behind my ear.
“You’re lucky we got to you in time,” Stone says.
I laugh at that. “Are you kidding? Quit acting like I’m some sort of naïve little princess who lives in a castle at the top of a hill surrounded by an alligator-ridden moat.”
“That was oddly specific,” Lucas says.
Okay. I’ve had like years of daydreaming and book reading to come up with lots of shit, but they don’t need to know that. “I don’t need your help, Stone Jacobs. I don’t need any of you.”
To prove my point, I stand from my chair and stride through the house. If there’s one thing I can’t fucking stand it’s superiority complexes. Stone and his friends have one a mile wide. They sit in their fucking castle and throw stones at people like me. Sure, I didn’t grow up in a life like his, but that doesn’t make me weaker. It makes me much stronger than him.
I pass the living room and yank open the front door. As soon as I do, a blaring alarm sounds. I shield my ears with the palms of my hands until a body moves to the keypad near the door, quickly shutting the horrendous sound off. “You were saying?” Stone asks. He turns toward me, arms crossed. “That is an alarm that keeps bad people out and good people in. Wherever you think you’re going right now, do they have this? Hate me or not, beautiful, but you can be rest assured that when you’re in my presence, you’re safe. Is that really something that you want to risk right now?”
I close my eyes, breathing in deeply until I can form better thoughts. While I’m just standing there, Stone shuts the door and reengages the alarm. He walks back down the hall, leaving me to myself.
I really hate that he’s fucking right.
14
When I wake the next morning, I’m pretty sure I slept on clouds. Heavenly clouds sewed by the angels themselves. I lift my head off the soft white pillow only to place it right back down again. I’ve never slept in a bed so nice. Hell, I only got a bed when I moved into the dorms. I guess being rich definitely has its perks.
I finally find the willpower to turn over, the heat of the sun calling me. I borrowed one of Stone’s muscle shirts to sleep in. It’s entirely too big, but that was the last thing on my mind when I slipped my tired ass into bed last night wearing just the shirt and my panties.
This morning, though, I’m rethinking that decision. Especially since all the bedrooms are off the glass hallway that looks out onto the pool deck. They, too, have one glass wall that lets in the light, and right now, Wyatt passes by.