Page 37 of Creed

We leave the workroom quickly because I’ll have to wait another forty minutes if I miss this bus. We hustle down the stairs and work our way through the library’s main floor, then down the outside steps to the sidewalk, and Zac stops. We’re far from the campus right now, and the chance of anyone seeing us isn’t impossible, but it’s not highly probable.

His handsome face is sad. “You’re a good friend, Sophie Demeanus. Better than I am to you, and much better than I deserve.”

I smile up at him, even though sadness wells inside me that he truly thinks that. “I’m the friend youdeserve, Zac, and will continue to be until you finally realize that you deserve that and so much more.”

His throat works as he swallows hard. “I’ll see you back at school.”

I watch Zac get into his car and drive away, my heart aching for him.

I’m at a loss for how to help him realize he does have a choice; that he needs to live his life for him. That his current actions aren’t only destroying a relationship with someone he truly cares about, but they could destroy him. I think about his self-loathing tone and the defeated, anguished look in his eyes.

Sorrow fills me. I know it’s etched on my face and don’t try to hide it. I feel Zac’s pain, and I feel like a failure for being unable to help him. It’s the mother hen in me, the caregiver role I always felt with my younger cousins, wanting and wishing I could soothe their hurt.

Sighing, I start toward the coffee shop but stop short, my breath catching. I blink a few times, trying to comprehend what I see.

A tall man with wide-cut shoulders, his muscular body filling out a charcoal suit. The exposed skin on his hands and neck is loaded with ink.

Creed.

He stands three feet away from me, his piercing blue eyes not leaving mine

And holy hell, does he look pissed.

Chapter 11

Creed

To say that I’mangry is the understatement of the year.

To seemyangel walk out with some motherfucker, then realize it’s the one she had spoken to at the industry mixer—the one she had touched on his arm briefly—is enough to get my back up. However, then she smiles up at him, and when he leaves, she looks anguished and miserable, which makes me see red as fury fills me.

I hadn’t planned on being out of Sophie’s life for so long. When she left my penthouse that morning two weeks ago, I had planned to find her that very evening so we could pick up where we left off. However, being summoned home and unable to return for two weeks put a wrench into my plans.

Has she moved on in that time?

The thought of that fucking dick touching her, kissing her, fucking her…

Jesus Christ, I’m going to lose my mind.

The rational side of my brain finally dominates and kicks my ass into gear. I can’t envision that—not right now, and hopefully never—because I need to get this woman, my angel, my good girl, back on my side.

I realize I don’tknowher; however, the feelings she elicits in me, the visions of her in the future, by my side and carrying my child… Those all mean something to me. Add to it that night at my penthouse that I hadn’t even thought consciously or questioned my actions of taking her tomybed and her sleeping by my side. This all adds up to one thing in my mind.

I have found her.

The one for me.

My soulmate.

I just need her to feel the same.

Chapter 12

Sophie

The thunderous look easesoff Creed’s face. I stand like a deer caught in headlights—pinned in place and unable to move—as he closes the distance between us.

He found me.

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