Page 23 of Begin Again

Up yours.

That would be a violation of rule three, and you know it, Bubbles.

I huffed in frustration and stuffed the phone back in my bag. What an asshole! And what the hell was behind that idiotic nickname he kept calling me?Bubbles. Because I babbled too much? Seriously?

As I entered the building for my last lecture of the day, I decided to ban all thoughts of Kaden from my head. I found my classroom on the first floor and entered.

Many students were already there. I edged my way through the crowd.

“Hey fresh meat!” a guy yelled at me from the side.

I pretended to ignore him. But I’d barely gotten past him when he leaned back in his chair and gave me a slap on the ass.

A piercing pain shot through my temples. Unwanted memories flashed in front of my inner eye. I felt like I was boiling, but I wanted to keep moving. No scene. Still, when I’d left Lincoln I’d promised myself never again to take that kind of thing lying down. I turned on my heels and targeted the guy with a furious stare.

“Don’t you ever touch me again. Do you understand?” I made an effort to keep my voice calm, but only half succeeded.

The guy raised his hands in the air, in a calming gesture and said with a snide grin. “Calm down, it’s just a joke.”

“No, it’s harassment. If you think that’s funny, you have a pretty shitty sense of humor,” I said through my teeth.

“Chill out, man,” he grumbled, and the guy sitting next to him grunted in agreement.

“No,man, I will not chill out. If women want you to touch them, they will let you know. Believe me, we can make it quite obvious,” I hissed. “But if someone walks by without even noticing you, that’s not an invitation to grope them.”

At this point the guy was glowing red. I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or shame.

“Keep your hands to yourself, Ryan,” rang out a familiar voice. “Unless you want to get to know mine. And believe me, I don’t think you want that.”

Kaden sat across from us. He had folded his arms behind his head; his legs were stretched out and crossed under the table. His eyes flashed with amusement when he saw my surprised expression, but his jaw remained clenched. He gave a barely noticeable nod in my direction and then reached into his pants pocket.

As the lecturer began to introduce himself, I heard my phone vibrate in my bag. I fished it out discreetly and unlocked the screen to read the message.

You have passed.

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