Page 65 of Ruining Him
I am, actually. I didn’t even think about what I was doing when it was happening, but now that I’ve had time to reflect on it, I actually am okay with everything that went down. It was always going to end with one of them dead, I just made that decision for them. We might have had a rocky start, Lana and I, but like hell would I let some guy kill her.
I’m pissed at myself that I didn’t wake up sooner and she got hurt, but other than that, I really am okay.
“I’m fine, little menace,” I say, and she frowns for a beat before nodding.
“Are you?”
“Some cuts and bruises won’t kill me, Cole. I’ve had a lost worse.”
And I hate that you have.
“You need to start giving me some answers, Lana. Starting with who the fuck Dare is.”
Who is this guy that’s just giving her orders? Who is she to him? And who the fuck is he to her? Jealousy curls in my gut, and I hate it. I hate everything about this fucked-up situation and this fucked-up day. The only good thing that’s come out of it is me having Lana in my arms right now, which never would have happened if tonight didn’t transpire the way it did.
“You’re jealous,” she states, her eyes shining withmischief, and I realize my emotions must be written all over my face.
Why can’t I hide them from her the way I do with everyone else?
“I’m not jealous,” I lie. “I just want to know who the guy is that tells you what to do and who you actually listen to. You’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, and if I did that, you’d put a knife to my balls like the little psycho you are.”
She laughs softly, and it’s kind of… sweet, melodic and so unlike her usual self that it makes me pause. It makes me realize that there’s so many sides to her that I haven’t seen yet. So many sides of her that I want to get to know.
I have a feeling that there’s not one living person who knows Lana James in her entirety, and I want to be that person.
She can hide herself from everyone else, but I want her to show me all of her. And only me.
THIRTY-SIX
LANA
Do I really want to let him in? Can I? I wouldn’t even know where to start. It’s not something I’ve ever done before.
“Dare is… well, he’s like my uncle. He was always there for me growing up, and he was my dad’s best friend. He’s the one who’s been helping me clean up the messes you keep walking in on, and he’s the one who made me join him here for my safety.”
He ponders over that for a moment before he speaks. “So, what? He lives in Blackwater?”
I scoff a quiet laugh. “Yeah. He lives on campus.”
His body tenses beneath mine before he relaxes.
“So, if he was your dad’s best friend, he can’t be a student. How the fuck does he live on campus when—holy shit,” he mutters. “That day at the dean’s office, I thought you were speaking to him like you two were familiar with each other. It’s him, isn’t it? It’s the fucking dean of the university?”
He phrases it like a question, but he already knowsthe answer.
“And I thought you were fucking him,” he mumbles under his breath, and my face screws up in disgust.
“Ew, Cole. That’s fucking disgusting.”
“Well, it made more sense than the dean being your super-secret pseudo uncle and him bringing you here as a student to keep you safe. Seriously, who in their right mind would have thought of something like that?”
I laugh at his obvious confusion before it dies off, knowing that he has more questions for me.
There are some things that I’m not ready to share yet, and I’m not sure I ever will be.
One thing I am sure of is that I actually don’t hate being in his arms like this. It’s kind of nice, actually.
“Why are you here in the first place? What are you running from?”
