Page 62 of Endless Anger
But he doesn’t know I know he knows. I need to keep it that way.
Aurora clears her throat. “Lucy and I were just on our way to get breakfast. We’d better get going, or we’ll miss the two-dollar mimosas.”
“Ah.” Beckett grunts, nodding. “Of course, of course. I’d hate to stand in the way of Lucy Wolfe and the shit she likes to devour. Who knows what she might burn down this time if she doesn’t get her way?” He moves back from the room, rapping his knuckles on the wooden doorframe once more before shooting us a toothy smile. “Glad you’re okay, ladies. See you next weekend.”
“What wasthatabout?” Aurora asks once he’s gone.
Shaking my head, I shrug. “Just a Curator being a Curator. You know they can’t help but insert themselves into things.”
She makes a clicking sound with her tongue. “I’ll never understand what you saw in him.”
As I change and wash off in the little sink in my room, I consider her comment. The truth is I didn’t see anything in him; he was just one of the few people to give me the time of day when we were freshmen.
The attention was nice, and I missed Asher. Back then, I didn’t know Beckett was the human equivalent of a dirty toilet.
Without answering my cousin, I drag her from the room, leaving Erebus Hall in a hurry just in case he plans on returning.
Or in case the new RA makes himself known today.
Once we’re in the student parking lot outside the front gate, I clutch my biceps tight, trying to warm myself. It isn’t that cold out, but I can’t seem to get the goose bumps on my arms to go away.
“So…” Aurora begins. “Whatdidhappen last night?”
“Nothing,” I tell her, though the lie feels like cinder blocks filling my body. “I got lost looking for more drinks, and then?—”
I’m cut off as I collide with a massive wall of flesh and muscle, clad in a soft cashmere sweater. My grunt is swallowed by his chest, and two big hands come up to steady me.
“Asher?” Aurora gasps, immediately trying to tug me away from him.
He doesn’t release me though. I lift my chin, meeting those tumultuous brown eyes, and regret it instantly.
In the daylight, I notice things I didn’t see hours ago: the hint of gold circling his pupils, which seem to dilate in the sun, and the jewelry adorning his left ear.
They mirror the piercings on mine, though his are just plain silver hoops in his lobe and cartilage. He didn’t have those three years ago.
“What are…” Aurora trails off, as if at a loss for words for the first time ever. She reaches up, rubbing her eyes with her fists, and then shakes her head. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Just returning Lucy’s cardigan,” he deadpans. He lets go of my arms, holding up a scrap of black fabric I don’t remember taking off last night.
Aurora’s eyebrows shoot into her hairline. “Is that the one from?—”
Not bothering to stick around and answer, Asher shoves the piece of clothing into my hands and then continues on his way through the front gates. I wonder if he’s serious aboutbeinghere now.
One more person I’ll have to try and avoid, I guess.
Aurora’s mouth gapes when I turn to look at her.
“Please don’t ask,” I say, tying the cardigan around my waist. He must have washed it in the Erebus basement, because it’s not dirty at all. “It really isn’t what you think.”
“Yeah,right.” She laughs, looping her arm through mine as we begin walking toward her bubblegum pink BMW. “The boy you’ve been crying about since graduation suddenly shows up with your clothes, and I’m supposed to believe nothing happened?”
“Does that mean when I found you and Foxe naked in my pool four years ago, you guys were definitely screwing around?”
“Screwing around?” Again, she laughs, and I hate the little stab of envy I feel in my gut. She clearly has no clue what went down last night, and I refuse to be the one to ruin that for her. “No, babe, we fucked for sure. He was my first, you know?”
My eyes shoot to hers. “What the hell? Why are you just now telling me this?”
“Well, it wasn’t a particularly good time. He’d hadwaytoo much to drink, and neither of us knew what we were doing…” The lights onher vehicle flash as she unlocks it, and she slides away from me. “Besides, what’s it matter when he’s probably out fucking the whole world on tour these days? We’ve both moved on, and that’s where I’d like to keep things.”
