Page 63 of Alive and Kicking
I step into his chest and look up at him. “It’s fine. I’m not mad. I didn’t think about it either.”
He frowns for a moment before leaning down and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Let’s go get cleaned up. Nox should be done soon.”
I notice the he doesn’t agree with me that it’s fine. It must be hard for a man so obsessed with control to lose it. I’ve had to restrain myself from stabbing people in public so I can understand how much self-control he must need to have.
Lennox
The guys follow me as I stomp my feet upstairs to Viv’s apartment. We should have considered her instincts more carefully. All of us were aware of her feelings, but we brushed it off. We walk into her small living room to find her and Cain curled up on the couch. His fingers run through her damp hair absentmindedly as they look over to us. My face feels tight as I pinch my lips, not wanting to deliver the results of my search.
“What did you find?” Viv asks, sitting up straighter.
Cain’s hand drops between them and he studies me too. My expression must give something away. Sighing, I hand the tablet to Viv with the video already queued up. She looks over to Cain before holding the tablet between them and pressing play. Sloane and Zane hover over the back of the couch to see what I’ve found, but I already know what they’re seeing as Cain’s face goes blank and rage burns across Viv’s.
“That sneaky bastard,” Zane hisses between his teeth. “I’m going to skin him alive and feed it to him.”
Cain gags. “Please, no talking about eating human flesh.”
Zane grimaces at him. We all know about Cain’s response to things like that.
“Why would he do this?” Sloane asks the important question.
“Because he’s a fucking creep,” Viv says, rewatching the video of Cain’s TA sneaking into his office.
“What would he get out of this though?” I ask, since nobody else is.
Cain looks up at me with his brow furrowed. “I don’t know. He did seem a little offended that some students didn’t join his study group, and even mentioned Viv by name a couple times. He’s not an idiot though, he’s got to realize that this would be noticed.”
Viv looks at Cain and nods. “Besides, the cameras on campus aren’t inconspicuous. Someone taking Criminology classes has to be smarter than that or else you wouldn’t have offered him the TA position in the first place.”
Cain frowns. “His test results and assignments have always been almost perfect. I’ve never interacted with him much, but something about him has rubbed me the wrong way since he started.”
So he’s stupider than he should be, which isn’t much to go on to figure out his motives. I shake my head. Something isn’t making sense about this entire situation. “I’m going to look into him some more and see what his background has to say.” Viv holds out my tablet and I give her a soft smile. “We’ll figure out what is going on,” I assure her.
Cain nods. “And I need to go report this to the dean… and unfortunately the department chair.” He leans down and presses a soft kiss to Viv’s forehead.
Before he has a chance to leave, Sloane calls him out on something I hadn’t even noticed. “Dude, those are my pants.” I look down to see that Cain is in fact wearing a pair of Sloane’s sweatpants. “Why are you wearing my pants?” Sloane asks when Cain doesn’t say anything.
He looks down at his legs. “Because I wouldn’t have fit into Zane’s.”
Zane grins before elbowing Sloane. “He just wanted in your pants.”
Sloane rolls his eyes at Zane but turns his attention back to Cain. “That doesn’t explain why you’re wearing someone else’s pants.”
Cain shrugs. “I took a shower. Mine were dirty. This is all that was up here that would fit.” He walks out of the room without waiting for anyone to reply to that.
We just stare after him as he leaves. “Maybe he’ll be a little less of an asshole now he’s finally given in,” Sloane says, watching the door with a smirk.
Viv’s cheeks turn red and she looks away as I glare at Sloane. “I’m going to go look into this guy’s background. Do you want to come with me?” I ask, turning to look at Viv.
“Yeah! I want to come!” Zane pipes up, and I frown at him.
He knows damn well he isn’t allowed anywhere near my set-up, but the psycho just continues to grin at me. “I can’t, I promised Sandy I would help her research some fundraiser ideas over the phone today,” Viv tells us.
Zane raises his hand. “I still wanna come.”
I glare at him. “Stay away from my room.”
I leave before he can try and argue with me over it, I can still hear him as I leave Viv’s apartment though. “Accidentally spill a milkshake into his computer one time and he’ll never forgive you.”
