Page 28 of His to Teach
Mason frowns at me. “You better not be working her too hard.”
“He’s not,” she says quickly. “I’ve just been studying too much. You know me.”
Some of the worry leaves his face as he laughs a little, squeezing her. “I sure do. But you should eat, Harpy. Skipping meals won’t help.”
She nods, looking everywhere but at my face. “You’re right.”
Mason turns to me, though his attention is still clearly on his sister. The scope of his unease seems odd, like he’s deeply worried about her not feeling well.
Then again, when you lose both of your parents to illness within a year of each other, I suppose you might tend to worry more about that sort of thing than the average person does.
“You want to join us?”
I can see the panic in Harper’s eyes and it matches my own. “No,” I say, probably too quickly. “I have another class.”
Mason has already turned his gaze back to Harper. “Next time,” he says vaguely, clearly not caring about my response. “We should go. You look pale. You need to eat.” He casts adistracted glance over his shoulder as he leads her from the room. “See you around, Chase.”
“See you,” I call back weakly, my stomach twisting at the thought of what he had almost caught us doing. He would have killed me. And how in the hell would Harper feel? I think of the way she had gone so pale when she saw him, and how much worse that would have been if we’d been farther along in what I’d been envisioning. The thought of her fear brings a knot of pain to my stomach.
And that, Chase, is exactly the reason you need to keep this shit under control.
HARPER
“Is that what you’re wearing?”
I look up to see Emma standing in the doorway to the living room, arms crossed as she watches me.
I glance down at my sweats and tank top. “Well…yeah. I mean, it’s on my body. I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of wearing something.”
She makes a big show of rolling her eyes. “I mean, is that what you’re wearingtonight?”
My guard immediately goes up. There’s something in her tone I recognize from countless fights over how I spend my free time. “This is completely appropriate for what I plan to do tonight,” I tell her, gesturing to the stack of textbooks on the coffee table.
Emma comes over and perches on the arm of the couch. “Harper, you’re not spending your Friday night studying. You’re not. It’s too lame even for you.”
“Thank you,” I mutter. “You sure know how to make a girl feel good.”
She doesn’t back down. “If you don’t want me to comment on your lameness, you should work on being less lame.” Before Ican argue, she pulls two gold cards from her pocket. “Lucky for you, I’m here to help.”
I narrow my eyes at the cards in her hand. “What are those?” I don’t really need to ask. I know what those cards are. And the recognition has my heart beating faster.
“It’s Public Night at Club Wyld. We’re going.”
My throat is dry. “No. I mean…I can’t.” I gesture at the books on the table again. “I have so much work and?—”
She holds up a hand. “Don’t you give me that, Harper Cain. You work on this crap all week long?—”
“I’m in grad school. It’s a lot of work and commitment.”
She continues as if I hadn’t spoken. “Everyone needs a break once in a while. It’s Friday night! Besides, I didn’t get to go with you last time and I’ve been dying of curiosity ever since.”
I’m starting to feel panicky now. There’s a part of me—a big part—that wants to give in and agree to go with her. The very thought of stepping foot inside Club Wyld again has my stomach clenching in excitement.
But the possibility that I might see Nate has me feeling torn. On one hand, there’s really nothing that I want more than to spend another night in the club with him. On the other, my ability to interact with him in a professional setting is already in question. How much worse will it be if I get another taste of Nate the dominant?
There’s also the fact that he forbade me from returning to the club. But the thought of disobeying him doesn’t actually put me off. In fact, it sends a little thrill of excitement through me, picturing his reaction. How his eyes would grow angry, dark, as he considered the best way to punish me for?—
“Earth to Harper,” Emma says, snapping her fingers near my face. I tear my attention away from the delicious images in my head to focus on my friend. I can feel the heat coming to mycheeks and she grins, triumphant. “I know that look, girlie. You want to go back.”
