Page 31 of Wicked Devotions

Her eyes snap to mine. “You have a lock, learn how to use it.”

“You have a hand, learn how to use it.”

Her cheeks redden. “I know how to use it.”

“Do you?” I let my eyes roam over her body suggestively. “I’d like to see that.” The thought of watching her touch herself has me fully hard.

As soon as she figures out the innuendo, her gaze immediately moves to the ceiling. “I only came in here to tell you that you can’t just barge in the way you did earlier. I can handle myself. I need to be tougher when people are trying to help me.”

“Who is barging in on whom here?” I ask with a smirk.

She makes a frustrated sound in the back of her throat and turns on her heel, slamming the door behind her. I know what will be getting me through this shower.Fuck.

Several hourslater after not seeing her the rest of the evening, I have my ear pressed against her door to see if she’s busy. All I hear is the muffled sounds of a Taylor Swift album and possibly fingers on a keyboard. I consider letting myself in the way she did earlier, but I actually want our conversation tonight to be productive, so I knock.

“Come in.”

I turn the knob and push open the door to thesight of her in the middle of her bed surrounded by textbooks. She looks up at me, very clearly annoyed. So cute. So adorably irritated.

Be nice, don’t antagonize.

“What do you want?” she asks.

“I wanted to apologize.”

Her eyebrows creep up her forehead. “Really?”

“Yeah. For teasing you about checking me out while I was naked.”

So much for not antagonizing her.

“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes and goes back to the book in her lap. “You can leave.”

“What was that Derek guy saying to you earlier? Don’t say it was nothing because I saw your face and you weren’t okay.”

She sighs heavily before answering. “He just said something that my dad used to say to me a lot. I don’t want to repeat it, but I am glad you showed up when you did. Thank you.”

I’m not happy with that answer, but I don’t want to push. “What are you working on?”

“A persuasive essay for English.”

“I can proofread it for you when you finish.”

“Thanks.” She doesn’t look like she’ll be taking me up on that offer anytime soon.

Her phone lights up with a FaceTime requestfrom Banks, but to my surprise she declines it. It’s the perfect opening to ask her about him. If something has happened between them, I need to know for safety purposes in case the three of us can’t be with her.

“What’s going on with Banks? Cy told me he was sleeping on the couch this weekend.”

“Is that all he told you?”

“Yes. But if there’s more I’d like to know.”

“It’s not important.”

“If it involves you and could involve your safety, I think it is important.”

“How would something between Banks and me affect my safety here?”