Page 78 of WTF
His simple thanks was not my reward. It was the give in his energy, the way I felt him relax. The way he drank the coffee I brought him, knowing I provided something that warmed him from the inside out.
Sometimes when I looked into his crystalline eyes, I could see my reflection, and in those eyes, I always looked like a version of myself that didn’t exist… but wanted to.
And it was that want that shattered the spell.
“Why didn’t you tell me Rush was your roommate?”
Lars blinked as though he, too, had been under a spell that my words destroyed.
“Because it has nothing to do with you,” he said, turning toward his locker, shoving some of the mess out of the way so he could set down the coffee and reach for his windbreaker.
“The hell it doesn’t!”
Lars swung back toward me, the ice in his stare freezing me in place. “I’m pretty sure you made it clear we have nothing to do with each other.”
My back teeth gnashed together as frustration filled me. “Ryan doesn’t trust him.”
“The issues between Ryan and Rush have nothing to do with me.”
I reeled as jealousy burned hot in my veins. “You trust him?”
“He’s never given me a reason not to.” Lars stabbed me with his stare before turning away once more. “And I’ve trusted people for less.”
The sweet words he’d said to me earlier turned sour.I trust you.
“You don’t even know him,” I growled.
“We share a tiny room. I know him better than you think.”
I sucked in a breath, his words a roundhouse kick to my stomach. “Are you sleeping with him?” I demanded, the accusation strained and low.
Lars grabbed the coffee from his locker before slamming it shut. “Again, I would have to wonder what that would have to do with you.”
Unfiltered rage boiled beneath my skin, turning me hot. The idea of anyone touching him, seeing all that pale skin, hearing his moans… The vivid image of someone other than me feeding him cum off their fingers made me want to kill. “If he’s touched you…” I threatened, the rage so potent I couldn’t even finish the sentence.
Lars calmly took a sip of the coffee, his eyes never leaving me. After swallowing, he leaned over, placing the cup on the bench running between the lockers. “Says the man who acts like pouncing and bouncing is his second major.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Only as jealous as you are,” he countered, smug.
He started past me, but I couldn’t let him go. “Lars.”
He swung back, all the calm smugness in his eyes giving way to flashing anger. “You can’t have it both ways, Win. You asked me to stay away, and I have. Stop making it harder for me to do whatyouwant. Don’t talk to the diner. Don’t worry about my roommate. Don’t bring me coffee and calm my nerves.”
“What do you want?”
Surprise furrowed his brows almost as though he didn’t understand.
Have I never asked him this before?“What do you want?” I repeated, the question gentle but the need for the answer anything but.
His entire face fell. “Does it even matter?”
Oh fuck.I was overwhelmed with the urge to scoop him up and promise to give whatever it was his angel heart desired. I was silent a heartbeat too long, the war within me a little too violent.
“Thanks for the coffee, Win,” he said, glancing at the cup he’d abandoned to the bench. “But I think I’ll just get my own.”
When he walked away, I realized something. Those pieces I was always left holding together when someone I loved went away…