Midnight Secrets
Chapter 16

Shit.

The shit-eating grin that had been absent from Leon’s face was back with a vengeance. “Have fun, you two crazy kids.” He reached over and ruffled my hair, laughing when I smacked his hand away.

Even though Leon was an asshole who was enjoying this way too much, I was tempted to ask him to stay as he strolled away. Maybe I could continue my chicken streak and hurry to my car. This wasn’t like last night when I had to rely on one of them for a ride.

Before I could attempt to put my plan in motion, Cassius grabbed my hips and pinned me against the brick wall, caging me in so I couldn’t move. “Oh no, you don’t, not twice in one day,” he murmured, dipping his head close to mine.

No excuses came to mind as to why I snuck out of his bed this morning. At least not any reasonable ones that didn’t make me look like a big chicken. I could’ve handled it better, but I never knew how to act around him, and that was before something happened between us.

“That was some disappearing act you pulled,” he murmured, his fingers flexing against my hips, and my mind conjured up the feeling of them pumping in and out of my pussy. And this time, these thoughts were all mine and had my body reacting.

“I had to get back to my room,” I finally whispered, but the excuse sounded as weak and flimsy as it did this morning.

“Hmm, and you couldn’t have woken me up for a ride?” A shiver raced through my body and settled in my throbbing pussy. My brain immediately jumped into the gutter and imagined a different kind of ride I could get from him.

I didn’t have a response to give to him, and his close proximity wasn’t helping matters. His mouth was mere inches away, and all I could think about was how soft his full lips looked, remembering how they felt on my skin.

How would his lips feel against mine? Would he kiss in the same manner he ate out my pussy?

“Fuck it,” I murmured, fisting his hair and pulling his head down to close the distance between our lips. He immediately responded to the kiss, his hold on my hips tightening as he flattened me against the wall. Every part of his body lined up with mine, his hard cock pressing against my stomach, making me gasp. He took that as an opportunity for his tongue to plunge into my mouth, taking complete control of the kiss. I was right, he kissed the way he fucked, with complete control and expert precision.

A rumbling groan vibrated his chest when I tugged on his hair and shifted my hips against his as he devoured my mouth.

As the kiss went on, an icy awareness tried breaking through the moment, and I vaguely heard the door to the diner open. Out of nowhere, a shrill screech flooded my brain and had me jerking away from Cassius as I clutched my head and dropped my forehead against Cassius’ chest. He cupped my face, tilting my head back, but I couldn’t see his expression with how tightly my eyes were squeezed shut.

With how I couldn’t hear anything, I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me, nor did I have the capacity to think about anything other than how my head felt like it was about to explode.

As quickly as it came on, the ringing vanished, and I was able to catch part of the argument. I almost wished I could go back to hearing that shrill ringing when I heard Ezra’s voice. “—all your fault. What are you doing to her?”

My eyes snapped open, and I found him standing beside us, his stance was aggressive, like he was about to reach out and pull me away from Cass.

“We both know I didn’t do a goddamn thing,” Cass practically growled, his chest vibrating under my hands.

“Rhea, come with me; I’ll make sure you get home safe.” Ezra’s voice had become silky, like the softest satin, as his scent tried choking me. You can trust him: he saved you last night. He can treat you better. He is the better man. The words whispered through my head, attempting to confuse me further.

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Cassius growled, his body tense against mine, but his hold on my waist remained gentle.

“Cass, can you take me home? I don’t feel so good,” I whispered, feeling dizzy, slightly nauseous, and the beginnings of a splitting headache. Even though I had driven here, I didn’t feel like I was in any state to be driving.

“Rhea, you’re out of it. You aren’t think—”

“Leave me alone,” I snapped at Ezra, wishing he’d shut the fuck up for once.

Cass kept an arm wrapped around my waist as he guided me away. I stumbled, nearly missing the curb when the whispering voices got louder, begging me to choose Ezra. Lucky for me, Cass caught me before I fell, pulling me into his arms and carrying me the rest of the way to his Jeep.

I didn’t fight Cass as he placed me in the front seat and buckled my seatbelt for me. As he circled to the driver’s side, I dropped my face in my hands, wondering what the fuck was going on. I’d grown somewhat used to the voices—a sentence I never thought would go through my head—but that shrill and unpleasant sound that blocked out everything else had been new. Was this a sign there was something wrong with me, either medically or psychologically? I’d been able to rationalize the voices in my head, sort of, but now my fears that I was going insane couldn’t be ignored.

As we drove, the whispering voices abruptly faded. I couldn’t be too sure if I was trying to rationalize or not, but I noticed a pattern emerging. The random thoughts were only ever about Ezra. If they had been thoughts or images about me going off on him or running away, I would’ve just chalked it up to my self-conscious, warning me how dangerous he was, but they weren’t. I knew I didn’t harbor a secret thing for him, and not only that, but my normal thoughts weren’t whispers that almost sounded nothing like me. Other than the random shower scene, the thoughts only happened when he was around. Case in point, they stopped as soon as we drove away from him.

I was probably being ridiculous with this line of thought and firmly in denial about losing my mind, but was he somehow responsible for all the weird shit going on with me lately?

“Talk to me,” Cass begged, a hint of worry leaking into his tone as he kept giving me side-eyed glances. “Are you alright?”

There was no way in hell I would tell him about the voices or my crazy theory. I didn’t even have any idea how he’d be able to do it. Was I seriously suggesting he had superpowers?

I rubbed my temples as my head throbbed. “Yep, just the world’s worst headache and a guy that can’t take a fucking hint. I’d say I should’ve spit in his food and drink, but I think he’d like that.”

Cass’ grip on the steering wheel tightened, the muscles in his forearms flexing and distracting my train of thought. “I could take care of him for you,” he murmured, and I had to lean close to hear him with how softly he’d spoken.

“And how do you plan to accomplish that? Fight him?”

The look Cass gave me said he would do just that.

“Be serious.”

“Oh, I am.” There were no traces of humor in his expression or anything to suggest he was saying that just to say it. A burst of panic built in my chest as I remembered how brutally Ezra had beaten that man.

“You can’t fight that guy. He’s crazy: he could seriously hurt you.”

Cass chuckled as he shot me another sideways glance. “Wow, that’s exactly what every man wants to hear from a woman: how weak she thinks he is. You really know how to boost my ego.”

“I’m serious. There’s something seriously off about the guy.” I shifted in my seat so I could fully face him, hoping he’d take this seriously. The thought of him fighting Ezra had my stomach in knots. What if something happened to him because of me? I could never live with myself knowing I was the reason he was hurt.

“That’s why you need to stay away from him.”

“I’ve been trying,” I grumbled, resting my head against the headrest as I continued watching Cass. I rubbed at my temples, trying to stave off this headache, even though I doubted it would work. “He can’t approach me during class, and I make sure to walk in a crowd when leaving class.”

“I think you should drop the class.”

My jaw dropped as I struggled to replace my words. “No way. I’m not going to let the fact he creeps me out screw up my education.”

“Besides,” I quickly added when Cassius opened his mouth to argue. “He’s shown he doesn’t need class with me as an excuse to be around me. I hadn’t been leaving class when he showed up last night. Are you going to suggest I leave school? Because that’s the only way to ensure I never cross paths with him again.”

We were silent for the rest of the drive until Cassius pulled into the dorm parking lot and into a parking space. “Umm, what are you doing?” I asked when he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“I’m walking you to your room.” Before I could argue, he climbed out of the driver’s seat.

Moments later, the passenger door opened, and he unbuckled my seatbelt before I could protest. “I can walk,” I grumbled, shoving his hands away when he reached for me. A smirk pulled at his lips as he stepped back, distracting me enough that I misjudged the distance and stumbled getting out of his Jeep. His hands landed on my hips before I could fall, stabilizing me. I didn’t need to look at his face to know he was silently laughing at me.

“Not a word,” I muttered, pointing at him as I stepped back and headed toward my dorm.

He easily caught up to me and dropped his arm around my shoulders like it was nothing, but it wasn’t nothing, not to me. When I was a kid, I lived for those all-too-brief casual touches, and apparently, nothing had changed.

Many of the girls in the building were checking him out as we headed toward the elevators. I wasn’t blind. I knew he was gorgeous, but this was ridiculous. There was even a bold and rude chick who hit on him as we waited for the elevator. It made me regret living on the ninth floor since it gave her more time to hit on him, especially with how she lived on the floor below me. It was like I wasn’t there in her eyes even though Cass’ arm was still draped over my shoulders. She shamelessly flirted with him, and while he wasn’t engaging, he wasn’t discouraging her.

The way she kept flirting with him was grating my nerves and pissing me off. I wanted to point out I was still here and possibly tell her to back off, but I did none of those things. Not only because it probably wouldn’t change anything but because it would be my luck that I’d bump into her a bunch after this. Instead, I reached up and began toying with Cass’ fingers resting on my shoulder. He gave me a side-eyed glance, but other than that, he gave no other reaction.

We were nearing the seventh floor and close to being rid of her when she upped her boldness and invited him to her room, stating her roommates wouldn’t be home for a few hours. My hold on his hand tightened as I bit back the many retorts and swears coming to my mind.

“Sorry, my girlfriend and I aren’t interested in a threesome,” Cass casually said, the corner of his lips lifting, seeming unbothered by how I was squeezing the fuck out of his hand.

My gasp was drowned out by hers as I looked up at him in surprise at how he called me his girlfriend. I knew he’d only done so to get her to quit hitting on him, but it still affected me, and I found I liked hearing him call me that.

The chick looked flustered as she finally looked my way, opening and closing her mouth, but nothing came out. When the elevator doors opened, she couldn’t get through them fast enough. Despite how I’d been seconds from slapping her across the face, I had to press my hand to my mouth to stifle my laugh.

“I’ve never seen someone leave an elevator that fast before.” As I spoke, I Ioosened my death grip on his hand.

He laced his fingers through mine when I went to let go, preventing me from retreating and pretending it didn’t happen.

I was more than happy to get off that damn elevator and wanted to forget that whole annoying situation that just went down. As we approached my room, I went to grab my keys when Cass pressed my back against my door, preventing me from retreating. “Do you want to explain to me what just happened?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I murmured, my voice hitching as he pressed against me.

“Hmm, so that wasn’t you being jealous?” He asked, his breath fanning over my lips.

No sounds came out as I opened and closed my mouth. It may have been stupid, but I was jealous. He’d barely paid her any mind, but I couldn’t stop this possessive urge that suddenly came over me.

Before I could come up with some lie that neither of us would believe, he slammed his lips against mine as he wrapped my ponytail around his hand and used it to tilt my head back. Standing up on my tiptoes, I hungrily kissed him back as I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him even closer.

The kiss ended far too soon, but even so, I was breathless when he pulled back and dropped his forehead against mine.

“See? Nothing to be jealous of; she’s nothing compared to you,” he murmured before pressing another too-brief kiss on my lips. He gave me one last smug grin before retreating down the hall and entering the elevator.

All I could do was numbly stare after him. My body buzzed from the kiss, and I wished I hadn’t let him leave.