“Is that what I think it is?” I asked, staring at the bag between my legs.
Ollie handed me a cup. “Working on baby number three,” he took a sip from his cup, closed his eyes, savored, and swallowed. It had been so long since I’d seen him do that. That small gesture told me he’d been waiting for that first sip until he got back to me. “Eat. We have no time to waste.”
In no time, I scarfed down the glazed croissant before Ollie rushed me out the door. “You’re freaking me out. What’s gotten into you?” I asked as he pulled me down the hallway.
“I have ten minutes before the rest of the campus wakes up. Ten minutes,” Ollie pushed through the door and turned to face me, grabbing two towels from the shelf with a rebellious smile. “You and I are making love in that shower one last time,” he took a step forward, eating the distance between us, “I promised myself I’d never fuck you like that again, so this time will be different. I’m going to fuck you, Mia, then make sweet love to you, then go back and do it all over again. I want you fast, slow, and turn you into a pile of fucking mess in my arms. Is that okay with you?”
My tongue wasn’t working. I opened my mouth and shut it again. Ollie raised a brow. “Yeah,” I cleared my throat. “yeah, that sounds … yeah.”
“Good.” Ollie threw the towels over his shoulder and picked me up in his arms walking me into our stall until my back hit the wall. He flipped the water on, and ice-cold water sprayed over us, but neither one of us cared.
It happened quick—the tearing off of clothes. My legs clenched around Ollie’s waist all while his tongue collided with mine. “Christ, Mia … always ready,” he breathed against my mouth. “Forgive me,” he rushed out before snaking his arm behind my back, and slammed inside.
The instant connection was mind-blowing.
Ollie held true to his word.
He took me hard and deep with angelic hands and the kiss of a saint.
Then we made slow, sweet love.
And then he did it all over again.
And not just in the shower—in the library, too.
“I’m going to be busy for most of the day,” Ollie informed as we got dressed in our nook under the skylight. He pulled his Poetic hoodie over his head and pushed his overgrown hair back. His eyes hit mine, and he shook his head with disbelief in his eyes and whispered to himself, “I don’t deserve you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his raw lips gently. Ollie’s fingers dragged down my sides, sending shivers up my spine. “Are you going to be okay without me?”
I nodded, and his mouth inched down my neck. “What’s keeping you from spending the day with me? What’s so important?” I asked, struggling to hold it together while his mouth covered my nipple.
“Our future,” he looked up from below, “but if you don’t put your shirt back on, that will be at risk.” I dropped my head back and laughed, and Ollie’s hands gripped my sides as he came back up. “There are last-minute things I need to take care of,” his hands drifted up to my chest, my neck, then cupped my face, “Three-o-clock, love. I’ll have our bags packed and a car waiting for us. Say it, Mia. Say Three-o-clock.”
“Three-o-clock.”
Ollie kissed me. “I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you more.”
Ollie kissed me again.
My head darted over to Liam. “You can’t seriously go back to that house,” he whisper-shouted. “They are poison. He’s going to send you away … and what’s next? Military school?”
My head snapped to Jake.
“You don’t know him,” Jake seethed.
Liam slammed his palm over the table in the mess hall, and my head darted back to him. “He doesn’t know you! Not like I do!” Liam shouted.
My head whipped back and forth between the two as if I were caught in an episode of Jerry Springer, when finally, I held up a palm in both their faces. “You guys need to chill out. Take it somewhere else. You’re ruining release day for me,” I pouted. “Jake, what is keeping you from going with Liam?”
“Easy,” he fell back into the chair and crossed his legs. “My dad would kill me.”
I nodded and tilted my head. “Convincing argument.”
“Bullshit excuse.” Liam released his band, and his blond hair fell over his shoulders. He twisted the rubber band around his wrist nervously. “I’ve been gay for what? Two fucking seconds, and already both my parents are accepting and offered to open their house to you. Your dad is a coward. Hardly a man of God.”
“Whoa,” I cut in.
Jake’s eyes bulged before he leaned forward. “My dad wasn’t raised by gormless white trash, pikey. He has standards. Pardon me if those standards are over your head.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” Liam matched Jake’s distance, and his blond hair fell over his face. “You know … I pity you, Jake. Really, I do. Don’t be crying for me when you’re standing in the desert with a SA80 strapped around your shoulder and piss running down your leg.” Liam jumped up, the chair screeched against the marble, and he took off, but not before flipping the chair to the ground.
My eyes slid back to Jake, who had his lips pursed, and arms crossed firmly over his chest.
“He has a point,” I stated.
“Bugger off, Crap-bag. No one asked you,” Jake said, moving his head back and forth.
I stood to my feet and dropped my head, so we were eye level. “He obviously loves you, and I know you love him too. You’re not choosing Liam over your father by doing this, you’re choosing love. Go with him. I promise you, if you don’t, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Now get your head out of your ass and go after him.”
With that, I left.
Two hours left before three-o-clock, and there was one last person I had to see before making my way to Lynch’s office to sign out. Tyler, Jude, and I said our goodbyes the day before, and Dr. Conway and me celebrated our last session last week. The rest of these two hours I’d saved for Ethan.
I searched the entire floor—every room, every hall, every bathroom. Nothing. I turned the hall, and my gaze fell on Liam and Jake in a deep make-out session at the end. From the looks of it, Jake came to his senses, and my heart squeezed in my chest. My feet made their way up the stairs to the third floor where the classrooms were, and again, I searched every room.
And my eyes checked every clock I’d passed to keep up with the time.
An hour and a half left.
I pushed through the last door when I heard sounds coming from an adjoined abandoned room. When I made it to the door, I slowly pushed it open. “Ethan?” I called out.
I made it through the door and completely froze at the view before me.
Lionel, a student I’d only known in passing, hung from the ceiling, kicking his legs back and forth over an abandoned chair with a rope around his neck. I wanted to scream, but fear wrapped a tight leash around my throat. I tried to run, but my feet felt as if they were nailed to the ground.
My eyes burned. My hands shook. And finally, I spun around to see Ethan. His eyes were hazy and red—a raging fire burning inside them. He covered my mouth with his hand and pinned me against the wall. “I’m so sorry, Mia,” he whispered, and I no longer recognized the man staring back at me. My eyes strained, darting back and forth to the guy struggling for his life hanging from the ceiling. “It’s not what you think,” Ethan chanted in my ear with his hand pressed firmly against my mouth, muffling my screams as the boy slowly suffocated before me.