Eve of Eternal Night Page 5

  “I know you have hours. That’s where I’m headed.”

  I stopped and shot him a dubious look. One that he clearly found amusing.

  “You need help with your homework, do you?”

  “Yep. Sure do.”

  “Why do I find that hard to believe,” I mumbled to myself as I walked past him.

  “I also have something else I want to ask you about, but I’d rather not do it out here.”

  That got my attention. I looked at him over my shoulder, trying to see if I could learn anything from his expression, but he gave nothing away.

  “Fine. Follow me.”

  Like a good little pup, he walked at my side with his mouth closed until we reached my office. I unlocked it and opened the door, flipping on the light switch as I stepped in. Fenris closed the door behind him and stood in front of it as if on guard.

  “It’s about what happened the other night,” he said, hovering in a way that started to make me nervous.

  “Did the dean find out it was you that knocked that kid out?” I asked, assuming that’s what it was. “Because I didn’t tell him anything when he grilled me. I said I hadn’t seen whoever dropped the wannabe quarterback.”

  Fenris looked at me with confusion in his eyes for a moment until realization dawned in them. He quirked a brow as he folded his arms across his chest. It was then that I knew he wasn’t there to discuss his knockout punch.

  Dammit…

  “So the dean called you in about that incident? He wanted to know who did it and you didn’t tell him it was me?”

  “He actually brought me down there to accuse me of doing it, but—”

  “You didn’t tell him because you didn’t want me to get in trouble.”

  The boy couldn’t have looked more pleased if he’d tried.

  “I didn’t tell him because I hate him with the fire of a thousand suns and would never give him any help intentionally. Also, I don’t know your last name.”

  He made a face at me that screamed ‘nice try’ and took a step deeper into the room. “I’m pretty sure this school isn’t crawling with students named Fenris. I think my first name would have sufficed.”

  I shrugged, not wanting to get into it because the truth was, I didn’t fully understand why I hadn’t turned him in. It would have gotten the dean off my back—a benefit not easily outweighed. But for some reason I couldn’t explain to myself, let alone the eager-looking guy standing before me, the idea of handing him over for his crime had just felt wrong. Whether it was because he’d done it to protect me, or some other reason, I didn’t know. All I knew was, the thought of it felt like a betrayal.

  “You want to know why I think you didn’t do it?” he asked, taking another step closer.

  “Not really—”

  “I think you like me.”

  “I like that you knocked a guy out for me.”

  He shook his head. “I think you actually like me, regardless of my right cross. I think you didn’t want to bail on the party that night—that you really wanted to stay and get to know me.”

  “And by get to know you, you mean sleep with you?”

  His approach came to a grinding halt. “No. No, I don’t.” He looked at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes, and it was so earnest and so honest that I had to look away from him. “Eve,” he said, taking cautious steps toward me. “Whatever you think I had planned for you that night, I didn’t. I just wanted to talk to you. To be around you. That’s all.”

  I shuffled some papers on my desk. “Yeah, well, you’ll have to excuse my skepticism. It’s served me well for a really long time, and it’s a hard habit to break.”

  His hand closed gently over mine, stopping me from my unnecessary stacking of tests to be graded.

  “Eve, please look at me.” With a harsh exhale, I did just that. “I’m sorry for whatever’s been done to you to make you feel like you need body armor just to get through the day, but you don’t need it with me. I’m not that guy.”

  And that’s where you’re wrong, Fenris…

  “We might have to agree to disagree on that one.”

  “Let me prove it to you,” he said, dipping his head lower so he could look into my eyes.

  “I’m honestly frightened by what you’re about to say.”

  “Go out with me. Just dinner. A highly public place of your choosing. I’ll even meet you there if you don’t want me to drive.”

  “Fenris, I can’t—”

  “You can, Eve. All you have to say is ‘yes, Fenris, that sounds amazing’.”

  “But if you’ve come here today for help with chemistry, then you’re technically my student.”

  He threw his arms up like he was celebrating something. “See! That makes it even better. It’s frowned upon. And you seem like the kind of girl who loves to do what she isn’t supposed to.”

  Damn, he had me on that one. “Okay, Fenris, answer me this. If I say yes to this date—which I’m not saying I am—what are the odds of you leaving me alone after that?”

  “Slim to none,” he replied, totally deadpan.

  “Fuuuuuuck,” I said, dropping into my chair. “Is this your plan? Just wear me down until I have to date you?”

  He shrugged. “I mean… if it works…” Before I started to go off on him, he smiled, letting me know he’d totally played me. “Girl, you need to calm down before you blow a gasket or something.”

  “I have no idea what that means, but it sounds messy.”

  “It’s very messy. You should probably avoid it by giving me what I want so I’ll leave and let you get to work.”

  I stared up at him for a long moment, wondering what exactly I was going to do with this stray pup that had latched onto me.

  “Have you no shame?” I asked, choking on a laugh as I said it. I would stew about my inability to stifle it for the rest of the day. The second my façade broke, he knew he had me. I was going to go out with him against my better judgment. Fenris had won.

  And I’d finally met someone more stubborn than I was.

  “Does that mean yes?” he asked, smiling down at me like a boy up to no good.

  “Ugggggh, yes. It means yes. Now get out of my office before I call campus security and have you removed.”

  “Am I picking you up?”

  “Do you know where I live?”

  That damn smile got wider and more mischievous. “Not yet. But I’ll be over at eight.”

  “Make it six. I plan on being home early.”

  That comment earned me a laugh. “I’ll be there at seven, and we’ll see how it goes.”

  “Spoiler alert: it ends with me at home watching a movie alone and you having a cold shower.”

  More laughter. “See you at seven.” He strolled out of the room like a man who’d just done the impossible, then closed the door behind him. For the next two hours, I stared at the clock on my computer and wondered how Fenris the Great had managed to trick me into going out with him.

  I hadn’t been on a date in years.

  But I had one in five hours.

  CHAPTER NINE

  At five minutes of seven, there was a knock on my apartment door. My hope that Fenris wasn’t nearly as crafty as he thought was dashed in an instant. He’d not only ascertained where I lived, but also managed to finagle his way into the building without buzzing me. Like it or not, I really was about to go on a date with him.

  In reality, it wasn’t the worst thing to happen to me. He was tall and good-looking and funny. At minimum, the evening would prove entertaining, and I needed a little more humor in my life. My concern started to creep in when I thought about the after-date stuff. The awkward lingering. The asking to come up to my room. Yeah, I had no problem shooting him down and wounding his red-blooded male pride; the problem was whether I’d want to or not.

  I took a deep breath and tried to think of all the ways I could push him away before I took leave of my senses and let him in. Letting that happen was undoubtedly my worst-case scenario and
one I couldn’t allow, no matter how cute he was when he turned that devilish smile on me.

  A second knock on the door, followed up with “I know you’re in there” from my date, brought me back to the present.

  “Coming!” I yelled, turning off the TV and prying myself off the couch. I walked over to the door and opened it to find Fenris standing there wearing that shit-eating grin. A part of me wanted to slap it off his face.

  Another wanted to do something else entirely with it.

  I quickly looked away in search of my boots. He stepped inside my place and closed the door.

  “Leave it open,” I said quickly. There was an obvious note of panic in my voice that I couldn’t take back. All I could do was hope that Fenris hadn’t heard it, but one look at his face and I knew he had. Concern furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just… we’re about to walk out anyway…”

  Weak. Totally weak excuse.

  “Sure,” he said, forcing a smile at me. I’m sure it was meant to fluff over the whole thing, but it lacked the normal spunk I expected, so it made things worse. He clearly knew something was wrong.

  “So,” I said, slipping on my boot. “Where are you taking me?”

  “That makes it sound like this is a kidnapping… or a hostage situation.”

  Wasn’t it?

  “I’m not leaving here until I know where we’re going.” The firm set of my hands on my hips told him I meant business. He shook his head and laughed.

  “Dinner. We’re going to dinner. Is eating acceptable to you, or are you a breatharian or something?”

  “I literally have no clue what that is, so no, I’m not that.”

  “It’s this group of people who don’t eat. They just live off the energy of the air and—”

  “Okay, let’s go,” I said, pushing him through the door before he could go into a long-winded explanation of something I didn’t care about. We had all of dinner for that to happen.

  He led the way down the stairs to the first floor and out to his car parked in front of the building. I was surprised by the make and model of it. I hadn’t pegged him for a high-end SUV kind of guy; I’d expected more of a daddy’s-hand-me-down to be waiting for me. It made me wonder about who Fenris really was, and whether maybe he and I had more in common than I would have thought.

  “You ready?” he asked, opening the passenger door for me.

  “Such a gentleman.” He made a small gesture with his hand before bowing.

  “I think you’ll find I’m full of surprises once you get to know me.”

  “White knight syndrome?” I asked, standing inside the car door looking up at him.

  He simply shrugged in response. “What can I say? I’m old fashioned.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I mumbled under my breath as I climbed in.

  Damn if that didn’t turn out to be true.

  ***

  “You eat a lot,” I said, watching him carve up the massive porterhouse steak he’d ordered.

  His mouth curled up at the corner around his cheek full of food. “I’m a growing boy.”

  “Pretty sure guys stop growing at twenty-one. Tell me you’re not younger than that. Please. I can’t go out with someone unable to order a drink at a bar.”

  His smirk grew to a smile. “So you want to go out with me, huh? Movin’ a little fast for someone who put up such a stink about having dinner with me.”

  “You know what I meant.”

  “Do I?” he asked, his eyes alight with mischief.

  “I meant that I can’t be the only one drinking tonight. And I will be needing alcohol… lots of it.”

  He looked at me, still smiling, and flagged the waiter over. To prove his age, he ordered a beer (after showing his ID), then turned his gaze to me.

  “Your turn. And remember to pick wisely. You always want to end with what you started the night drinking.”

  A challenge, loud and clear. “I’ll have a shot of tequila.”

  The waiter looked at me strangely, then double-checked that he’d heard me correctly. When he seemed satisfied, he turned and walked away. Fenris met my obstinate stare with wide eyes.

  “I gotta say, Eve, I like your style.”

  When the waiter returned, I accepted the tumbler of amber liquid and tossed it back with one gulp, placing the empty glass back down on the table. I smiled at Fenris, inviting any other challenges he might have for me with that look. It said ‘bring it’ as plain as day. He made a show of taking another bite of steak and chewing it slowly, as if to say ‘girl, I’ve got all night’.

  Try though I did, I couldn’t subdue my amusement with his antics. I smiled despite myself, then quickly looked down at my plate, taking an interest in my pasta.

  “Why do you always shy away when you smile?” he asked, his tone suddenly serious. I kept my eyes down and pushed a piece of penne around my plate with my fork.

  “I don’t know… I guess it makes me uncomfortable.”

  I dared a glance up at him through my lashes. The tight set of his features surprised me. For someone who didn’t seem to take things too seriously, he sure as hell looked serious about that. He opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. A moment later, he tried again.

  “Happy looks good on you,” was his response before he turned his attention back to the half-cow on his plate.

  The sharp retort I’d prepared fell limp on my tongue. “Thanks,” I said quietly, hating how small I felt when I said it. Something about that boy made me feel soft—vulnerable—and I both loved and hated it. Soft only led to pain, a lesson I’d learned a long time ago. Letting people in only ever ended one way—badly.

  I tried to muster my armor to ward off his charms, but my heart seemed reluctant to fully suit up. It was determined to leave a spot exposed for Fenris to claim. And my brain couldn’t dissuade it. In short, I needed to get away from Fenris as fast as possible before I did something stupid, like let him in.

  But that didn’t happen.

  And my inaction had consequences.

  CHAPTER TEN

  By the time we left the restaurant, the two shots of tequila had kicked in. I laughed wildly at some ridiculous story Fenris was relaying—something about a dare and mooning a cafeteria full of students and getting chased out by the lunch lady with a wooden spoon. His ability to reenact it was uncanny; I felt like I was there with him. Tears streamed down my face as I clutched my stomach, contracted to the point of pain because I was laughing so hard. Fenris was only fueled by my reaction, and he kept it up until I begged him to stop. I braced myself against the brick façade of a building, doing all I could to slow my breathing and stop snorting. It wasn’t an attractive sound, but I couldn’t help it. I always did it when I laughed that hard.

  I hadn’t done it in so long, I’d almost forgotten.

  “Please!” I begged between gasps. “I’m going to pee my pants!”

  “She only got one good whack in,” he said, totally ignoring my pleas. Though I was turned so I couldn’t see his face, I could hear in his tone how much he was enjoying torturing me.

  “Fenris, so help me God, if I urinate in the street because of you, I promise this will be our first and final date!”

  He fell quiet in an instant.

  I took that moment to get control of my breathing as well as my bladder. Once I felt certain I wasn’t going to have an epic accident, I turned to find him smiling down at me. For the second time since I’d met Fenris, he knew he’d won.

  And it was really starting to get on my nerves.

  “Payback is hell, mister. That’s all I’m gonna say.”

  “I await it with bated breath.”

  He reached a hand out toward me—such a casual gesture, but one that seemed to mean so much more in that moment. I looked at it as though how I proceeded could forever alter the course of my life. Had I known then that it would, I wondered if I would have taken it. But in that moment, with the pale light of the moon ref
lected in his blue eyes as they stared back at me full of hope and need, it felt so right to extend my hand toward his and accept what he offered. The second we touched, a sense of safety washed over me unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It warmed me in places I’d never realized were cold. Frozen, even.

  It awakened a part of me that would never go back to sleep.

  ***

  Fenris insisted on walking me to my apartment building from the car, using my famed ‘can never be too careful’ line against me. I was starting to regret having ever said that in front of him. He parroted it whenever it suited his purposes.

  Clever little bastard.

  “Do you want me to walk you up?” he asked as we stood in front of the main entrance.

  “Are you afraid I’m going to be jumped between here and the third floor?”

  “It happens.”

  “And then what? Are you going to offer to escort me from my living room to my bedroom? Just in case?”

  His eyes went from playful to full of lust at the mere mention of my bedroom. Clearly I hadn’t fully thought that comeback through. My cheeks flushed as my heart started to race. Seeing how flustered I was, he leaned in toward me, his pace slow but sure. Those bright blue eyes held my gaze as he bent his head down toward mine, leaning in for a kiss.

  “I should go!” I blurted out, fumbling with my keys to open the exterior door.

  I heard him chuckle before exhaling hard. “Aren’t you supposed to have those out and ready to go when you come home at night?”

  “Why? Aren’t you here to keep me safe? I thought that was the point.”

  He went quiet for a moment, and I looked up over my shoulder to find sharp eyes looking down at me.

  “I will always keep you safe,” he replied. His words carried a weight that settled on my heart, slowing it considerably. I had no idea how to reply to that, so I forced a smile, then turned to unlock the door. Once it was open, I stepped halfway through and looked back at the funny-yet-serious boy standing behind me.