Perfectly Protected (Addicted To You, Book Three) (3 page)

“What an asshole,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “I hate people like that, who think they have to be jerks just to be jerks.”

“He was completely jerky.” I sighed. We were sitting outside on a blanket later that day, our books spread out around us, about to settle in for a nice long study session.

It was nice to be sitting amidst the grass and the trees and the beautiful, old buildings of Cambridge University that had so much history. The sunlight was still perfect for reading and it filtered softly through the leaves above our heads.

“You weren’t even that late,” Rachel reassured me. “He just wanted to make an example of you so people would be scared of him. He probably has a small…you know what.”

“A small you know what?” I frowned.

“Yeah, a small, you know,
member.”

“Oh my God,” I said. “That is disgusting. You did not just talk about Dr.

Klaxton’s member. And besides, who calls it that?”

“I’m trying to experiment with my vocabulary. Today in English I used the word avarice.”

“I thought you were experimenting with different names.”

“I was,” she said. “But then I realized that maybe I was meant to be a Rachel after all.” She titled her chin up, considering. “Or maybe a Zoe.”

“Hey, stranger,” a voice said.

I looked up, shading my eyes from the late afternoon sun. It was Adam. He was tossing a football back and forth between his hands, and he was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a navy blue Cambridge University t-shirt. He couldn’t have looked more collegiate if he’d tried.

“Hi, Adam.” I smiled and hoped he wouldn’t bring up what had happened the other night, when I’d run out of Frog like a crazy person. “What’s up?”

“Not much. Just tossin’ the ball around.” He tossed it a little higher, this time putting a spin on it.

“Have you met Rachel?” I asked.

“No, he hasn’t,” Rachel said. “I would have remembered.” She gave him a smile and stretched out her hand. “I’m Rachel.”

“I’m Adam.” He took her hand. “Nice to meet you.” He gave her a friendly smile back, but then immediately turned his attention to me. “What are you up to tonight? You wanna grab frozen yogurt? My treat.”

I tried to think of a reason why I couldn’t. But I wasn’t able to come up with one.

“Sure,” I said. “That sounds great.”

“Cool. Pick you up at your room tonight?”

“Sounds good.”

“See you then. Nice meeting you, Rachel.” He took off back toward his friends, and Rachel and I watched him go.

“Wow,” Rachel said. “He’s gorgeous.”

“You think?”

“Um, yeah. I don’t think it’s really a matter of opinion.”

She was right. Adam was gorgeous, in that Abercrombie model kind of way. He had dirty blonde hair and broad shoulders and a perfect smile. But while I could appreciate that he was good-looking, it was more in a detached way, like looking at a beautiful painting that you didn’t quite understand.

Adam was hot, but that was it. And while I could see that, while anyone could see that, it was nothing like it was with Justin.

With Justin, there was… I don’t know…
heat.
Justin was sexy and dangerous, and every time I was around him, my stomach had butterflies and my heart felt like it was on fire.

I’d been thinking about him all day. Okay, “thinking” wasn’t really the right word. I’d been
obsessing
about him all day. Ever since I’d met him, I couldn’t get him out of my head. It was frustrating and exciting all at once.

My cell phone was sitting on the blanket next to me, and I glanced at it. No new texts. Not that I’d expected him to text me tonight. Even though he’d said he would.

Hadn’t he? Or had he just said “I’ll text you?” I couldn’t remember if “tonight” had been part of it. I’d replayed our interactions over and over so many times that I was starting to doubt how much was true, and how much I’d added in my head.

“Waiting for a call?” Rachel asked nonchalantly. She was bent over her book, her long blonde hair falling in front of her face.

“No,” I said, turning my cell over to hide the screen. “I’m not.”

“You sure? Because you seem a little preoccupied with your phone.”

“No, I’m not.” As if to prove it, I turned my phone off. “See? Turned it right off.”

“Okay.” She bit her lip, and I could tell she wanted to ask me about what happened last night, about where I was and what I was doing. But we weren’t that close.

We’d only met a couple of days ago, and either she was really good at protecting people’s privacy, or she didn’t feel comfortable asking me such a personal question.

We studied for a while, and I did my best to block everything out and concentrate on my work. I had my o-chem reading to do, and I took copious notes so I could go over them later. We had our first quiz next week, along with our first lab session, and I was determined to do well. If Dr. Klaxton didn’t like me as a person, that was one thing. But when it came to grades, I was going to show him I was just as capable as anyone else.

After a while, Rachel had to leave to meet a study group in the library.

As soon as she was gone, I turned my phone on, holding my breath as it booted up and the little apple appeared on the screen.

Please let me have a text, please let me have a text…

But there was nothing.

Justin hadn’t texted me.

Should I text him?

I wanted to talk to him so badly, but I knew that to text him would seem ridiculously eager. He was the type of guy that I’m sure had girls texting him and calling him all the time. Did I really want to just be another?

No. I shook my head and put my phone down, and then returned to my reading.

But fifteen minutes later, I was back to staring at my phone.

I couldn’t stop myself.

What’s up?
I typed.
How’s your day going?

As soon as I hit send, fear and excitement ran through my body.

It was just a text, but it felt like so much more.

And even though there was a second of relief, what I hadn’t realized was that now I was going to be in even more agony. Because now I had to wait to see if he was going to text me back.

Fifteen minutes later, he still hadn’t texted me back.

Half an hour later, he still hadn’t texted me back.

Forty minutes later, he still hadn’t texted me back.

Finally, so much time had gone by that it was almost time to have frozen yogurt with Adam, so I packed up the blanket Rachel and I had been sitting on and headed back up to my room.

I put on some music and grabbed my gray and pink hoodie out of my closet. The night had been getting a little chilly, and I wanted to make sure I stayed warm.

I was just about to turn my phone off again, because I couldn’t take the anticipation, when it beeped with a text.

Day is good.

I stared at it.

Day is good?

Day is
good?

He’d stripped me almost naked last night, held me in his arms, and now he was saying
day is good?

Anger flared through me, and before I could even think about what I was doing, I was texting him back.

Glad to hear it
.
Off to have frozen yogurt with Adam. Later.

I sent it and then turned my phone off.

Hopefully he would be able to infer that Adam was the guy at the hospital with me. Of course, Justin had obviously thought Adam was kind of a wimp, but whatever.

Adam showed up little while later, which I appreciated. This was how boys were supposed to act. They were supposed to make plans with you in advance, and then come and pick you up at an agreed upon time, not just arrive at your doorstep whenever they felt like it, expecting you to just drop everything to be with them.

Adam was courteous.

He was respectful.

He was nice.

We walked to the yogurt shop. It was one of those places where you pay by the ounce, and so we filled our cups with yogurt and then piled the toppings on nice and high.

I chose vanilla yogurt, then topped it with snickers and peanut butter sauce.

“That’s all you want?” Adam asked. He was putting tons and tons of toppings on his, everything from Fruity Pebbles to Reese’s Pieces.

“Yeah,” I said. “I like to keep it simple.”

“Not me,” he said as he dumped a scoop of chocolate chips into his cup. “I figure I’m here, I might as well do it right.”

I tried to pay for my yogurt, but Adam wouldn’t let me.

“Thanks,” I said. “Especially since I already owe you for the drink you bought me the other night.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized I’d given him an opportunity to ask me why I’d left the bar so suddenly like that.

“No problem.” He waved his hand like it wasn’t a big deal and then led us to a tiny wrought iron table outside on the sidewalk. “But what was that about, anyway?”

“What do you mean?” I asked as I sat down, trying to stall.

“You just ran out of there.” He grinned at me. “It wasn’t something I did, was it?” His tone made it clear that he knew this was impossible, that there was no way he could have ever done something that would have upset someone.

“No,” I said. “It wasn’t you. I think I was just tired, and I wasn’t feeling good.

I’m not used to drinking.”

He nodded, a concerned look on his face. “I shouldn’t have given you that alcohol.”

“No!” I said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Adam shook his head. “I thought it would be okay, but I should have known better. I’m sorry.” He reached across the table and squeezed my hand.

“Well, well, well, isn’t this cozy,” a voice said.

Justin was standing in front of our table.

“Oh, God,” Adam groaned. “Not this guy again.”

“How did you find me?” I blurted. My heart was doing a dance in my chest, and my stomach immediately tied into a knot.

“You said you were going for yogurt and this is the closest thing to campus. So I thought I’d come and join you.” He grabbed a chair from a nearby table and slid it over to ours.

“This is a two person table,” Adam pointed out.

Justin shrugged, then peered into Adam’s cup. “Your yogurt looks like ass.”

“Justin!” I said. “Don’t be rude.” What was he doing here anyway? Did he come because he knew I was with another guy? Was he jealous? It was crazy, but the thought filled me with happiness.

“I’m not being rude,” Justin said. “I’m just stating a fact.” He looked into my cup, then reached out and grabbed my spoon and took a bite. “Now that’s delicious. You need to give Cambridge Boy here a lesson in ice cream making, Pippi.”

Adam stared at him. “What is he talking about?” he asked me.

“He’s calling you Cambridge Boy because he thinks you’re a stuck up ivy-leaguer,” I explained. “And he calls me Pippi because I wore my hair in braids.”

Justin smiled as if I’d just given him a great compliment.

“That’s ridiculous and stupid,” Adam said. “Not to mention condescending.”

“Nah,” Justin said. He put my spoon down. “It’s only condescending if I think I’m better than you.” He thought about it. “Which I guess I do, so actually -- “

Adam stood up, like maybe he was going to hit him.

And then Justin stood up. Only Justin was smiling. He reached out and patted Adam’s shoulder. “I appreciate the sentiment, but—really, dude? You’ve got to be kidding.”

Adam’s face grew red as he seemed to realize that Justin didn’t consider him a threat. “You’re a real dick. And she shouldn’t be wasting her time with you,” Adam said.

Then
I
had to stand up. The last thing I wanted was for Adam to bait Justin into a fight, because that wouldn’t end well for Adam.

“Justin, can I talk to you for a second? Down the street.” I put my hands on his chest and started to push him a few feet away. “I’ll be right back,” I called to Adam.

We walked around the side of the building.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demanded.

“What the hell do I think I’m doing? What the hell do you think
you’re
doing?”

“Having frozen yogurt with a friend.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Which, last time I checked, isn’t a crime.”

“Trying to make me jealous is what you were doing,” he said.

“I was not!” I lied.

“Please.” He scoffed. “There’s no way you really like that tool.”

“He’s not a tool,” I said. “He’s nice.”

“I don’t get a good vibe from him,” Justin said. “Something’s off about that guy.”

“You’ve spent all of five seconds with him.”

“I don’t want you seeing him anymore.”

“You don’t have the right to say that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why?”

“Because – ” His phone rang then, and he glanced down at the screen. “Just a second.” He walked a few steps away from me and answered the call.

I couldn’t believe he was taking a phone call when we were in the middle of a conversation. Talk about rude!

“Yeah,” he said. “What? Are you sure?” He listened and his expression darkened with whatever he was hearing. “Okay, I’m going there now.”

He hung up, then turned and looked at me. “I have to go. We’ll talk about this later.” He stared to walk away from me down the street.

My mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me?” I demanded, chasing after him.

“Are you kidding me? You’re leaving?”

“I have something to take care of.” He wasn’t t looking at me anymore. Instead, he was looking straight ahead, his eyes intense.

“You’re acting crazy,” I said.

“I’m acting crazy? You’re the one chasing me down the street.”

I realized he was right. “Fine,” I said. “Good bye.” I turned around, but he called after me.

“Lindsay!”

I stopped.

He walked back a few steps. “Look, I’m sorry. Something came up. I’ll call you later.”

“What came up?”

He shook his head. “I can’t get into it.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s… it’s not something I want to expose you to.”

“I want to go with you.”

He looked at me like I really was insane. “No.”

“Yes!”

“You can’t.” He shook his head vehemently.