Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
“Brynn?”
I whirl around, eyes slightly wide. This close to the frat house, my mind goes straight to the Rho Kappas and the party last night, but when I turn, I see a guy from my physics class standing there. “Oh, hey, Liam.”
“I thought that was you.” He flashes me a dimpled smile. “You’re out late. Don’t you have class in the morning?”
I crack a smile. “Yep. Don’t you as well?”
“Guilty. But I’m meeting friends for dinner a half hour outside the city after my last class, and if I didn’t get gas tonight, I’d be walking there.”
“Hey, then you could skip the gym,” I joke.
He flashes me a winning smile, his gaze dropping to the bag of SmartPop in my hand. “You like popcorn, huh?”
“I… do,” I say with an uncertain laugh.
“There’s a gourmet popcorn place downtown. Their salted caramel is killer. We should go after the physics seminar on Tuesday. We can sit together and head into the city as soon as it’s over.”
“Oh, that sounds nice,” I say, searching for a polite excuse to decline.
Before I can come up with one, however, Killian rounds the corner. I glance his way, but he’s not looking at me. His jaw is locked, his gaze fixed on Liam before he even had a face to put to the voice. “Sorry, pal. Brynn already has a date to that seminar.”
Surprise flashes across Liam’s harmlessly handsome face. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t realize. I also don’t recognize you from our physics class.”
Killian drapes an arm over my shoulders, letting his hand and whatever he’s holding in it drift into view as he pulls me closer. “I’m not in it,” he states.
The energy between them is weird, so I try to make it nicer. “Um, Killian, this is a classmate of mine. Liam, this is Killian.”
I don’t know how to introduce him, so I don’t offer an explanation of who he is.
Liam smiles tightly, clearly uncomfortable. “Ah. It’s nice meeting you, Killian.”
“Yeah, same here,” Killian says, but he’s openly dismissive. Glancing down at me, he asks, “You ready to go?”
“Um… yeah, I guess so.” I feel a bit guilty as I look back at Liam, my face warm. “I’ll see you Tuesday?”
Liam forces a smile. “Sure. See you then.”
“I’ll see you, too,” Killian tells him. “Make sure you bring us some of that popcorn.”
I look up at him, feeling like I should say something about him being such an ass, but Killian just uses his arm around my neck to lead me back in the direction he just came from.
I wait until we’re out of the aisle, and I keep my voice low, but I can’t help pointing out, “That was a bit rude.”
Unbothered, he glances over at me. “I’m a bit rude.”
“That’s not something you should be proud of,” I inform him primly.
“I’m not too worried about it. Rude or not, you still prefer my company to his.”
My jaw drops at his unabashed arrogance. “How do you know?”
Killian smirks. “Because it’s my bed you’re sleeping in tonight.”
Horrified, I look around to make sure Liam isn’t close enough to hear us since he isn’t considerate enough to lower his voice like I did.
In a stage whisper, when Killian notices what I’m doing, he tells me, “I think he knows.”
I look back at him to ask how, but before I have to, we get to register. The guy behind the counter doesn’t say anything as I put my stuff down, and Killian doesn’t either. He just adds the two bottles of water he grabbed from the cooler to our pile of stuff, and then he puts down the other thing.
The thing he was holding when he slung his arm around my neck in front of Liam. The thing Liam clearly saw.
A box of condoms.
My eyes widen and my jaw unhinges. I look over at Killian, speechless and horrified, and he smirks, shrugging like he doesn’t see the problem. “I was out.”
“Oh my god,” I finally say.
“You’re welcome,” Killian replies.
Eyes bulging, I say, “What could I possibly have to thank you for right now?”
Killian’s dark eyebrows rise as he looks at me pointedly. “The last guy you let pick you up was Kyle, and look how that turned out.”
“Liam wasn’t trying to pick me up! We’re in the same class and we’re both attending the same seminar. He wanted to be seminar buddies.”
“Uh-huh,” Killian says knowingly, drawing out his wallet. “And the gourmet popcorn date he suggested afterward?”
“That wasn’t a date.”
“Okay,” Killian says, but he says it like I’m utterly delusional and he’s just humoring me.
I’m still staring at him, dumfounded, horrified, and retroactively humiliated, but my attention shifts when I notice the cashier grab my bag of SmartPop to ring it up.
And he made me forget my damn Fritos.
I debate for a split second if I’m willing to endure possible mortification if Liam is still in that aisle just to save $.49 on a bag of chips, but I am who I am.