It’s precisely 10:32 a.m. when my day implodes.

I check my watch as I stalk down the empty corridor toward the stairs, intending to ignore Bria’s office looming ahead when she strides into the corridor. Her attention is on her phone but she registers my presence and looks up, meeting my eyes for only an instant.

A glance. That’s all it takes.

With one sharp breath I pin Bria to the wall next to her office door. I capture her jaw in a gentle grip and tilt her cheek toward the light.

A swoop of purple curves beneath her eye. Her cheekbone is swollen and stippled with colour.

Bria glares at me, batting my hand away in a swift strike, but I only replace it with the other. “What the fuck—”

“Who did this to you?” I snarl.

Bria’s brows pull together. Her faint scent floods the space between us as I press closer to her, my heart galloping as rage floods my veins. “I fell on my face doing yoga,” she says in a cool and even tone. “It happens.”

I take in every minute detail, but Bria’s fierce expression gives little away. The only change is a tiny, squiggly vein pulsing near her temple. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not—”

“Was it the lumberjack?”

Bria gives a derisive snort. “Oh, please—”

“Was it the fucking lumberjack,” I repeat.

“No.”

“Hey Bria, I got you an espresso—” David’s voice grinds to a halt to my left. I let go of her face and turn, putting myself between them. “Dr. Kaplan?”

“Did you do this to her?”

“Of course not. No.”

I take a step closer to David. His blue eyes widen but he stands his ground, his knuckles bleaching as his grip on the coffee cups tightens. “I saw you leave the party with her on Friday, and now Bria shows up Monday morning with a bruise on her face. Do you not find that a little coincidental?”

David’s gaze darts over my shoulder with a pleading look at Bria. “Bri—”

“Don’t you fucking look at her.”

Bria let’s out an exasperated sigh behind me. “Dr. Kaplan, I already told you, I fell in yoga.”

“And I already told you, I know you’re lying,” I hiss, glaring at her over my shoulder.

“Dr. Kaplan, I would never do that,” David says, his voice thin and stretched. I don’t break my gaze from Bria. She has no reaction to David’s words, only a look of defiance in the firm set of her shoulders and the fierce gleam in her eyes.

“He didn’t hit me,” Bria whispers. She takes a step closer and touches my tight fist, her fingertips cooling the fire burning beneath my skin. Bria’s gaze dips down to my mouth. A hint of a devious smile lifts one corner of her lips, but her eyes are black with rage. “If you keep this up, you’re going to get yourself in trouble, and you like to follow the rules, remember?”

My molars grind together. Christ, how I want to prove her wrong. I want to slam my knuckles into David’s jaw until it shatters. And once his face is broken in a thousand places, I want to crush my lips to Bria’s and fuck her with my tongue in every conceivable way.

I manage to rip my eyes from hers and turn back to David. “If I find out you’re lying, I will have you kicked off campus, and the instant you leave these grounds I’ll be there, waiting. Are we clear?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Are you admitting you did it?”

“No,” David says, the coffee jostling as he emphatically shakes his head.

“Then you have nothing to worry about, do you.” He nods and I jerk my head toward the door of their office. David ducks inside with a nervous glance at Bria. I wait until he’s out of sight before I face her once more.

And she is not happy.

But neither am I.

“Cut the shit, Ms. Brooks. Tell me who did this.”

“Why the fuck do you care? You hate me.”

Her words are like a direct hit to my sternum, but I swallow it down. Bria’s always a few steps ahead, and this time, I intend to keep pace. “Tell me who did it and I’ll answer your question.”

A flicker of interest sparks in Bria’s eyes before she sweeps it beneath her malice. “An old man at my uncle’s retirement home punched me in the face.” A flash of a wicked smile crosses her lips. “Some of the old folks are a little violent, it seems.”

That…that is not the answer I expected.

Bria cocks one eyebrow and takes a step back as she crosses her arms.

“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” I ask.

“Because it’s none of your fucking business. I don’t owe anyone an explanation for anything I do, least of all a man who would rather carve out his own organs than have dinner with me.”

That hit didn’t just strike the bones of my chest. No, Bria reached right inside with a set of talons and raked them across my heart. She doesn’t look hurt, not with the malevolent glare she pins to my face, but she must be to bring it up. Hurt, or at least confused.

“I’m sorry for what you overheard. It’s not true,” I say, my voice little more than a whisper.

“Clearly. You’re standing here with both kidneys as far as I can tell.”

“I’m trying not to break the rules, Bria.”

My words feel too close to a confession. That same starved look that she gave me the other night on the patio is back, darkening her eyes for an instant before she wrestles it away. “We all have rules, Dr. Kaplan. How well are yours serving you?”

It feels as though we’re locked together, two links fused in a chain, unable to separate. The urge to pull her into me is so strong I have to fold my hands into tight fists and press my nails into my palms.

“Dr. Kaplan,” Dr. Strom says from down the hall. If he notices anything odd about the tension in my shoulders or my proximity to a student, he doesn’t let on. “I’ve gotta head down to the first floor, I’ll buy you a coffee on your way to class since I’m fifty bucks richer, if you want.”

I give him a tight smile and a nod before my gaze shifts back to Bria. Her expression seems calm and aloof on the surface, but I know enough of her to believe there’s a deep sea of secrets beneath it.

I nod toward her office door behind me. “If I find out it was David after all, I’ll break his fucking neck,” I whisper.

Bria’s face lights in a smile that’s both frightening and fierce, but wholly beautiful. “Don’t you think I could take care of it myself?”

“I don’t care. I’m calling dibs.”

With a final glance, I move around her, and follow Dr. Strom down the hall.

Bria’s question follows me, haunting every step.

How well are my rules serving me?

Not very well, I’m starting to think. Not very well at all.

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13

OceanofPDF.com

BRIA

I watch as Dr. Kaplan stalks down the hall, catching up with Dr. Strom in a few long strides. He doesn’t look back when they head toward the elevator at the far end of the corridor, nor as he waits for it to chime its arrival. Even when the doors open and he slips inside, he keeps his gaze locked away from mine.

It’s not until the elevator closes and the gears whirl with its descent that I let out a long breath and lean against the wall.

My core aches with emptiness. Dampness and heat are gathered between my legs. I press my palm to my chest as my heart sings with excitement and I try to reason it back to a steady rhythm. You hate him. He’s a dick, remember? 

My heart doesn’t listen. It only hears the echo of Kaplan’s voice. I’m trying not to break the rules, Bria. 

I lean my head against the wall. The look of pain in Kaplan’s expression haunts the shadows of my closed eyes.

Why should I care? I don’t care. I don’t care that he was enraged, not at me, but for me. I don’t care that he stepped between me and David with his fists balled tight. Sure, I noticed the way his muscles bunched and coiled beneath his shirt, and the way he pinned me with a ravenous stare when we were alone. That was hot as hell. He’s beautiful. So is a sculpture. Or a sunset. I’m simply appreciating it, that’s all. That darkness I saw skimming his surface and peeking through his eyes is just very appealing to me, like catnip.