by Cindy Miles
“Conner Hall.” I looked at him, at the strange color of his eyes, and the scars that marred his skin. “U.S. and Texas government.”
“I’ll walk you.”
As we stood facing each other, and relatively close, I realized how much of Braxton Jenkins there really was. He seemed to surround me. I put my hand on his inked arm and noticed for the first time that a rugged Celtic cross was one of the melded pieces of art tattooed into the myriad of objects. “I can walk myself, Brax. Honestly, I’m fine.”
Brax’s gaze drifted down to my hand, then he looked at me. Fury, like I’d seen at the restaurant when his friend Kenny had touched my hair, lit those blue eyes on fire. “I don’t like that guy, Gracie.”
I forced a smile, and shook my head. I was grateful for his concern, but I didn’t want it to become an issue between us. To be an issue would draw attention to the real thing, the real hidden issue, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. As Brax followed me out of the classroom, I threw him a goofy smirk over my shoulder. “I’m not helpless, you know. As a matter of fact,” we stopped outside the classroom, “I’m probably the least helpless female you’ll ever encounter. Besides,” I said, and lightly elbowed Brax in the ribs. “Kelsy is an arrogant idiot, but he’s not dangerous.” I lifted a brow. “You’re sure protective over a girl you barely know.”
“Brax, my man!” A guy wearing a Silverbacks ball cap shouldered into him. “Is this the Betty, bro?”
Brax’s eyes were still trained on me, even as he ignored his friend, who shrugged and walked off. Betty? I could tell by the way Brax’s jaw clenched he was completely ignoring his teammate and still a hundred percent focused on me, deciding whether to believe me or not. In the depths of his eyes I could almost see wheels turning as he thought things over. “I know you all right, Gracie. In case you missed it, I hate shady pricks.” He inclined his head. “But I’m still headed that way, so let’s go.”
“Not until you get that horrible mean frown off your face,” I said, and tugged my mouth up. “You’re scaring people.”
Brax’s face softened then, ever so slight of a shift that I was pretty sure only I could detect. “You’re so smart, aren’t ya, Sunshine?” A ghost of a smile pulled at his lips. “Come on, then.” Smaht.
We stepped out into the early morning Texas sun and blended with the other Winston students as we made our way across the dewy lawn. The air wasn’t sweltering, which was a good thing. At least every other person spoke to Brax. Some he acknowledged, others he didn’t. For some reason I couldn’t explain, his full attention was still on me. We were nearly to Conner Hall when we stopped, and he faced me.
“So you work tonight,” he said. “Wanna grab a bite after?”
“There you are!” a tinny voice said behind me, before I could answer.
Tessa rounded on me, giving Brax one of the evilest dirty eyes I’d ever seen in my entire life—and I’d seen plenty of them. “How was class?” she asked me.
I tried not to laugh at Tessa’s ferociousness. “Class was fine. Tessa, this is Brax Jenkins. Brax, Tessa’s my roommate.”
Brax turned that ghostly blue gaze on Tessa, and amusement made his lips turn at the corners. I stared at his side profile, watched the muscles pull in his jaw. “I play ball with your brother.” Brotha.
Tessa’s brows folded. “I know that. So Livvy,” she said, and dismissed Brax immediately. She half-turned, facing me and giving Brax the back of her shoulder. Behind her, he shook his head and smiled. “You’re coming with me and Marcie and Kelly tonight, right?” When I gave her a confused look, she lifted both brows. “Remember? You said you would?”
I’d said no such thing and Tessa knew it. When my eyes lifted to Brax’s, he cocked one brow and grinned. “I’ll pick you up after work, Gracie. See ya later.”
Before I could answer, he’d turned and began to swagger through the crowd, heading to his next class. He’d shut Tessa’s negotiations right on down.
“Gracie? What the hell’s he calling you that for?” Tessa asked. When I met her gaze, and gave her a little shrug, her brows knitted into a disapproving frown. “Seriously, Liv? You’re going out with that beast again?”
I shifted my backpack and gave my roommate an uncomfortable glance. “He’s been nothing but respectful to me so far, Tessa.” I glanced over my shoulder, then back to my roomie. “I’m not getting a sketchy vibe from him. Do you think he’s that good of an actor? Or possibly the rumors are wrong?”
Tessa’s frown deepened, and she shifted her weight. “I don’t know but the fact is you’d better watch it, Liv. Sincerely. People are already starting to notice Brax is all up in your biz. You’ll be the talk of Winston before you know it. Is that something you want?” She started walking, then looked back at me. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I stared after my roommate for a few frustrated seconds, considering her words. While I tried to convince myself Tessa was over-analyzing the situation, I wondered if she was right. About everything. About nothing. Did I want to become the talk of Winston? Of course not. I wanted to go as unnoticed as possible. I highly doubted that would happen by going on friendly dinner dates with Brax Jenkins. So what to do? With a sigh, I jogged up the steps and found my next class.
U.S. and Texas Government was a breeze—especially since my grandpa Jillian had once been a Texas Ranger before he’d retired to busting horses for a living. He loved the law and had shared enough with me and my brothers that I’d actually liked the subject. Class was interesting to me, and the time flew by quickly.
As did the rest of the day. Intro Astronomy was a little repetitive for me but still perfect, and Noah Hicks had greeted me at the door with a wide, easy smile. Steven was there, too, and I grabbed a seat beside him. We basically went over the syllabus for lecture and lab, introductions, and since most of us would be taking a lab together, we chose partners; Steven and I signed up for that, too. Dr. Atwood started his first lecture with Basic Coordinates and Seasons. Steven had rolled his eyes at me and mouthed the words basic coordinates, and I’d stifled a laugh. Nerds, all of us.
Before I knew it, my classes were finished for the day and I was hurrying back to the dorm to trade my backpack for my telescope and camera. Noah had told me we could bring our own and take it to the platform after the observatory closed, which was something I’d been wanting to do since before arriving at Winston. In my room, I slung my scope bag over my shoulder, grabbed my truck keys and headed out. As I crossed the common room, a girl I hadn’t seen before stopped me. Long brown hair, wide brown eyes accentuated with heavy make-up. She was pretty. She grabbed my arm and smiled. Three other girls clustered around her.
“Hey,” she said. “Are you and Brax Jenkins together?”
My eyes flittered to all of them standing there, staring at me. “Uh, no,” I answered. “Just friends.”
Her smile broadened, and she looked relieved. “Okay. Just checking.”
She immediately turned and began a private chatter session with her girls, and I eased toward the door. What an awkward moment. That thought plagued me all the way across the parking lot, at how bizarre some people could be. Just as I unlocked the door and set my scope bag across the seat, a hand slipped over my hip, and I jumped.
“I’d almost forgotten what a sweet ass you have, Liv.”
My body jerked and I spun around to stare Kelsy Evans in the eye. His slow smile made my insides clinch. I took a breath in, and steadied myself. “Get your hands off me, Kelsy.”
Inside, I was shaking. But fury gripped my muscles as I stared hard at Kelsy. “Now.”
He did let my hips go then, and held his hands up, palms facing me. “Chill, wildcat, chill.” His lazy smile settled on my eyes and he shoved his hands into his pockets. Then he let out a big, exaggerated sigh. “Come on, Liv. We got too much history to be like this. Quit acting all Ice Queen on me, now.” He ducked his blond head, to catch my averted gaze. “Talk to me.”
That cagey feeling returned, a
nd I hated it. I hated the way Kelsy made me feel dirty, like I’d done something wrong and was being an ice queen. Was he that oblivious to what he’d done to me? Or had a year dimmed his reality? I forced my breath to even out, so I wouldn’t seem as scared as I really was. I looked at him, tilted my chin up. “There’s nothing to talk about, Kelsy. You have a whole college full of girls to talk to.” I put my hand on the door handle, and he stilled my movement with his hand over mine.
“Don’t you run, Olivia,” he warned. His face had reddened, and his brows were now knitted together into a frown that transformed his golden boy athlete looks into a monster. In my eyes, anyway. “Don’t you be some ice queen chickenshit runner like you were our senior year. Talk to me, goddamit! I don’t want to talk to other girls.” His head drew closer. “Just you.”
His raised voice sent my hackles up, and I snatched my hand away from his. Several people crossing the parking lot noticed, too, and stared in our direction. “This conversation is over, and I’m leaving now. I ignored you during our senior year for a reason. Go away, Kelsy.” I hopped up into my pick-up and glared at him. “I mean it. Don’t bother me again.” Memories of that last year in high school flashed before me like a bolt of lightning with pictures. Kelsy had secretly hounded me, begged me to take him back. But in public? In front of his peers, others? He’d treated me like dirt. Like I had done something wrong to him. God, Jesus, I’d thought it was all over.
Kelsy’s face darkened, then he barked out a harsh laugh. “You’re letting him fuck your brains out, aren’t you, Liv?” A small grin curled his lips. “That tattooed loud mouth thinks he’s a badass prick in our class. That’s why he’s panting around after you, huh, like some fucking hound dog?” He slammed my door, and I jumped in my seat, but he drew his face close to the glass. “He doesn’t know you like I do. What that dumbass ring really means. What a fucking ice bitch you can be, does he, Liv?” Kelsy laughed as I turned the engine over. He pounded my window with his fist. “He will. Soon.” Then, he cursed, kicked at the ground, and looked at me. Just that fast, his mood shifted. No longer angry, his features sagged, as though saddened. He’d done the same thing in high school, when no one was around. It was as if he had a split personality, and it was scary as hell. “No, wait. Olivia, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, you make me fucking crazy is all. Liv, turn off the goddamn truck. Olivia!”
Without another look I threw the truck into drive and Kelsy punched my fender as I sped off. My heart slammed against my ribs, and my breath came in harsh puffs as I hurried out of Oliver Hall’s parking lot. I didn’t glance behind me, not once. I knew Kelsy stood there, staring in my direction. I had every single line on his face permanently etched into my brain, going from fury to forlorn, and no matter how hard I tried to purge both, his image wouldn’t fade. Wouldn’t go away.
Neither would the memories.
A sob crept up in my throat, and God, I wanted to let it out. Scream. Cry. Dirty swear to the top of my lungs. But I didn’t. I felt trapped, foolish, running away from Kelsy Evans yet again. Like a coward. I couldn’t escape him. I’d thought big, bad ass thoughts when he wasn’t directly in front of me. I became strong, brave, untouchable, when alone, or with my family. But now Kelsy Evans was here, I was alone, and he was poking around in my brand new life. Touching me. Cornering me. Threatening to let my secrets out. Then every ounce of bravery I thought I possessed flowed out of me like a bloodletting. Kelsy wasn’t a serial killer. But he was definitely unbalanced. What did he want with me? Why me? He’d always had a temper but his behavior seemed crazy and uneven. This was my life, my college career. My scholarship. The first day of class. What the hell was I doing? I couldn’t continue to allow Kelsy to rattle me so badly. I needed to get a grip. And I needed to get it fast.
By the time I pulled into the Science complex, and found a parking spot close to the observatory, I’d slowed my breathing down. My hands still shook as I gripped the Chevy’s big steering wheel, and for a brief second, I closed my eyes and concentrated on deep breathing. I couldn’t go into my first day of work shaking and breathless. I leaned forward and rested my forehead on the wheel, and the cool steel pressed into my skin. It felt good, and I pushed harder, trying to force the incident out. Away. Breathe. Just a few more minutes—
A knock at my window made me jerk upright, and when I turned my head, I met Brax’s strange gaze staring back at me through the glass. What was he doing here? Butterflies replaced the panic I’d felt seconds earlier. Quickly, I pasted a smile on my face, cut the engine, and opened my door.
“What’s wrong?” Brax said this to my back as I grabbed my scope bag.
When I turned and glanced up at his face, I noticed it was taut, unamused, and a muscle tugged the scar at his cheekbone. His acute perception rattled me almost as much as Kelsy’s unbalanced character. Brax saw too much of me. Kelsy knew too much about me. And both scared the hell out of me.
“Nothing, why?” I said, and closed my truck door. When I shouldered my scope bag, Brax eased it right back off and slipped it onto his own. He wore his silver and blue Silverback’s uniform, his hat was stuffed into his back pocket, and long dark socks that went from just below his knees to his cleats clung tightly to muscular calves. No clay or dirt, he must have been headed to practice.
We walked, but his eyes stayed on me, more likely than not weighing what I’d said. “Feeling dizzy again?”
I lifted a brow. “Dizzy?” My eyes were back on the ground, and I watched Brax’s big cleats hit the pavement as we crossed to the old brick observatory’s front entrance. At the steps, we stopped. I tilted my head, staring at the weathered white dome that housed the Mulligan.
“Yeah, you know, with your head on the wheel?” His harsh yet comforting Boston accent soothed me somehow.
I looked at him then. “Cat nap before work?”
Brax’s eyes narrowed. Those crazy blues were slits surrounded by ridiculously long dark lashes. “You were breathing too hard for a nap, Sunshine.” Hahd.
I sighed and peered at the sun. “I don’t want to be late on my first day.” I paused at the steps. “On your way to practice?”
His gaze still pierced me. “Nah, sweetheart, I wear this uni all the time.” He winked. “Chics dig it. Of course I’m going to practice. So are you going to get something to eat with me after work, or go do that thing with your girls?” He lifted my scope bag off his shoulder and eased it onto mine.
I climbed a few steps, leaving Brax at the bottom. I turned my head and gave him a look. “There is no thing with the girls. Tessa just doesn’t want me to go anywhere with you. You’ve a sketchy reputation, you know.”
Brax nodded, and his mouth tilted at one corner. “I figured that. So?”
I stared at him, the late afternoon sun shining on one side of his face, making the scruff stand out on his jaw. That barely-there grin pulled at his mouth. “I get off at eight tonight,” I said. “You can meet me inside by the front desk.”
He shifted his weight, and I again noticed his muscular thighs, calves. “Yeah? Why inside?”
I continued up the steps. At the door, I paused once more and looked at him. “I’ve got something to show you.”
His white teeth flashed. “Now you’re talking, Sunshine. See ya at eight.”
I watched Brax swagger away, and noticed how his muscular legs bowed a little. A strong, sexy, athletic-type bowed walk. Completely arrogant, male and confident. He broke into a trot across the Science complex and disappeared through two buildings. I couldn’t quite figure out what he wanted with me, but somehow, I was glad for his interest. Despite his reputation, and the rumors, he was nice. Really nice. Somehow he’d mastered a way to put me at ease. Not an easy feat by no means. Which is why I’d thought to show him a view through my scope after work. I’d Googled the weather and it promised to be a perfectly clear and starry night sky.
I pushed through the double doors of the observatory, and the cool air flushed over my skin. Noah was seated at the f
ront desk, and gave me a broad smile as I walked toward him. Before I reached the desk, he stood. I noticed the blue Winston U Observatory collared shirt he wore, with a silver celestial logo on the left upper chest.
“Hey, Olivia,” he said, and reached beneath the counter. He handed me a blue plastic draw-string souvenir bag. “Three work shirts. Just like this one,” he said, and tugged at his collar. “Do you remember where the employee break room is?”
I took the bag he offered and nodded. “I do.”
“Great. There’s a restroom in there where you can change, and I see you brought your scope.” He eyed my bag.
“I can’t wait,” I confessed. “A friend is going to come by after I get off work. Is it okay—”
“Sure, no problem,” Noah interrupted me. He rubbed his chin and grinned. “As long as there’s no horsing around, as Dr. Callander calls it. But I don’t take you as someone who horses around too much.”
I grinned. “I do try to contain it if I can.”
“I’m sure you do.” Noah inclined his head toward the hallway that led to the employee’s lounge. “When you finish changing you’ll find Steven in observation room #3, cleaning the planetarium display.” He smiled. “He couldn’t wait for you to get here to help.”
I raised my brows and headed down the hallway. “Oh boy,” I said, then waved. “Thanks, Noah.”
“You bet. Oh, and my office is just across the hall from the lounge. You can stash your scope behind my desk.”
I took a few minutes in the employee restroom to change shirts and wash my face, then found a place to store my scope in Noah’s office. After heading down the wrong hall, I found my way to observation room #3. Steven was just climbing down from a ladder situated beneath an enormous Saturn model when he spotted me.
“Whoa! Olivia!” he said, and hurried over to me. His dark shaggy hair swung over his eyes, and he flipped it to the side. “I got here an hour ago so I could leave an hour early.” His chin lifted. “I have a stargazer’s meeting. Amateur and off-campus, but don’t worry. It’s only once a month. Anyway,” he pointed overhead, “we need to get all the planets wiped down, as well as the upper and lower rows of recessed lights. And auditorium seats. I’ve already cleaned the left side of each, plus three planets. There’s a presentation this up-coming weekend.” He pointed. “Come on, your cleaning stuff’s over here.” He walked to the side wall where sure enough, my planetarium cleaning supplies sat in a plastic bucket.