Sometimes I thought he was staring at me when we worked in his office in the evenings, but every time I turned to look he was focused on his work again.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” I could hear Perrie say, her part of the conversation being quickly muddled by the busy coffee shop as one of the baristas used the milk frother.
Even though whatever Edison and I had been now seemed to be gone completely, Perrie and Edison’s relationship seemed to have taken off like a rocket.
There was a softness and an intimacy that hadn’t been present before that day in Edison’s office. They would reach for each other at mealtimes and I’d caught Edison staring out of his study window that overlooked the pool where Perrie spent most of her late afternoons swimming and taking pictures.
Not to mention the fact that Edison barely ever slept in his room anymore, instead choosing to head to the tower most nights to be with his omega.
Everything was as it should be and I should’ve been happy about it. Yet, with each passing day, I felt more and more discontent. Like I was being left behind completely.
“C’mon, Per, you never do anything outside of normal, live a little!” Kailey cajoled and I watched the taller beta give Perrie a nudge with her elbow.
I was on my feet before she could say anything else.
“And what is it you’re trying to convince her to do?” I asked, sliding into the seat next to Perrie and glaring at the other girl.
Kailey glared right back, her nose scrunching with irritation.
At first, Kailey had blushed every time she looked back at me while she walked with Perrie to class, and then things had taken a turn when she tried to get Perrie to go to a bar with her.
Kailey was a young college girl, so it made sense that she wanted to go out and party. But Perrie wasn’t allowed.
Just the thought of trying to keep her protected in a crowd of people made my skin itch and she refused to let a team follow her around. So bars were off limits.
“It’s okay, Mr. Knight, your princess isn’t going to go into any strange clubs or bars. I’m just trying to get her to come over to my place for a girl’s night—and by girl’s night I do mean girls only.”
“No.” My answer was automatic as my brain conjured up a million possibilities of what could go wrong.
Perrie seemed to deflate at my fast refusal, glancing over at Kailey who looked as if she was about to pop with how red her face was getting.
“I know she’s a married woman, but you can’t just cloister her away in the house all the time. She needs to be social. To meet new friends and I’ve got a group of girlfriends that are perfect for her.”
I grimaced at that. Whatever friends Kailey had, I wasn’t sure I wanted them to hang around Perrie.
“Kailey, can you give Perrie and me a moment?” I asked, dismissing the girl before she could continue her campaign to let Perrie go to girl’s night.
Kailey looked like she wanted to argue, but Perrie just shook her head quickly.
With a sigh, the other girl stood up. “Fine, but I’ll be back in five minutes and I hope you’ll pull your head out of your ass enough to let Perrie have a fun Saturday night.”
I waited for her to leave before finally turning back to Perrie who was picking at her cuticles. “I can’t protect you at something like that, Perrie.”
“I can protect myself you know—you even said it yourself yesterday that I’ve gotten better at defending myself.”
That was true. Perrie had made huge strides in a short amount of time during the stolen hours of self-defense classes that we managed to get in. But we hadn’t even started on how to disarm an assailant with a weapon and Perrie’s stamina still left much to be desired.
Despite being able to swim for long stretches, on land she could barely run a mile without needing a break and more often than not she was left wheezing by the time we finished the more complicated maneuvers of self-defense.
Eli had told me after her clean bill of health at her check-up that her body could take years to build the kind of stamina a completely healthy young adult should have again and to take it easy on her.
Which meant that if she was alone and being attacked, I highly doubted that she’d be able to defend herself against an assailant bigger than her which was most people seeing as she was barely five-foot-two and it seemed like a stray wind could take her away.
Perrie’s gray eyes lifted to meet mine, practically pleading for me to agree. “And we’re just going to be at Kailey’s house. You and the security guys you pretend aren’t on campus everyday with us can sit outside in a van or something.”
I frowned. Perrie wasn’t supposed to know about the team of five that were on standby in case I needed them. We were supposed to be playing along with the illusion that it was just me on campus protecting her.
“Please, Rhodes, I’ve never been to a sleepover before.”
Perrie’s words shot right through my resolve. I should have said no again and left it at that, but the memory of how she’d looked the first night we’d met rose unbidden in my mind.
She’d only been eighteen then and had been about forty pounds lighter, but she’d had that same look in her gray eyes. Like life was busy passing her by and she didn’t know how to stop it.
“Fine,” I finally gave in with a sigh. “But you will keep your phone on you at all times and if I see anything weird happening, we go.”
Perrie squealed and threw herself out of her chair at me, her arms linking around my neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Strawberry mixed with vanilla filled my nose as I held myself stiff in her embrace. I hadn’t really smelled it up close since Edison had confronted me in the locker room and I wanted to pull her fully into my lap and press my nose to where the mingled scent was the strongest.
But Kailey was already returning with a fresh coffee in hand and a squeal of her own.
“Did he say yes?”
Perrie nodded and slumped back into her own seat, her pale cheeks flushed pink as her brows drew together into a momentarily confused expression before Kailey was also wrapping her up in a hug.
“This is going to be so fun!” The beta looked over at me with dancing eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Knight-in-shining armor. You won’t regret it!”
But two days later as I stood in Kailey’s living room staring at Perrie’s cell phone on the coffee table and none of the girls to be found, I realized just how much I’d fucked up agreeing to let her go.
