Chapter 90

Alyx

It was finally his turn. He thought he would never get his chance, but Matt had made all of his dreams come true when he broke things off with Celeste in front of the entire school. The moment had been perfect.

And now poor Celeste was an absolute wreck. It was such a shame that the only friends that she had were Fiona and himself. Such a shame, indeed.

Honestly, though, it worked out in his favor. First with the scene from the ball and then that little display in the hallway, Alyx had little to fear from other competition. The other boys at the school were cowards.

He’d heard that all of the guys that had touched her yesterday had gotten the shit beat out of them, whether by Jack or by Matt. Even if he had dumped her, Celeste was still his best friend’s little sister. He had to defend her.

But the message had been clear. Touch Celeste and pay the price. None of them wanted to get on Jack or Matt’s bad sides. Everyone was staying away.

Except for him. Alyx was the only one who didn’t give a shit what Jack or Matt did. If they wanted a fight, he would give them one. And they would definitely live to regret it. Although, so far they had left him alone.

Which suited him just fine. It made what he was doing a hell of a lot easier. Alyx was being so nice and flirty with Celeste that it almost made him sick with how nauseating it was. He knew it would be worth it in the end though.

All week, he had pushed himself front and center. He brought her food, he walked with her in between classes, he whispered sweet nothings in her ear. He was the picture perfect gentleman in all the ways that counted.

And Celeste was eating out of the palm of Alyx’s hand. She melted every time he gave her a compliment or looked at her a certain way. Her self-esteem was so low that he wasn’t even having to try that hard.

Alyx couldn’t really blame her though. Not after what Jack and Matt had said to her at the ball. Anybody would have been in the same position after that.

The trickiest part was going to be making their relationship jump to the next level naturally. He couldn’t just come out and ask her for sex. He was pretty sure she would say no. But if they just happened to be at his house and took a tumble in the sheets, it wouldn’t necessarily be his fault.

He just had to get her to his house, but he hadn’t figured out how to do that yet. Jack always escorted her home. From what she had told him, Celeste was only allowed to leave her house to go to school. Jack acted more like her dad than her big brother.

Maybe he could convince her to break the rule. Just once. After all, it’s not like Jack could restrict her anymore than he already had. She still had to go to school after all.

Which was why he was waiting outside of the class she was in. It wasn’t her last class of the day, but they needed to disappear before then. It should give them enough time to sneak away before Jack caught on that Celeste wasn’t where she was supposed to be.

He grabbed her by the wrist as soon as he saw her, quickly pulling her into the stairwell nearby. Pushing her up against the wall, he boxed her in with his arms, leaning into her and nuzzling her ear.

“Hello, beautiful,” Alyx whispered and was satisfied when he heard her sharp intake of breath.

“Alyx, what are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly, putting her hands on his chest and pushing gently. Alyx didn’t budge. Instead, he covered her hand with his, keeping it there before she could pull away.

“I’ve come to steal you away. I think you could use a change of scenery, don’t you?” he asked, staring down at her, letting the heat fill his eyes. Her pupils dilated and her mouth parted. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so hard after all.

“But Jack…” she protested weakly, her voice dropping to a whisper as if even saying his name would summon him.

“We’ll be long gone before he finds out. So what do you say, Celeste? Come out with me?”

She chewed on her bottom lip and something inside Alyx broke. He couldn’t help himself anymore. He brushed her bottom lip with his thumb, silently asking for her permission with his eyes.

Celeste’s eyes closed and he took that as a yes. He closed the small distance between them, covering her lips with his. He groaned. She tasted so sweet, much better than he had been imagining.

But then Celeste was pushing him away, struggling against him so hard that he was worried she was going to hurt herself. He backed away quickly, putting himself nearly on the opposite wall. What the hell had just happened? She stood there, panting, her arms crossing over her chest in a protective gesture. The question was: Was she protecting herself from him or was she protecting herself from herself?

Either way, Alyx knew he had messed up. He had let his lust get the better of him. He knew he shouldn’t have kissed her, but he hadn’t been able to help himself. Not when she looked so delectable. He only hoped he could recover from this.

“Celeste, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” Alyx said, putting his hands behind him and leaning against the wall. He did it to show her he had no intention of touching her again. Not unless she asked.

Celeste was quiet, her fingernails digging into the skin of her arms. She took in a deep breath, one after the other, trying to calm herself down. Her hair hung in front of her face so he couldn’t see her expression. He decided to give her some time instead of apologizing again.

Eventually she straightened up, unshed tears shining in her eyes. Shit. He had ruined everything. His superiors were not going to be happy with him.

“I’m sorry, Alyx. Please don’t hate me,” Celeste said suddenly and he was a bit taken aback. The last thing he had expected was for her to apologize to him. It didn’t make any sense, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“I could never hate you, beautiful. You never have to worry about that. I just hope that you don’t hate me,” Alyx responded and she shook her head so hard that her hair flew around her like whips.

“No, I don’t. I just wasn’t expecting it, is all. But I can’t do that with you. I…I’m still in love with Matt,” she whispered and Alyx held back a sneer. It had already been a week. How much longer did she need?

“It’s okay, Celeste. Really. But if you change your mind, I’ll be there for you. I don’t mind being your rebound,” Alyx said with a good-natured grin.

Celeste’s eyes widened. “I could never do that to you. You deserve more than to be a rebound.”

Alyx nearly rolled his eyes. Out of all the people he could have been assigned to, he got the one college student who wasn’t into casual sex. But the mission was too important. He would just have to deal with it for the time being.

“I know. You’re too sweet. But when you get over Matt, I’d like to make it clear that I would be more than happy to be your boyfriend. I’ve liked you for a long time. I just didn’t want to ruin our friendship,” Alyx said, finally pushing away from the wall.

“And if you want to get out of here, I’ll still take you. No more surprise kisses. Scout’s honor,” he said, holding up three fingers. He had never been a boy scout, but the gesture brought a small smile to her face.

Before she could answer, her phone rang. Her face dropped as soon as she saw who was calling.

“It’s Jack. He already knows I’m not where I’m supposed to be. It won’t be too long before he tracks me down. I should just go to class. Maybe another time?” she asked and Jack bit back a growl. He had been so close. Maybe he should just kill Jack and be done with it.

“Sure thing, beautiful. Just say the word and we’re gone,” Alyx told her and watched her hurry out of the stairwell. He slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a good sized hole in the brick. This was definitely going to be harder than he thought.