Eden

I want something … more.

Even if admitting that to myself is an all new beast of its own.

“Not today.”

“Admit it, little masochist, you want to. I can see it in your eyes.”

Although he’s goading me like always, there’s something off about it this time. Maybe it’s the shallow breaths pulsing from his lips or the rigid set of his shoulders, but something isn’t right. And at the end of the day, this is the same guy I’ve been warned about since my very first day at this school

“I can’t afford to skip. My scholarship is strict about my attendance, and then I got my first college acceptance this morning, so—”

When I start toward the classroom, he steps around me, using his muscular frame to block my path.

“You’re not going in there,” he growls.

“Why not?”

He stabs his fingers through his hair, and he actually looks rattled, but now he’s managed to shake me.

“Get out of my way.”

“Ellis, stop fucking moving and listen for once in your life!”

I freeze just before reaching the door and spin back around to face him. “Why?”

“Just … trust me. Don’t go in there.”

His words have the opposite effect of what he intended because now I’m dying to know what the big deal is. What fresh hell Laurel and her friends have cooked up for me this time.

Squaring my shoulders, I turn away from him and step into the doorway.

“Mallory, goddammit!”

My eyes sweep the room and I realize in an instant what it is that Saint’s trying to prevent me from seeing. The only thing, or rather only person, who could ever make me feel unsafe—at least in a classroom setting.

Dylan’s standing at the board, a somewhat triumphant smile curling his lips.