Midnight Secrets

I woke up half-sprawled on Cassius, his chest rising and falling with deep breaths. Memories from last night filled my head and had my body heating in response. I peeked up at his face and found him still asleep, looking peaceful and at ease.

As much as my body begged me to stay and possibly pick up where we left off, I knew that was a terrible idea. There was a high chance nothing would happen this morning, and he’d regret his actions and blow me off.

I kept my movements slow as I moved off of him, pausing every few seconds to carefully watch his face and breathing to ensure I hadn’t woken him. It was both a surprise and a relief I managed to get out of bed without him waking. I didn’t question my luck, grabbing my bag and shoes and sneaking out of his room.

My heart pounded against my chest as I carefully closed the bathroom door and leaned back against it, allowing myself a few seconds to breathe. I couldn’t spend too much time in here; it would only increase my chances of getting caught sneaking out, which was honestly the worst-case scenario.

It wasn’t until after I brushed my teeth and began changing into my clothes that I realized my panties were still in his room. Fuck. Well, they’d have to stay there because there was no way I was going back for them.

I stared at his t-shirt for several long seconds before I shook my head and folded up his shirt, leaving it on the counter beside the sink. The hallway was empty as I poked my head out of the bathroom, but I still kept my steps quick and as light as possible.

Good news; they didn’t have creaky stairs. I guess the universe owed me after having to deal with Ezra and all that weird bullshit. Of course, I wasn’t out of the woods yet. I still didn’t have a single plan on how to get home. The furthest this plan extended was getting out of the house. That was it.

Why hadn’t I paid better attention to the roads we took to get here? Not that I was willing to walk, but at least it would help me form a plan or at least something adjacent to one. Maybe I could call one of my roommates to pick me up.

I paused in the middle of the living room, the only light coming from the sunlight streaming in through the small gap in the curtains. I didn’t text either of my roommates about the attack or how I wouldn’t be home last night.

Holy shit, I was the worst friend. It hadn’t even crossed my mind last night.

I would call or text them as soon as I was out of this damn house.

As my hand closed on the doorknob, an amused voice spoke from behind me. “Going somewhere?”

I whirled around and fell back against the front door as I spotted Leon leaning against the door frame on the other side of the living room. He was dressed casually in a tank top and sweatpants, his feet bare and his hair pulled back in a bun. I assumed he’d come from the kitchen with the mug he held.

My hand clamped over my chest as I attempted to slow my racing heart. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to sneak up on someone?” I had no inkling he was down here, nor had I heard him approach.

He raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his coffee. “Didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude to sneak out?”

This fucking asshole, throwing my bad decisions in my face and so early in the morning—or at least, I thought it was still morning.

There was no denying I was sneaking out, so I didn’t bother. “I need to get back to my dorm. My roommates are probably worried about me,” I quickly said, keeping my voice low so I wouldn’t risk waking any more roommates.

“I saw one of your roommates at a party last night. I doubt she’ll be awake for several hours.” His smirk basically said, beat that. I pressed my lips together as I mentally smacked that stupid fucking smirk off his face. What a dick.

“Yeah, but I have work at noon.”

“It’s only nine.”

Dammit. I mean, it was great that it was still early, less chance for my roommates to be awake worrying about me. But it was frustrating as hell that he kept knocking down my excuses one after another.

“Yeah, but I have some stuff I need to get done before work.” Wow, what a not fake-sounding, shitty excuse that he won’t be able to see through. I really needed to get out of here before my excuses got any worse or Cassius came down the stairs.

“I can take you back. Just let me grab my keys,” Leon offered, pushing off the doorframe.

“Oh, you don’t—”

“Or I can wake up Cass, and he can take you home instead.” He jerked his thumb toward the stairs, and based on that shit-eating grin, he’d love nothing more than to do just that. It was like he got his kicks out of my discomfort.

“No, no.” My response was far too quick and high-pitched. “He needs all the sleep he can get.”

“Mhmm, that’s what I thought,” he said with a light chuckle as he turned around and disappeared for several moments. When he returned, he was spinning his keys around his finger, making way too much damn noise.

I bit back any comments about how he was making too much noise or how unnecessarily slow he walked across the room. Based on what I witnessed from him, doing so would only make him do the opposite.

What was that thought about the universe being on my side?

It was a miracle we managed to get out of the house without him slamming the door or possibly announcing we were leaving.

He was enjoying all of this way too damn much.

It wasn’t until we were pulling out of their driveway that I finally let myself relax and pulled out my phone. To my relief, I didn’t have any calls or texts. Even though it was only nine, I still pulled up Addie’s number and called her.

She answered on the second ring, sounding a little out of it. “I’m alive.”

“Good to know,” I said with a small chuckle.

“Sorry, I didn’t text you that I wouldn’t be home. We all got pretty drunk and crashed at Sam’s place.”

“Don’t apologize,” I said since I had no room to chastise. “I was calling to make sure everything is okay.”

We soon hung up after that, and when Leon gave me a side-eyed look, I quickly said, “I’ll tell them about the attack later.”

Leon held a hand up in surrender, not commenting.

Silence descended on the car for several minutes until Leon spoke again. “You know, Cass isn’t the type to let a woman stay over, and when he does, he usually has to find a way to convince her to leave. I can confidently say I’ve never witnessed a woman sneak out of his bedroom before he woke up.”

Leon chuckled to himself, shaking his head in amusement. Jackass.

“I was not sneaking out,” I began, but stopped when he gave me a look, calling me out on my bullshit. “You’re making it sound like we slept together.” He glanced my way with another look that said he didn’t believe me. I sighed as I dropped my face in my hands, muffling my voice when I spoke. “I mean, yes, we slept in the same bed, but… that was it. We didn’t—”

“This is pathetic. Would you like some time to rehearse your lie?”

I made an indignant sound and opened my mouth to defend myself. “Don’t even bother sweetheart, I heard you in the middle of the night. My bedroom is across from Cass’,” he said, sounding way too amused by this.

My face heated in embarrassment. “I don’t—”

“Oh, Cass!” Leon pitched his voice in a horrible impression of me.

“I hate you,” I mumbled, still covering my heated face.

“You’re not the first woman to tell me that, and you certainly won’t be the last.”

“What a real accomplishment you’ve got there.” I pulled my hands away from my face and turned to look out the window. We were nearing campus, and I couldn’t be happier to finally be getting away from him.

“At least I don’t sneak out in the morning.”

“You’re never going to let this go, are you?”

His laugh as he pulled in front of my building was answer enough. I was about to pull my second cowardly move of the day and hurry from his truck when I realized something. “How do you know which dorm I live in?”

“Like I said, I was there that night Cass carried your ass to the dorm; no way was I going to miss out on the pure entertainment you provided. You’re like the gift that just keeps on giving. I never know what you’ll do next.”

“I mean this in the rudest way possible: I hate you.” His laughter followed me even after I shut the door and only grew louder when I flipped him off as I headed toward the door. Despite him being an asshole and poking fun at me, he waited until I was safely inside my building before driving off.

Only a few people were wandering around, and none of them spared me a second glance as I hurried through the building. I performed the walk of shame many times over these past two years, and yet, none of them were as uncomfortable as this.

Of course, those other times, I hadn’t snuck out, and I hadn’t been missing my panties.

I was right in my assumption that Sel would sleep over at Shirtless guy’s room, but I still sent her a text before charging my phone. With how close to dead it was, I was lucky it was still on and hadn’t died on me in the middle of the night.

I did a double take when I walked past the full-length mirror and caught a glance at how messy my hair was, having been too distracted by sneaking out earlier to notice. It looked like I got thoroughly fucked last night—which was sort of true since Cassius tongue fucked the hell out of me. No wonder Leon gave me so much shit. I grabbed a strand of my hair and brought it up to my nose, groaning at how I smelled like Cassius. My entire body was enveloped by his scent.

Even though a part of me was reluctant to do so, I knew I needed to take a shower and wash my hair. I needed to remove the constant reminder of him and all traces of last night. Because as amazing as it was, I couldn’t let it happen again.