“Or how about a person decides it would be a good idea to kiss another, due to some weird, unexplainable pull, but then, in hindsight, decides it was a f**kin’ mistake? That they spoke about personal things for the first time ever with someone different, someone new, thinking, Maybe I can trust this person with knowing the real me? Only to realize that what you did was stupid and should never have happened at all. Cementing that people are just one big ol’ disappointment!” I ran my hands through my hair, letting the now-shredded pencil fall to the floor.

“Jeez, Rome,” Ally whispered from beside me, her sympathetic gaze falling on Molly. I lifted my eyes to see what had her so upset. Molly was still standing on the second stair, eyes watering, complete embarrassment in her stance. Shit! How the f**k had all that just happened? It was meant to be a stupid debate, not a full-on verbal massacre. Fuck, but the girl could rile me—in more ways than one.

Golden eyes quickly left mine, and she glanced at the clock, announcing quietly, “Next seminar will look at Bentham’s personal notes. The essential reading is on the course outline. Class dismissed.”

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I raced down the stairs, not even looking at Molly at her desk, the need to get the hell out of the stifling room taking precedence over everything else. Shelly stormed past me, almost taking off my shoulder in the process, and the other classmates scurried past with hurried whispers. Walking to the corner of the hallway, I leaned against the wall, breathing deeply.

A light cough broke through my daze. “What?” I said, knowing it was Ally.

“You okay?” she asked softly.

Opening my eyes, I laughed sarcastically. “Fuckin’ peachy! I love my personal life being the subject of the UA rumor mill.”

She stared at me for a while before shaking her head. “I need to get to my next class. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Shut up, Al.”

“I mean it. I know you’re waiting for her.” I was. Shakespeare and I needed to have a private little talk about how to keep a f**king secret.

“Look, Rome, I’ve become real close to that girl lately. Heck, she’s become one of my closest friends. I don’t want you giving her a hard time, you hear? She’s not used to the likes of you. Hurt her and you’ll have me to deal with!”

Crossing my arms without giving a response, I dropped my gaze, watching Ally’s feet as she marched away with a frustrated sigh.

Two minutes later, Shakespeare walked out of the classroom and, instantly, I was in her face. “What the f**k was that all about?”

Her shock at my presence was obvious in her huge eyes and the rhythm of her stuttered breath.

“You were rude,” she said sternly, checking all around us.

We were alone, I’d made certain of it. This was between her and me.

“I was debating. That’s what you do in philosophy. You made it personal.” I could hear the rough edge to my voice, but Molly wasn’t intimidated, just stood tall, meeting me glare for glare.

“So did you!” She hit back, her face flushing with anger.

Could she not see what she’d done? How she’d brought me to the brink of losing it in front a class with her words…? With that f**king name?

“Why did you bring up the other night? What I talked about was in confidence. I told you things I’ve never told another living person and you threw it back at me in a public class?” I closed in, smelling that damn vanilla scent of her… What? Her hair, her skin? God, it was driving me insane. Up this close, I noticed more about her, like how her skin was perfect, not one mark or blemish, and her eyes had a strange shade of caramel around the iris. Jesus, I was furious but wanted nothing more than to take her against the wall. Fuck her into submission. Fuck her until she learned to not cross me again.

I refocused my mind and said, “I put my trust in you and you dredge it up in your lecture for your own f**kin’ smartass gain?”

My jaw clenched as she rolled her eyes and laughed. “Confidence, my arse! The whole college knows you use girls for sex, which, quite honestly, makes me feel sick.”

She’d just earned strike one.

“From what I saw the other night with her, you did then too, after you confided to me that you didn’t like her, after you connected so deeply with me. “

Strike two.

“Where’s the morality in that? Couldn’t resist her open legs I take it?”

Fucking strike three!

Completely losing my mind, I backed Molly against the wall and into a dark corner. We were completely hidden from view. Inching closer, I asked, “Why do you care who I f**k? What’s it to you?” Anger was quickly being replaced by lust, the two blurring in my mind. Her heavy breathing and the goose bumps on her skin were only goading me further.

She may not have realized it, but Molly couldn’t take her gaze off my lips. “It isn’t anything to me,” she said between gritted teeth, but those hooded eyes gave me all the indication I needed. She f**king wanted me too but couldn’t just come out and say it, could she? No, Mol was content to push every damn button I had.

I slapped my hand against the wall, edging in closer, to the point that we were almost touching. “You’re lying.”

Her firm tits pressed against my chest as she hissed, “I’m not lying. It has nothing to do with me who you f**k, as you so eloquently put it!”

“Bullshit! I don’t f**kin’ believe you!” I spat out as she hit my chest, and I tried once again. “I said I don’t believe you! Tell me why the f**k you care and don’t f**kin’ lie!” I felt her hands brush my stomach, almost causing me to moan out loud.