Sauter (Ironside Academy, #3)(34)

She looked down at the torn lace still covering her chest. “What do I do?”

“Go without,” he suggested, knowing she wasn’t talking about the scraps of lace that were barely covering her nipples. “Take the rest off. I couldn’t give a fuck about movie night.”

She gave him a wry smile, even though it didn’t look like he was joking. “You’re terrifying.”

“And you’re quite literally tempting fate.” He tugged on the frayed edges of her bralette, hastily tying them in the smallest knot before he sucked in a deep breath and took several steps back from her. “How much did that cost?”

“I don’t know. My father’s team has been organising my wardrobe.”

He wiped a hand over his mouth. “Sleep in my room tonight.”

She laughed hollowly. “What would be left of me in the morning?”

His eyes flared, like he thought she meant something different, and his voice was husky when he spoke again.

“You’ve slept with me before. I’m one of your surrogates. You clearly need a surrogate right now.”

“I haven’t slept with you alone, and nobody knows that we shared a bed on tour except Cian.”

“Bring a friend.” His grin was humourless. Lethal. “We’ll call it a sleepover.”

“Is this some kind of ploy? You guys don’t want to leave me in Dorm O with Eve back?”

“Don’t speak the name of the dead girl,” he growled roughly.

“That’s not an answer.”

He ran a hand along the back of his neck, and then shrugged. “Yes, it’s a ploy. It was supposed to be Theodore’s ploy. I just don’t want to break his fingers again, so I’m asking you first.”

“What?” She peered at his face, trying to find even the slightest spark of humour. There was nothing. “What the hell?”

“He had his fingers inside what was mine.”

“I’m not yours!” She advanced on him but held herself back right before she could shove against his chest.

“You smell like mine. You taste like mine. You even sound like mine when you’re trying to insist you aren’t mine.” He leaned down, planting his cold expression a few inches from hers, his attention on her dishevelled clothes. “You definitely look like mine right now.”

She quickly pulled her dress back into position, twisting her arm behind her back to yank up her zipper. He watched, cool and calm, and then he brushed past her, pulling open the door.

“Glad we sorted that out,” he said, before striding out.

She gave a shaky smile to the cameraman who flashed his phone screen at her enthusiastically, probably trying to show her that she had lasted more than three minutes, but she couldn’t focus on him as she made her way back to the stage. The second she saw Kilian, she felt her whole body relaxing, and she wanted to hurry right over to him, but then Theodore caught her attention, a question in his stormy eyes as he ran them over her, checking that she was okay. She wondered if she could cuddle up in his lap the way she did with Kilian.

Of course not, she immediately chided herself. He might have privately offered to help her ease her bond, but publicly, he had a girlfriend. Even though people probably guessed that he was surrogating for her, it would likely become a problem if they started flaunting it.

She tried to give him a reassuring smile as she approached Kilian’s seat, his hand already held out for her. He pulled her back into his lap, and she fought the urge to melt back into him completely, wary of the camera.

“Well?” Moses leaned forward in his chair, his eyes dancing between Sato and her. “That was definitely more than three minutes. How’d you do it, Carter?”

“He just really wanted to talk about his feelings,” she said, forcing her expression to appear unbothered. “Literally wouldn’t shut up. He’s a real chatterbox when you get him alone.”

Most of the Alphas laughed and she shrank back against Kilian, avoiding the heat of Sato’s stare. Kilian pulled his phone out in front of them, navigating to a blank message screen.

Okay? he typed out.

She pulled the phone closer to reply. Will you stay with me tonight?

“Mhmm,” he rumbled against the side of her head, dipping his head in a nod.

In Sato’s room, she added.

He stiffened behind her, a short, astounded laugh falling out of him. “Ah, okay …”

“Hey, you two?” Cian nudged Kilian. “Care to share with the class?”

“She’s just making arrangements for tonight,” Sato stated calmly. And loudly. In front of the cameras.

“What?” Theodore looked down the line of chairs.

“She’s getting sick again. She needs a surrogate … but she’s worried about rumours.” He flipped his hood up again, leaning back with his arms crossed like that was all the explaining he needed to do.

In a way, it was … a smart approach. Explaining things up front for the cameras. “Um, yeah.” She cleared her throat nervously. “I thought … I thought if it was Sato and Kilian, the fans would know it’s not anything romantic, right?”

“Because Oscar’s idea of romance is—” Theodore cut himself off, smirking before apparently revising his statement. “—not a discussion for polite society.”