Twenty-Two

I looked at him. He looked at me. The house was clean for the most part, but I had a shitload of studying to do... and I still wasn't feeling like myself I bit my lip. 

"I've got to study." Making up all my missed schoolwork was going to be a nightmare. 

"Want to go to the gas station to buy an energy drink with me?" I only asked because I doubted I'd be able to walk away from him without the wolf in me taking charge. There was disapproval in his stare. 

"Those are terrible for you." "Well, they're great for my grades." Honestly, they were more expensive than I could afford, but I couldn’t afford to drink caffeine either. It would affect me too much. Jesse strode to the kitchen.

 "How about I just make you a pot of coffee?" I made a face. "I've never gotten into drinking that stuff." "Come here." He gestured me toward him. I lifted an eyebrow. 

"Come on. Unlike my wolf, I don't bite." My fingers went to my hip. I hadn't even thought about looking at the scar there even when I was in the shower. Damn, I was out of it. 

"I will carry you if I have to," he warned. I shot him a dirty look and made my way over. With a dramatic sigh, I slipped up onto the counter. "Let's make a deal," he said. 

"I have no reason to make a deal with you. You're the reason I'm here, struggling to maintain my GPA." I gestured in a circle to the house around us. 

“Instead of in my dorm room, consuming information and loving every minute of it." 

"That's true," he agreed. "But now you're stuck with me, so you may as well hear me out and consider it." He wasn't wrong. I gave him a long sigh. 

"Fine." "I'll make you a cup of coffee the best cup of coffee you've ever had. Assuming you like it, I'll agree to make as much coffee for you as you want, for the rest of your life, if you agree to never consume an energy drink again." I scoffed. 

"That's a terrible deal both for you and for me." "Alright.” He amended the deal. 

"Assuming you like the coffee, you agree to only drink energy drinks in an emergency, twice a month at most. And I make you up to three cups of coffee a day, on the house." Well, that was slightly more realistic. 

"Why do you care?" I checked. 

"Our lives are tied together now. What affects you will affect me. I've done a lot of research and don't like the way energy drinks work on our bodies, so I don't want you to have any adverse health benefits from them however unlikely those are." I rolled my eyes. 

"You're a health freak." 

"No, I just prefer natural foods. Coffee is natural, therefore, it's healthier. Even if it is loaded with sugar and milk." He gestured to the French press on the kitchen counter. It hadn't been touched since I'd been living there.

 "Fine. If I like it, I'll consider agreeing to your deal. There will be no swearing off energy drinks today, though." "I can work with that." He grinned. 

I studied him as he grabbed ingredients like he'd done it a thousand times. He probably had. It was pretty simple; he pulled some creamer from the fridge that I hadn't touched, sniffed it, and set it on the counter. Next came the sugar, and coffee grinds. 

The smell was pleasant enough as he prepared it. There was a tightness in his shoulders that surprised me and a pride that made me think he was a sly bastard for talking me into our little agreement. 

Jesse's charm wasn't exactly what I'd been thinking when Dax and Rocco told me he'd talked his way out of two-dozen tickets, but I was starting to understand what they meant. He wasn’t charming so much as stubborn. Kind of like… me. 

"So about tomorrow," Jesse said as he stirred the contents of the French press. "What about it?" I grew suspicious again. 

"It's Friday. Are you going to your classes?" My suspicion deepened. "Are you going to ask me to stay home and grow wolf babies for you?" He barked out a laugh, looking back at me with a grin. 

"Yeah, right. I don't want kids yet. Do you want kids yet?" "Hell no." "That's what I thought." He turned back around. 

"I was going to ask if you want me to go to your campus with you since you probably won’t be able to go without me. We can come up with an excuse as to why I need to stay with you if you want." My suspicion was replaced by surprise. 

"You'd do that for me?" "Of course." "You say that like it's a given, but it's not." "It is for me." He put his spoon down on the counter and turned to face me, remaining where he was. 

"I want to make this easier for you, Tea.  I know it's a pain, in a lot of ways. I know I screwed up your plans and this isn’t what you saw for your future. But I'm here, now, and I'm going to do what I can to make it as simple as possible for you." Wow. Okay, then. That was sweet. 

"Most of my professors wouldn't notice or care if an extra student was sitting in on their lectures. One of them would, but maybe if I show him my hip, he'll be lenient. We can say you're my brother or something." Jesse lifted an eyebrow at that, and my face flushed.

 "Fiancé, then. There's no way they're going to let you stay if you're just a boyfriend." He nodded. "I can play along." 

"I'm sure it'll be a real hassle," I said dryly. He grinned. "A real hassle. Touching you, kissing you, holding you... I don't know how I'll survive."

 I rolled my eyes, and his grin widened before he turned around. His hands moved quickly as he assembled the drink, and then he put a warm cup in my hands. 

"Drink it now, while it's the perfect temperature." I obliged. Lifting it to my lips, I took a tiny taste. Bitterness melded with sweetness. 

There was a lot of creamer in it, which helped with the flavor. It wasn't the worst thing I'd ever tasted. But I still didn't like it. I glanced at Jesse's hopeful expression. I wasn't usually a sucker, but I didn't want to crush his dreams. 

"It's good," I sort of lied. "Not as good as energy drinks, but good." His grin widened. 

"You'll think about giving up Red Bull?"

 "I'll think about it," I agreed. No way in hell was I going to swear away my Red Bull rights, but maybe I could get used to drinking coffee sometimes. 

It would save some money, and I wouldn't have to ration my caffeine so much since Jesse was so keen on making it for me. I chugged the coffee before we headed upstairs. 

The caffeine would kick in faster that way, and I needed it badly. Heading back to my new room, I ignored Jesse's lingering presence in the doorway as I put his papers in the desk drawer before I started dragging them toward his room. 

"Easy.” He grabbed the dresser from me, picking the thing up like it wasn’t a legitimate piece of furniture. I tried not to drool over the way his muscles looked all flexed like that and only half-succeeded. 

"What are we doing with this?" he checked. 

"Putting it in your room," I gestured to the hall. He gave me a chastising look.

 "I told you, your wolf's not going to let us sleep apart." "And I told you I'm not sleeping in your bed." I shot him the same look back. 

"Regardless of the wolf that's trying to swallow me whole, I'm a human. I still don’t know you. And I'm going to do human things, like having my room. You and I are roommates, not bedmates." Jesse didn't seem put out by that. 

"I agree. I'd like to take things slow, too. But I'm telling you, your wolf won't sleep away from me." 

"And I'm telling you I'll deal with that problem when it gets here. If it gets here. For now, we're going to put your stuff in your room and my stuff in my room. Got it?" He looked... amused. Hell, maybe even happy. What was wrong with this guy? 

"Yes ma'am." He saluted me. I gave him the middle-finger salute back, and he busted up laughing. 

"What is so funny?" I asked, getting exasperated.

 "I'm sorry. It's just, werewolves grow up hearing about how you'll meet your mate and she'll be beautiful and perfect and everything. But that all sounds kind of dry. I thought it would be this whole dramatic ordeal, but we're standing here, and you're telling me off, and it's just... fun. I'm damn glad it's you." He gave me a big, genuine grin. Yeah, he was insane. But also, kind of cute. 

"Alright, well, I'm not sure what to say to that. So take that desk in there." I shooed him toward his bedroom. With another grin, he carried it easily across the hall. I began moving my new-to-me mattress into the corner of the room to make space for the desk. When that was done, I started dragging my desk. 

That sucker was freakin’ heavy. Jesse came back in, plucking it up off the ground and looking to me for instructions. I pointed where I wanted it to go, and he set it there while I grabbed the chair. 

He moved the dresser after that and then strode over to my suitcases while I grabbed my laptop and migrated to the desk. I heard drawers opening and closing and looked over to find him putting my clothes away. 

"What are you doing?" I asked. He glanced over. "Moving you in. You said you're claiming this room, right?" 

"Yeah, but I can do that myself." He shot me a knowing grin. "Let's be real, Tea. You're never going to make time for that. I've got time, so I'm doing it." 

I opened my mouth to argue but closed it when I realized he was right. I would never make time to put away my clothes when they were perfectly fine in piles in my suitcases. 

"Fine. Leave the underwear." I looked back at my computer, pulling up the list of crap to do for my first class. 

I groaned inwardly when I saw the list and rubbed my eyes even though I could feel the caffeine kicking in already. That coffee packed a punch. The next few days of catch-up were going to be hellish. 

Jesse finished putting my clothes away including my underwear, that bastard, and zipped up my suitcases, disappearing with them. 

He returned a couple of minutes later with sheets, a comforter, and a book. After he made the bed, he dropped onto the mattress and made himself comfortable. I glanced over at him and his book and then did a double-take. Eragon? 

Talk about a classic. And not one of those long, dry classics you read in English literature, but a classic that teaches you to enjoy disappearing into a fictional world. 

"I'm so jealous you get to read fiction right now," I told him. He chuckled. "You're the only thing on my to-do list until we're mated, so I exist only to read and make you feel good." He paused. 

To-do list? Ha. I snorted, and his expression went sheepish. He scratched his head. "I didn't mean that the way it came out." 

"Well it's true, isn't it?" I shot back, wanting to see him blush. His face reddened, and I mentally patted myself on the back. "It's adorable that you're a virgin," I told him, flashing him a grin. 

 

"And so easily embarrassed." I shook my head, clucking my tongue. "Just thinking about how red your face is going to be when you're hit with the 'mate climax' hormones is enough to make me laugh." 

"There won't be enough blood left on my face for me to blush. It'll all be in my" We looked over at his phone as it started ringing. He looked at the caller ID and grimaced, looking back at me. 

"It's the main alpha, checking to make sure you're alive. You okay if I take this in the other room?" I shrugged. 

"Sure." It was nice that he'd asked, though. Usually, guys would just cut me off and disappear. 

He stepped out, and my chest sort of tightened as my wolf came to the surface, but with Jesse’s scent all over the room and his voice floating in from the hallway, she remained calm for two minutes he was gone. 

When he came back, my wolf settled and I dove back into anatomy memorization while he plopped back down on the bed and opened his book. That was only the start of a very long night.