Chapter 4

Rosa POV

My pulse thundered in my ears, echoing the brutal, electric hum of skin against skin.

Drake’s fingers clamped around my wrist like a steel cuff, holding me flush against his hard chest. His gaze burned into mine, dark and utterly untamed, before dipping slowly to my mouth.

I swallowed hard, forcing every ounce of defensive venom I possessed into my voice. "Let go of me, Drake, before I call your twin or use this kitchen spatula to rearrange your face."

Drake didn't flinch. An arrogant shadow crossed his face. "Do it, Rosa. Let's see you try."

Instead of backing down, I stretched my free hand blindly across the island, my fingers wrapping around the handle of a plastic spatula. I whipped it up, brandishing it like a sword right under his nose.

Drake blinked, startled by the sheer audacity, and instantly shoved my hand away, releasing my wrist as if I carried a plague. He stepped back, scowling darkly. "You're seriously insane."

"And you're insufferable," I snapped back, rubbing my wrist where his imprint still burned.

Before we could trade any more verbal blows, the front door swung open, followed by the jangle of keys.

"Rosa? Drake?" Chloe’s voice echoed from the foyer as she stepped into the kitchen, dropping a canvas tote bag on the counter. She looked between the two of us, taking in our flushed faces and the spatula in my hand. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Good grief. Have you two started planning each other's murders yet?"

"She started it," Drake muttered, grabbing his coffee mug and glaring at me.

"I was literally just trying to get caffeine, your majesty," I retorted, rolling my eyes so hard they almost got stuck.

Chloe waved a hand dismissively, her expression turning sympathetic as she looked at me. "Anyway, Rosa, I stopped by your apartment complex this morning before coming over. Total nightmare. Your place is wrecked, the water ruined half your things, and half the students in the building are throwing a chaotic hallway party like nothing even happened. Plus, your landlord is a slumlord, he told me to my face he isn't paying a dime for your damaged property, just patching up the drywall and floors."

My stomach plummeted. "Unbelievable," I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. "My laptop notes are ruined. My favorite books are mulch."

"Hey, don't look at me," Drake remarked coldly, leaning against the doorframe. "Maybe if you weren't such a walking storm cloud of bad attitude, you wouldn't have caused an indoor flood out of pure spite."

I spun around, sneering. "You're a miserable a*shole, you know that?"

"Please, for my sanity, stop fighting each other," Chloe groaned again, stepping between us. She checked her watch. "Drake, you have practice, right?"

"Yeah," Drake said, his eyes locking on mine one last time with a slow, deliberate smirk. "And then I'm meeting up with my new catch downtown."

A hot, irritating spike of jealousy twisted sharply in my chest, though I forced my face into a blank mask.

Chloe wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ugh, gross. Do you ever keep your pants zipped for more than twenty-four hours? Control your wh*res, Hayes."

Drake just laughed, a dark, rich sound, before turning on his heel and walked out of the kitchen toward the back exit.

Chloe turned back to me. "Do you have early classes today?"

"Yeah, first lecture starts in an hour," I sighed.

"Me too. Come on, let's grab our bags before we both lose our minds."

---

Twenty minutes later, Chloe and I parked our cars in the crowded campus lot and headed toward the main academic quad. But we barely made it past the student union before my eyes locked on a familiar, high-maintenance silhouette standing by the fountain.

Sienna.

Drake’s clingy, unhinged ex-girlfriend.

Sienna was surrounded by a cluster of her sorority friends, her bleached-blonde hair catching the midday sun. The second she saw Chloe and me walking past, her sharp eyes narrowed into slits.

I let out a low breath. "Speak of the devil. Your favorite person is glaring at us."

Chloe groaned, pulling her sunglasses down her nose. "Ugh. Do not make eye contact. If she starts a scene today, I'm transferring."

It was a valid fear. When Drake had finally broken up with Sienna a few months ago, she had completely lost her grip. She had cornered Chloe in the campus library, sobbing dramatically, screaming about how Drake had ditched her for some new sl*t on campus, and causing a massive, humiliating public scene that had landed on the campus gossip blog for a week straight.

"She has this toxic radar," Chloe muttered under her breath, quickening her pace. "Every time I walk across this quad, I swear I run into her. Let's just pray history doesn't repeat itself today."

We hurried our steps, eager to escape Sienna’s field of vision and head toward our respective lecture halls.

We never made it.

Before we even reached the edge of the science building, a wave of students came sprinting backward out of the athletic center, shouting and laughing, the double doors banging against the brick walls.

"Holy sh*t, move!" a guy carrying a hockey stick yelled past us. "The captain of Westbridge University just rolled up to the ice rink. He's cornered Drake, and they're about to tear each other apart over a massive bet!"

Chloe and I froze in our tracks, exchanging wide-eyed looks.

Without another word, Chloe grabbed my arm, and we spun around, sprinting back across the quad toward the campus ice arena.