Obsessed with the Heartbreaker: An MM College Romance, page 13
It made me look at him with even more admiration than I’d already felt, even if I definitely shouldn’t have.
I was here for a reason, which was to help him figure out what he wanted to do with his future so his father would stop hounding him about succeeding him in his company.
Yeah, that was my only goal. My focus.
I definitely didn’t watch Henry’s ass as he walked away from me.
Once at the door, he turned, making me jump my eyes up to his.
“Coming?”
My heart lurched.
Get your head out of the gutter, Antony.
Easier said than done. Especially with the Heartbreaker.
Chapter 19
Henry
Leading Antony to my bedroom, I told him to just leave his backpack and his stuff in here. Just like the last time, as soon as he entered it, he started looking around, as if he was trying to absorb every detail, commit it to memory, and while from someone else I might have found it intrusive, I didn’t mind that he did it.
In fact, I liked it too much.
The fact that he seemed so interested in the smallest details about me, like what book was on my nightstand or the trinkets that I kept lined up on my desk, made me feel almost giddy. Nervous and warm on the inside, but that was the last thing that he should be making me feel, so I tried my best to ignore it.
Without turning away, I pulled my T-shirt off.
“What are you doing?”
Was it me, or did his voice sound a little strained? I pushed my hair back from where it had fallen from my face and took in the red tips of his ears and the wandering eyes that were trying very hard not to stare directly at my chest.
A primal part of me almost preened at the sight.
“We’re probably going to get wet, you should also take your T-shirt off. Or don’t.”
Maybe he shouldn’t.
I didn’t know whether Antony felt particularly comfortable with his T-shirt off or not, but I was starting to wonder whether I felt comfortable with so many inches of his tanned skin out for the world to see.
I don’t care.
It was my new mantra.
Taking two pairs of swim trunks from my closet without thinking too much about it, I handed one to him and left to put on mine in the bathroom, because I definitely wasn’t changing in front of him.
“Come down when you’re ready,” I said behind my back before I left him to it.
Down the stairs and outside again, grass crunched beneath my feet as I went to supervise all the tools that had been taken out, making sure we had everything we needed. We could always, of course, just go inside the house if we’d left something, but I was feeling a little prickly and on edge at the thought of spending time around Antony and my frat brothers for reasons that I didn’t want to examine too closely. So I checked on everything, giving nods to the guys who looked at me for approval.
They were like eager puppies who wanted a pat on the head, and more than once I’d actually done it. Ridiculous as it was, it seemed to satisfy them, so when I was in the mood, I indulged.
Then Antony came out.
Brilliant late afternoon sun shining down on him, inches upon inches of smooth skin greeted me, making me freeze on the spot. Not only was he half-naked, the only piece of clothing on his body was mine, and I really should have thought better about this beforehand, because I was now slightly concerned I might pop a boner where everyone could see me.
The sight of Antony in my clothes was heady, more than it should be. It made me want to brush myself all over him, back him against the wall, and feel the ridges of his torso under my fingers. See how sensitive those brown nipples were.
Focus.
“Everyone!” I called out, and once I had the guys’ attention I introduced Antony—re-introduced, more like—and started outlining the goals for this afternoon.
I felt Antony watching me, the side of my face heating up under his scrutiny while I gave orders and organized today’s activities. I seemed to have developed a new awareness of him, of where he was around me, of how close or how far he was standing. It almost felt like I could pull him closer with a string.
It was just post-sex nonsense. Even if it had been almost two days ago already.
And it was definitely not happening again.
Without even telling him, Adam put upon himself the task of being Antony’s main companion while I went around the house to give more directions. As a right-hand man of sorts, he was the welcoming listening ear to people who had a hard time talking. Making sure people felt comfortable seemed to be the way he thrived, and never had I been more grateful for it than now.
“People know how to brush a house clean, Hen,” Maddox called out as I passed him by.
“You clearly don’t, though, since you’re not actually doing it.”
I was just searching for more distractions as I tried to calm my body down and give myself yet another pep-talk but it was futile.
I’d never be more ready than I was now.
So I just stopped procrastinating and went to find Antony.
He was already talking to some of the other guys, who’d apparently accepted him with open arms. Antony was usually a guy of few words when it came to new people, preferring to observe for a while before actually diving into conversation, but he was currently indulging them in their questions.
How did I know about this fact, you asked?
Definitely not because of my spying on him.
Anyway.
Stepping beside him, I took up a brush and got it wet on a bucket. “Are you seducing them already?”
Antony let out a surprised scoff at my sudden entrance. “Definitely. We’ll start making out any minute now.”
The image that popped into my head made me regret my snarky remark. I wanted to growl mine in front of everyone, yet again.
It was just weird because I’d been way too used to always having Antony to myself in the past. When Antony and I used to hang out, it had always been just the two of us. His green eyes had always been trained on me, his stare making my chest feel warm, and now…
I actually didn’t dislike seeing him surrounded by my frat brothers. My two worlds were colliding, and I felt stupidly eager at the thought that we might do this again. Without wanting to, I imagined Antony becoming a more permanent fixture in the frat, not actually joining it, because I knew it wasn’t his sort of thing, but just…seeing him around with all of us. The guys getting used to him.
Me getting used to having him always at my side.
But that was nonsense. This was only temporary. He might have to hang out here more because I had to come up with annoying tasks to give him, but it would all end sooner rather than later.
Then it would never happen again.
“You’re quite good at this, you know,” Antony said all of a sudden, grounding me in the present moment.
“At what?”
“At leading people.” The rasping sound of the wall as we both vigorously brushed it clean almost drowned our words. “People like listening to you.”
“I guess.”
“Could be something to keep in mind when looking for internships.”
I dropped my brush, washing it as my jaw clenched. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to lead anyone.”
“You seem to like it, though.”
I did. It had always come naturally to me and it was something I enjoyed.
What I didn’t want was to just be a clone of my parents.
“Doesn’t matter. I can like other things too.”
Could he just drop it?
Of course not.
“Are you saying no because you don’t want to follow your parents’ footsteps, or because you genuinely don’t want to?”
I sighed roughly.
More than even Maddox himself, Antony knew the whole shit I went through with my parents. The way I resented them and wanted nothing to do with their business. I’d shared quite a lot with him back in the day when we were…neighbors. And he hadn’t forgotten about it.
“I refuse to be what they want me to be.”
“But what about what you want?” Antony dropped his brush and put all of his attention on me. “If what they thought didn’t matter or affect you, what would you want to do?”
I eyed the people around us, and thankfully, it seemed we were for now having a private conversation, since everyone else seemed distracted. The guys closest to us laughed loudly as one of them, Jonah, told them something about the time a turtle bit his finger and wouldn’t let go.
“Are you a therapist now?” Deflection. That was my only shield right now.
Antony gave me a look.
“Why do you care what I want or don’t want?”
He was silent for a moment before turning again toward the wall. “I just do.”
I had to admit that I liked this side of Antony. I liked that he cared. It made me feel like I had actual butterflies in my stomach. My parents had dropped me off at boarding school as soon as they’d been able to. My visits to them had been rare, even more so as I became older, and it had felt like they cared about me and my feelings as much as they cared about their cars—well, actually, they definitely cared less about me, and that was saying something because they changed cars every other year.
So it had always felt really special when Antony, who owed me nothing, who I should have been no one to, showed me that he cared, no strings attached. I’d never had to prove my worth to him in order to earn it.
He’d made me feel…loved.
Don’t go there.
Adam, who was several feet away from us, called out from up a ladder and asked something I didn’t even catch, still distracted by my thoughts, but as soon as I turned to him, I saw Maddox notice what he was doing. My best friend immediately dropped his brush and went toward him like a dark cloud.
“What sort of idiot goes up a ladder without someone holding it?” Mad took hold of it and looked up at Adam’s surprised face. “Has no one told you not to get on top of a ladder?”
Adam met his chastisement with a grin. “You have, just now. And you’re holding it for me, so win-win, right?”
Maddox looked like he wanted to threaten him to let go of it, but when it wobbled slightly, he held on to it harder.
Antony’s attention had also been pulled toward them, and when he felt my stare, he sent an inquisitive look my way.
I had nothing to tell him.
Adam and Maddox were one of the many mysteries on this Earth.
More guys called on to me, though, so I left my stuff and was grateful to get some distance from the guy pulling at all my heartstrings.
Jesus, look at my thoughts.
I was the Heartbreaker, for fuck’s sake.
What was I turning into?
Chapter 20
Antony
My heart didn’t know what to do, being so close to Henry Campbell. It raced as Henry asked me why I cared, and I found myself fighting a blush because, suddenly, I had to make myself that same question.
Yes, I was technically doing this because Connell had asked me to. It was almost physically painful to see him and Henry fight, not just because I knew Connell meant well, but for Henry. I hated how sometimes it felt like he was alone in the world. Always turned against his family, always having to fight them off, always avoiding their calls.
It wasn’t my business. It especially shouldn’t have been my business whether Henry followed his parents’ footsteps like they wanted or otherwise—so why did I care so much that he did something that he loved?
The questions stayed with me long after he left, gone to help out his frat brothers with whatever they were doing.
My job here was done today. I’d planted the seed. Whether I should have cared or not was irrelevant, because now I’d succeeded in guiding him, even just an inch.
Up and down I kept brushing the wall, wondering why I kept wanting Henry to be done with the others so we could just talk. Breathe the same air. Share the same space.
Like we used to.
God, I needed a stern talking to. This wasn’t healthy. Nothing would be happening with Henry and he’d made it perfectly clear, so it made no sense—
“Andino!”
That wasn’t Henry.
Yet the voice was disgustingly familiar.
Putting the brush down, I turned in the voice’s direction and saw none other than Edward Keller, smirking at me from the sidewalk.
Great. Just great.
If he was expecting a heartfelt greeting from me, he had something else coming, but apparently he interpreted my looking at him like permission to approach, and he made his way to me, grass crunching under his feet.
“You look…” Keller eyed me up and down, at my borrowed swim trunks—whose owner I definitely didn’t think about— and shirtless torso. “Different.”
“You look the same. Just like this morning.”
If a flying saucer full of aliens wanted to come and abduct me right now, I’d be grateful.
Or, better yet, they could abduct him.
His smirk grew. “I see you haven’t been wasting your time. I thought listening to a good friend’s advice would help you.”
“Good friend?” I put a hand over my eyes, blocking the intense late afternoon sun, and looked behind him. “Don’t see one anywhere.”
“You think you’re so cool, don’t you? Hanging out with frat guys, in the same space as the most popular guy in this college. Well, let me break it to you, you’re not even in the frat, so you’ll never be one of them.”
Nostrils flaring, I was starting to get very ticked off, and I didn’t even care about what he was saying.
Holding the brush’s long handle with a deathly grip, I became faintly aware of the guys near me watching our exchange. It reminded me of the other night with Kevin, where they’d all been almost waiting for Henry to give the word to kick him out.
“You should go, Keller.”
“What, you think you can kick me out? Do you think you’re in charge of this place?”
“He might not be but I am.”
The hairs on my arms rose, goosebumps all over my skin, as Henry stepped right beside me, shoulders wide and straight, expression threatening. “Who the fuck are you?”
Suddenly, it was like his whole face changed. “Oh, hi, Henry. I’m Edward Keller, nice to—” he reached out with a hand to shake Henry’s but the latter ignored it completely.
“We don’t allow strangers to just wander to our house.”
Keller’s smirk became a flirty grin as he eyed Henry’s chest. “We don’t have to be strangers.”
A very unimpressed Henry said, “I suggest you leave.”
Keller’s shock was immediate, but he wiped it from his expression quickly. “But he’s a stranger.”
He was pointing at me, obviously.
“Do I look like I want to explain myself to you?” Henry raised his eyebrows, looking more dangerous, if that was even possible. When Keller wisely kept his mouth shut, Henry added, “That’s what I thought. I’m inviting you for the last time to leave our yard, and don’t expect me to be so nice if I have to say it again.”
In his defense, this was the most polite I’d ever seen Henry be, which was impressive. Also hot. Keller sent me one last barely-hidden disdainful look and left the way he’d come.
I could already tell Henry was going to have a lot of questions about him, but I didn’t feel ready to answer them. Even less so now, when my stomach was coiled tight and all I wanted was to pull the Heartbreaker to me and kiss him silly.
Leaving the brush somewhere, I mumbled an excuse and quickly left Henry’s side. I didn’t even know where I was going, but I found an entrance to the kitchen on one side of the house that was already clean and thus mostly empty, so I got inside and prayed for some alone time.
Henry, however, clearly didn’t get the hint that I didn’t want to be disturbed, and as soon as he found me, he put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me into the pantry.
No sooner had the door closed behind him, he started his interrogation. “Who was that guy?”
“No one,” I responded almost immediately.
Which was more suspicious than if I’d just given him the truth.
“He’s clearly someone.”
Henry was stepping toward me, making me back up until I hit a shelf. It shook with the impact, the contents threatening to come tumbling down but Henry quickly put a hand up to balance it.
Why was that so hot?
And why did we always end up like this?
It was super fucking unfortunate that we both happened to be shirtless, not to mention a little sweaty. The sheen of perspiration gave Henry’s skin an almost unearthly glow. He was a god walking among mortals, and he was going to make me melt with the heat of his dark stare.
“Just leave it, Henry.”
Eye contact was hard when he was standing so close and staring at me so intensely, so I inevitably tried to look at some indeterminate point behind him. The Heartbreaker, though, was nothing if not an asshole, so he took my chin, forcing my gaze back to his.
“Tell me.”
The quiet, collected tone he used was enough to break me.
“He’s just a guy in my class, okay? No one relevant.”
He was also the biggest threat to me securing my future, not to mention a perpetual reminder of how not good enough I was.
Although, honestly, maybe he wasn’t the biggest threat.
That one was probably the Heartbreaker in front of me, because if I knew one thing already, it was that Henry had the power to wreak me.
Searching my eyes, Henry still wasn’t satisfied. The smell of man coming off him was so mouthwatering, I was in danger of leaning forward and taking a lick off him.
“So he’s bothering you then? Is that what’s going on?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.”
I scoffed. God, I wanted to laugh at just how ridiculous this situation was, and yet my breath was starting to come in short, affected by his nearness.
