Too Hostile by Nicole Dykes

Author:Nicole Dykes [Dykes, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

FLETCHER

He’s afraid of potatoes.

I can’t help the goofy-ass grin on my face as I help Annie do some research in the library. I mean, I asked him to give me something, and he did.

Yup. My face might actually split open with how big I’m grinning right now. To some, it may have seemed like a joke or not enough, but to me? He’s trying. Why? I’m not sure either of us will actually admit it.

Me for fear of being wrong and him for just . . . well, fear.

But he was dead serious. I could tell by the look on his face as he desperately searched for something to tell me. Something very real about himself. Something he doesn’t tell other people.

It may seem small, but I know there’s so much more to him than he lets on. I have no idea what he’s hiding about his past, but there’s something there. I recognize that pain.

So yeah, I’m a smiling goofy bastard today after Professor Ronan Barlowe shared his secret with me last night.

Annie closes her laptop and peers at me over the table. “Go see him.”

“What?” I say, looking at her over my still open laptop. “Who?” She can’t know what I was thinking about. There’s no way. I mean, we haven’t been super careful, but we’ve been pretty damn careful. Unless maybe she saw me coming out of his office a couple of times.

She rolls her eyes at me with a sweet laugh. “Do you really think I’m that dense?”

Oh shit. She does know. I’m pretty sure my jaw has hit the floor as I stare at her like a dead fish, my mouth just hanging open.

She reaches across the table and closes my laptop, her eyes lighting up with amusement and maybe a little bit of pity. “Go see him. We’re done today, and I won’t need your help until Tuesday. Go.”

My throat is dry, and nerves are threatening to eat me alive, but this is normally where I thrive. I’m usually good at hiding a part of myself, but I can’t seem to do that at all with Ronan, and apparently that seems to trickle down to his friends too. Because I know how important his friends are to him, I can’t try to lie to her. “Does he know you know?”

She laughs at that and then she shakes her head. “No. Of course not. He’d freak the hell out and probably try to end things with you.” She waves her hand. “He gets really damn dramatic sometimes.”

I can’t help the smile, even though the thought of him ending anything makes me sick to my stomach. He’s going to end things when the summer ends, my mind tries to remind me. I push it away. “You aren’t upset?”

“About you and him?” I nod. “No, of course not. Look, I love Ronan, but he thinks too much. He overthinks way too much, and you’re good for him.”

“Because I don’t think about anything?” I ask with a grin.

Her eyes roll.

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