“What does that have to do with anything?” Alexander said.
“I’ve seen you around before, you know—when you come to pick Mila up. You look super calm at all times, but I feel…” Christian put a hand on Alexander’s biceps and watched the muscles tense. “I feel like it’s fake,” he said softly. “Just like I felt when I stood on the sleeping volcano. It looked like a harmless mountain, but it wasn’t.”
Mila laughed, sitting up. “You’re wrong, Chris, believe me. I know him far better than you. Alexander is the most dependable, considerate and calmest person I’ve ever met. He’s practically a perfect boyfriend.”
“Perfect,” Christian murmured, looking at Alexander’s rigid muscles under his hand. He met Alexander’s eyes. “No one’s perfect, sweetheart. Appearances can be very deceiving.”
“My boyfriend is,” Mila said, annoyance creeping into her voice.
“Maybe. I’m sure you know him better.” Removing his hand, Christian hopped off the bed and started dressing.
“You already going?” Mila said.
“Yup. I really gotta go.” Christian zipped up his jeans. “Promised my grandma I’d buy eggs. She’ll be massively disappointed if I don’t, and I’ll become her least favorite grandson.”
Mila smiled and sat up. “That’s very sweet of you. How many grandsons does she have?”
“One,” Christian said, and they laughed together.
“There’s a store just around the corner,” Alexander said.
Christian finally looked at him. “Thanks. You’re very helpful. Just perfect all-around.”
Alexander gave him a flat look that only made Christian smile wider. “All right, thanks, guys, I had a great time. Don’t worry, I’ll let myself out.” He stepped to the bed and pecked Mila on the lips. “Thanks for inviting me. I had fun.” He looked over Mila’s shoulder at Alexander and blew him a kiss. “More fun than I expected.”
And Christian strode out of the room, whistling a cheerful tune.
Chapter 3
“Your crush is here again,” Shawn Wyatt, Christian’s best friend told him.
Chuckling, Christian said, “He’s not my crush.”
“Right. Then how do you even know who I’m talking about?”
Christian glanced in the direction of Alexander, who was leaning against the wall, ignoring all the students around him. As always, he looked impeccable, unapproachable, ridiculously gorgeous, and too damn good for the mere mortals around him. He was probably waiting for Mila again—that was the reason he came to their college, after all.
“I don’t have a crush on him anymore,” Christian said. “It was a tiny crush anyway.”
Shawn rolled his eyes.
“No, I’m serious. Sure, I used to have a bit of a crush on him—who didn’t? But now that I actually talked to him and got to know him a bit, I’m over it. I’m serious.”
Shawn shot him a curious look before grinning. “Does he have a small dick or something?”
Christian chuckled and shoved him a little. “Oh shut it, I’m not that shallow! And nope, his dick is just as ridiculously perfect as he is. And that’s the problem I have with him. ”
“You don’t like that he has a perfect dick?”
Christian snorted. “Hardly.” He glanced at Alexander again, but couldn’t help but stare. The guy took the meaning of “tall, dark and handsome” to a whole new level, and his dark-blue eyes were nothing short of stunning. It was such a shame the guy was a weirdo—and a weirdo with a girlfriend. “There’s something off about him. He’s too perfect.”
“Too perfect?”
“Yeah. I don’t mean his looks. I mean his personality. Sure, he has a few quirks, but other than that, he’s so damn calm, reasonable, rational, and…and perfect. His face betrays nothing. It’s just not normal.”
“There are people like that. I told you he had a stick up his ass.”
“It’s not that,” Christian said, shaking his head. “It seems like a mask, you know? Every emotional reaction seems planned and carefully controlled. I don’t know… he’s weird. It gives me the creeps.”
Shawn gave Alexander a long, assessing look. “He doesn’t look like a creep.”
“That’s the point,” Christian said. “He looks like a fucking hero in some goddamn romance novel: handsome and hot, with a great car, a great apartment, and a great, beautiful girlfriend. He obviously has money, too. He’s a perfect, considerate boyfriend—I mean, he practically always comes to pick her up! And he ignores all the girls here that constantly try to get his attention. And I’m pretty sure he agreed to the threesome just to make his girlfriend happy. Because he’s such a perfect boyfriend.”
“Please stop saying the word ‘perfect.’ It’s giving me a headache.”
Christian laughed. “Sorry. But his perfectness annoys the hell out of me. It’s fake. I’m sure of it.”
“Why are you so sure?” Shawn said.
“Because his mask slipped a few times the other day,” Christian murmured, looking at Alexander. He shivered, remembering the glimpse of wildness that lurked beneath the calm surface. “He’s not at all what he appears to be, trust me. I’m good at reading people, you know that.”