When We're Alone

Chapter thirty-four

AVA

Mondayafternoonclassesare completely different to how they’ve been, but it does nothing to settle my brain. Mason catches me just as I’m about to walk through the door, throwing an arm over my shoulders and directing me to the seat next to his usual one.

“Hey, princess.” Everyone looks over at us as we sit, filling the seats around us to be as close to Mason as possible, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. Sheep, the lot of them.

“Been given permission to speak to me now, have you?” I ask Mason. He grins.

“Something like that.” Nothing seems to phase him; he acts like this is the most natural thing in the world. People around us try to engage me in conversation, but I can’t relax. Chatting with Reid and Mason at home is one thing. Letting everyone see me being friendly only for them to rip the carpet out from underneath me again is a step too far. I can’t forget that, so I stay stoic and quiet the whole way through, no matter how charming Mason tries to be.

I get to the second lesson of the afternoon early, having run out at the bell, and take my usual seat. I think I’ll get a reprieve seeing as Reid is nowhere near as flashy or forceful as Mason, but he shocks me when he takes the seat next to me. It shouldn’t surprise me, that’s much more his style.

“Hey, how’s it going?” he asks. I give him a suspicious look but don’t answer, and he doesn’t push me any further as others sit around us. Do you get points for sitting with the Elite or something? I hated the constant company at Highland and I don’t enjoy it now. Gathering my things at the end of class, I’m steeling myself to deal with Stone, and clearly Reid notices. “He means it this time,” he says. I look up at him but don’t answer, and he smiles softly at me. “I know you might not think he deserves another chance, but he’s going to take it anyway. You may as well enjoy the ride.”

“How do I do that when the whole time I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop?” His eyes crinkle as if it pains him to hear that.

“Let him prove you wrong. Let us make it up to you.”

“I’ve got to go,” I say as I push past him, not wanting to have started this conversation at all. Do they not know that I’d love it to be that easy? I’d be an idiot to just believe their words. I’m lost in thought as I wander into my last class of the day, and Stone is waiting for me inside the door.

“What’s up?” he frowns down at me. “Did Winnie do something?”

“What? No, I’m fine.” He looks like he wants to argue, but the lecturer clears their throat ready to start and Stone pulls me down into the seats nearest us. I get a few looks from the other students for daring to take their precious leader away from them, but who cares? Stone rests his hand on the back of my chair, absent-mindedly fiddling with the ends of my hair, and it feels too intimate to be doing in front of the gawking students around us.

“Stop,” I hiss at him.

“Why?”

“Everyone’s watching us.” He looks behind us, and seeing people watching, he picks up all of our stuff and walks to the back row. I consider staying where I am, but he’s got my work, and the lecturer is giving me a look as if I’m the one disrupting class, so I follow him up and sink down into the seat next to him.

“Better?” he says. I glare at him but he doesn’t seem fussed, smirking as he puts his hand on my thigh. I shove him off but he grips my thigh instead, still not looking away from the front of the room.

“Stone—”

“Sh, I’m trying to listen.”

I huff and fold my arms, and it becomes abundantly clear that he is in fact not trying to listen when his fingers loosen their grip and idly stroke the inside of my thigh. I try to sit still and ignore it, not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction, but it’s so hard. I also don’t want to gain any attention and have people wonder what we’re doing. I manage to last forty minutes of him tracing patterns on the inside of my thigh, his knuckles grazing over my underwear every so often, before I feel like I might actually explode. He stills when I start to put my things away, gripping my thigh again. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to the bathroom. Don’t follow me.”

I hurry out before he can say anything else and take a minute to breathe. He consumes me whenever he’s near. He’s all I smell, all I feel, all I notice. Splashing my face with cold water, I half wish Stone had followed me and taken what he wanted. God, I’m messed up.