With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men 4)

I glanced at him, shaking my head in confusion. “Stop her from doing what?”

He lifted his hands. “I don’t know. She’s a Gamble. A pissed-off Gamble. They lose their shit when they’re pissed.”

“Oh, crap.” He was right.

But Caroline had already reached her target. She paused in front of the four girls and slapped her hands to her hips as she focused on one short redhead. “What did you just say about Dr. Kavanagh?”

“Umm...” The girl who’d been talking blinked at her as if she couldn’t believe she’d been interrupted. “That’s really none of your business. This is a private conversation.”

“Private?” Caroline lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, it was so private I could hear it in this public classroom from twenty feet away while you bashed a respected professor from this university.”

The gossipmonger snorted and rolled her eyes. “She’s not a professor here anymore. I heard she got fired for sleeping with a student.”

“Oh really? You heard?” Caroline glanced back at us and I could see she was about to blow.

Tensing, I wondered if she lost her temper the same way her brother did. I turned to Ten. He shared a worried look with me.

Caroline snickered at the girl. “Well, I heard you fucked that guy right there last night.” She motioned blindly toward Ten. “And you liked it up the ass best.”

The girl’s eyes widened with horror as she glanced at Ten.

Next to me, he slipped into character without pause. Grinning, he blew the girl a kiss. “Hey, baby.” He notched his voice seductively low. “Hope your tushy isn’t too sore this morning. You liked it rougher than I was used to giving it, so I got a little carried away.”

“Oh my God,” the girl cried, backing away from him and trying t

o crowd into her friends, but her friends suddenly didn’t want anything to do with her. She shook her head frantically. “No. I...I don’t even know that guy.” Gaping at Caroline, she shook her head. “You’re lying.”

Caroline widened her eyes as if she’d just realized she’d made a mistake. Then she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, but that’s what I heard. And since I heard it, it has to be true, right?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Dr. Kavanagh, bitch.” Caroline moved right up into the girl’s face. “Spreading lies about a person is called defamation, and it’s illegal. But what’s more important is that it really sucks when it’s someone else spreading it around about you, doesn’t it? So maybe from here on out, you should watch your fucking mouth whenever you start spewing trash about someone else you don’t even know, like my sister, Dr. Kavanagh. Because that trash might not be the truth.”

Notching her chin high, she turned her back on the girl and stormed proudly from the room.

“That...” Ten pointed after Caroline with his jaw fallen open. “Holy shit, Ham. That was so fucking awesome.” He turned to look at me, his eyes glassy with shock and admiration. “She’s totally fucking awesome.” When he started to trail after her as if in a daze, I caught his arm.

“Whoa. Where do you think you’re going?”

“To kiss the fucking shit out of her. I have to.”

“What about Noel?” I reminded him with an arch of my eyebrows.

He immediately blinked his gaze clear. Then, ripping his arm from my hold, he scowled at me. “Fuck you, man. Couldn’t you have let me daydream for half a fucking second before going and saying his name?” With a sniff, he stormed away, but at least he took off toward the opposite door Caroline had used.

I blew out a breath and glanced at Zoey’s empty seat. I wished she’d been here to see Caroline. She would’ve been so proud and amused. And she probably could’ve cooled Ten down better than I had.

Unable to help myself, I pulled up my phone and found her number. I knew I should wait until we were face to face, but I couldn’t handle this a second longer. I needed some kind of contact with her.

So I typed in a simple, Are you okay?

Almost immediately, she answered. Are YOU?

Relieved she’d responded, that she wasn’t avoiding me completely, my shoulders loosened. I left class and made my way outside into the cooling late September day. I wished she had answered my question instead of posing another, but right now, I’d take what I could get. She was at least talking to me.

No, I typed. I’m absolutely freaking out. Too much is happening all at once and I can’t keep up. Most of all, I want to talk to you. In person.

I gnawed on my lip after sending that off, but instead of responding to it, she asked, Did I miss anything in art class?