Knowing he was serious, I nodded, heading out the room with the rest of my classmates. Completely humiliated again, I covered my face, so over this whole thing.
He’s affecting me, and he’s not even here.
I was blowing myself up now, my hopes for an education. Even though I was undecided, I’d eventually know what I wanted to do with my life and couldn’t afford to take this class over. I might have to pay out of pocket for that, and both Ben and Mom would have my ass. They’d worked so hard for me to go to school here.
Feeling terrible, I headed across campus to get some lunch and frankly, reevaluate my life at this point. My phone buzzed, and my stomach tossed for only a few seconds before seeing it was my roommates, a group text, and thank God nothing from Knight Reed.
Sophie: You guys want to meet for pizza for lunch?
Keisha: Sweet! Green Street sound, okay? They got the best pizza places over there.
Haley: Love it. Let’s just wait until we hear from Greer. I’m close and it’ll only take me a minute to get over to that area.
Same for me, and though I didn’t feel like socializing, socializing was exactly what I needed to do. More power in numbers after all.
Me: Sounds good. The Cheezery sound okay?
It was the best place on Green Street, and since they all agreed, that’s where I headed. It took me a little longer than expected to get over there, I guess dragging my feet, and by the time I actually got over to the restaurant, my friends were already in the booth. I spotted them easily upon entering.
Mostly because they weren’t by themselves.
Knight had his huge ass body tucked between Sophie and Haley, his arms basically around both of them. He had his wingspan draped behind the back of the booth, so yeah, he had his arms all over them, and the moment he spotted me, he tipped his chin. This got the girls’ attention, all of them popping up and waving at me. They looked only too giddy to have Knight Reed basically all over them, and something told me Keisha would have been a part of the sandwich too if he had another side to hug.
“Greer!”
They all said it together, but the only one truly smiling at me with mad delight was Knight himself. He was playing a new game here, easily psychological warfare, and since I was spotted by my friends, I couldn’t so easily walk away.
My stomach clenched as I gripped my bag, coming over and squeezing in next to Keisha. Knight dropped his arms from around the girls after that, sitting up, and the absence definitely hadn’t kept my roommates at bay. Hales and Soph hugged up on his big body like he was their life-force, grinning up at him like he was a member from a K-pop group.
“What’s going on?” I asked, treading lightly here. I lay my bag on the seat of my other side, Haley leaning forward.
“Can you believe Knight was eating lunch too?” she stated, her voice way higher than it usually was. “Right over there.”
She pointed to a group of guys just as big and as arrogant-looking as Knight was, talking amongst each other with their arms filled with just as many girls as Knight had when I came over. The girls swarmed these guys like locusts, but for whatever reason this one in particular stalked me.
“Came over to say hi,” Knight said, hand tapping the table. “Recognized your friends.”
This made them all giggle like four-year-olds, Haley and Sophie hugging Knight even more. In return, he dropped his arms back around them again, and I swore to God, Haley had actual drool dripping out of her mouth when his bicep merely brushed the back of her head.
“So naturally, you invited yourself to sit with us,” I said, expression serious.
Knight leaned forward. “Naturally.”
“We figured it’d be okay.” Keisha exchanged a glance between Knight and me. “He asked if you were coming, and since you knew him, we thought…”
They figured it’d be okay. My insides were swirling so badly I wasn’t sure if I could keep down anything, let alone order pizza. I started to make up some excuse, that Knight shouldn’t inconvenience himself by sitting with us, but then I noticed his finger. The tip of it looped right around Haley’s blond locks unbeknownst to her knowledge. He was playing with her and, in turn, playing with me.
My mouth dried. “Of course it’s fine.” I shifted in my seat, and only after did Knight drop his arms to his sides. He placed his hands in his lap, his muscled biceps squished between two girls a fraction of his size. His bulging arms shifted beneath his coal black T-shirt, matching his dark eyes, and I tried not to look at them as I grabbed a menu.
“Actually, already ordered for the table, Greer. On me.”
Of course he had, the ass.
Knight grinned. “Meat lover’s all around.”
“Too bad,” I said, shrugging. “I’m a vegetarian.”
“Really?” Knight sat back, fingers moving to his lips. “Weird, since you were scarfing down all that chicken with your fries the other day at lunch.”
My nails dug into my thigh. “Recent development.”
He smirked, but did wave the waitress over. Her gaze too poured over Knight’s body like she’d never seen a member of the opposite sex before, and I rolled my eyes, Knight’s grin widening. “A personal pan cheese pizza please for the little dove over there with the white hair.”
Freezing at the nickname he gave me, I stayed silent, shrinking in my seat after the waitress added to the order and left. Keisha touched my shoulder. “Um, cute nickname.”
Knight shrugged. “She hates it.”
“I wouldn’t.” Haley folded her hands and rested
