I eased my steps, my thoughts spinning away as I sucked in cool breaths of air, thankful to be out of her web of complicated emotions.

No one had ever been able to draw me in like Devlynn Price. She was a dangerous road that would eventually ruin me.

Chapter 12

Devlynn

It had been two days since I’d seen Elis. He’d walked away without a word and disappeared from my life once more. I was determined never to see the asshole again.

If I was honest, I’d enjoyed every second of our time together. I didn’t think about my dad or my fucked-up life. All responsibilities and worries melted away, leaving me in orgasmic bliss until Elis threw ice water in my face.

I was due at class in an hour—the one Elis had magically found his way into weeks after the beginning of the semester. I walked out of the registrar’s office after trying to drop that class, the fear of combusting after another minute with Elis Brooks all but oppressing me. But the university told me I needed the credit, and I wasn’t about to mess up my future for him.

“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Price?” His voice startled me from my thoughts.

“Brooks,” I grumped as I clutched my backpack to my chest and walked down the sidewalk. “You smell like paint. If you’re going to tag walls on the way to class, you may want to bring a change of clothes. Your dirty little secret will be blown for sure.”

“I’m not worried.” He grinned, catching my arm and spinning me softly into a limestone wall in a small alleyway crowded between buildings that led to the central courtyard. “I’d like to tag this.”

I focused on his large, tattooed hands framing my face against the wall behind me. His breath on my neck was beyond arousing. I cursed him inwardly for being so…alluring and myself for being pressed so close to his body yet again.

“Why can’t you leave me alone?” I found my voice.

“This wall. You know how hard it’d be for them to cover it? They can't paint it. It’s natural stone. They’d have to clean it. It’d take weeks and an entire crew.”

“Is that what you want to talk to me about? How you’re jonesing to vandalize property?”

He winked, and the right side of his lips turned up to form a lopsided smile. “You offering to let me vandalize you?”

I shove passed him. “Maybe I should report you for harassment so they’ll kick you out.”

He shrugged as he gripped my hand, stealing all the air from my lungs. “Hard to get kicked out when I don’t belong here in the first place.”