Page 209 of Boys Who Hunt

He smirks. “Yup.”

I hold up my hands. “But that bill—”

“Taken care of.”

Wow. The confidence he says that with makes my spine tingle in such a good way I nearly want to do a little jiggle to get rid of it.

“I told you I want to help,” he says, tilting his head in such a sweet way that it melts my heart. “And if I can do anything to ease the load on the heart of the girl I love, then I will do it.” He winks. “Now, let’s get to class.”

“You didn’t tellme I was going to be turned into a bodyguard.” Heath takes a drag of his cig before he chucks it onto the gravel below his feet and stomps on it. “People will talk.”

“So?” Max shrugs. “I don’t see the issue, honestly.”

“What’s going on?” I ask.

Heath throws his arm over my shoulder, pulls me close, and points at Max. “That guy over there is using me.”

“Like you haven’t used me too,” Max retorts.

Heath narrows his eyes. “That was different.”

“You wanted me to seduce her, I want you to protect her while we get to class. We get to be obsessed. Any problem?”

“I never said I had a problem with that part,” Heath jests. “But the three of us together will definitely raise eyebrows.”

“Four,” Max says, wriggling his brows. “But who’s counting?”

Heath sighs and raises his brow at him. “You’re awfully content with yourself, aren’t you?”

The smirk on Max’s face is too cute. “I take pride in being as annoying as possible.”

“Good.” Heath releases me and rubs his fist through Max’s hair until it’s all messed up. “Keep it that way.”

“Goddammit,” Max growls, making me laugh.

“But where the fuck is Silas?” Heath asks, checking his watch. “He’s supposed to be here for his classes. They’re about to start.”

I pull my bag closer to my shoulder. “I haven’t see him in a while, actually.”

“I think he needs some time to think too,” Max says.

“About what? Murder?” Heath scoffs, snorting.

“Wait, he hasn’t talked to you guys either?” I ask, looking at them both.

They shrug in unison.

I frown. “And it doesn’t bother you?”

“That’s just how he is,” Heath says.

“Sometimes he just vanishes off the face of the earth for a couple of hours. Sometimes days.” Max looks around to see if anyone’s listening. “Maybe to get rid of his ‘urges.’” He makes quotation marks with his fingers.

“Whatever, it’s not our problem, and if he doesn’t ask, I’m not helping,” Heath says, throwing his bag over his shoulder. “You have class soon. You coming, or what?”

“Who told you about my schedule?” I say as I walk behind him.

He glances at Max over his shoulder and winks.