His Kiss and His Bargain

CHAPTER 9

Chloe double-checked that she had all her books packed into her backpack before she left the auditorium where the lecture had taken place.

A loud yawn escaped her in a very unladylike manner, indicative of just how tired she was. Chloe gave the almost empty auditorium a sheepish look, but no one paid her any attention. Other students were equally fighting fatigue and using the last of their energy to walk from the auditorium back to their rooms and their beds. They were all like zombies. Operating on autopilot.

Chloe dragged one foot after the other and walked out of the building. She turned, ready to walk back to the room she shared with Brooke. That was when she saw him.

Despite her tired, saturated brain, the data her eyes received that Jaxson was standing next to a beautiful gray Ford Edge in the car park next to his brother was immediately decoded in her head and she froze mid-stride.

He was laughing at whatever Hunter was telling him, and Chloe just stared, mesmerized by the sight. With the sun already on its path to end the day, the late afternoon warm light hit him just right. The entire scene looked too perfect, like a setup for a photo shoot. 

It took her a few beats to realize that she was standing just a hundred feet away, and if either Jaxson or Hunter glanced in her direction, she would easily be spotted.

She didn’t fear there was still an issue about her climbing through Hunter’s window. It was the intense interactions she’d had with Jaxson that made her nerves tingle and stretch at the mere sight of him. 

Without giving it another thought, Chloe hastily retraced her steps and turned towards the long way to her room. The path would literally take her around the campus before turning towards her room. It would have served her a lot of time and energy to just ignore the brothers and walk past them. That route would have had her back in her room within fifteen minutes. The route she took now would cost her an extra twenty minutes, but she wouldn’t have to risk another confrontation with Jaxson.

The man confused her. He made her brain short circuit and forget reason. He had awakened a curiosity deep in her she hadn’t even known she had. Chloe slammed the lid on those frivolous thoughts. She wanted nothing else but to focus on her studies and graduate. Chloe couldn’t afford to be distracted by a man too handsome for his own good. She just couldn’t let it happen.

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts and the need to avoid Jaxson and his electrifying touch that she almost bumped into David.

His hands immediately came up and grabbed her shoulders to stop her from hitting him or falling flat on her face. 

“Jesus! Where is your head? I called your name like three times, but you didn’t even respond.”

Chloe glanced over her shoulder to make sure she still hadn’t been seen by the brothers before she looked at David and attempted to give him a reassuring smile. “Sorry, David. My mind was just preoccupied.”

David let go of her shoulders and looked over her shoulder towards the car park. “I noticed.”

The tone of his voice was a little off, and Chloe didn’t like it. But there was nothing he knew, she was sure of it. She gave a jerk towards the path she was about to take. “I will catch you later, David. Let me go and rest.”

“Isn’t your usual route the other way?” He pointed towards the car park.

Chloe ground her teeth together. Why couldn’t he have just let her go without asking questions that did not concern him? She wondered. “I Just want to take this route today. I need a few extra minutes to unwind after that lecture,” she said. She then quickly stepped around him and proceeded on her way before he could interrogate her further.

*** 

Two days later, Chloe was in the very same situation all over again. She stood at the entrance of the auditorium and peeked towards the car park. 

Jaxson stood with his arms folded over his chest. He was dressed in a well-fitted black suit complete with a gray tie, like he was attending an important business meeting in a boardroom and not chatting with his brother in the college car park.

Chloe groaned in frustration. It was true that she hadn’t known Jaxson before her need to help Brooke had sent her up a tree and into Hunter’s apartment, but she was certain she had never seen his face around the campus. And now it seemed she was seeing it almost every day. Didn’t the man have a business to run?

His presence hadn’t gone unnoticed by other students, either. There was now an unhealthy crowd of female students who suddenly had a lot of time to just stand and walk around the car park every day after classes. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She certainly wasn’t irritated that other women found him attractive, she assured herself.

Still hiding in the shadow of the doorway, Chloe observed Jaxson. He didn’t look as relaxed and happy as he had been the last time she saw him. Today, he looked stoic. There was almost a fixed frown on his forehead and his lips were stretched tight in a displeased manner. 

Chloe watched as Hunter said something and laughed, but Jaxson only shook his head and responded as though he were speaking through his teeth. She wondered what had him in such a terrible mood.

She was surprised when a thought crossed her mind to walk over and ask him what was troubling him. Chloe gave herself a mental slap and firmly reminded herself that she was avoiding him and had her education to focus on.

And speaking of her education, she had to get to her room so she could get started on an assignment due next week. She didn’t have time to stand around waiting for Jaxson to leave.

Just then, a throat cleared behind her. Chloe jumped. She was startled as she had forgotten other students were still in the building. However, when she turned, she almost groaned. She would have paid anything for it to have been anyone other than David standing behind her.

He looked over her shoulder towards the car park for a moment before returning his gaze to her. “Are you avoiding Hunter’s brother?”

Chloe conceded that it wasn’t a shock that people knew Jaxson was Hunter’s brother. Now that she had seen them together, she could see just how much they resembled, and the fact that Jaxson was always with Hunter when he was on campus grounds was obviously a dead giveaway. 

But what she hadn’t expected was for David, or anyone for that matter, to make the connection that she was avoiding Jaxson.

“Who?” she asked and hoped she looked and sounded confused and blank and not at all guilty and dodgy.

David regarded her. It was unnerving, but Chloe didn’t falter. He looked towards the car park again. “The man in a suit standing by the gray car with Hunter,” he said.

Chloe shot a glance towards Jaxson as though she hadn’t seen him before. “I don’t know him… Or Hunter. I was just waiting for someone. It doesn’t look like they are coming. I will just leave now.”

A glance in David’s way proved that he did not for a second believe her, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t like she owed him an explanation for her actions.

Chloe gave the car park one more glance, made sure Jaxson was looking the other way, and she made her exit towards the longer route back to her room.

If Jaxson kept showing up like this, she would be fit enough for the Olympics by the end of the month, Chloe thought irately. The long walks were getting her in shape by force. It all made Chloe extra irritated. Couldn’t the man just vanish and never come back?

***

It was an unpleasant and bitter thought when one was forced to wonder if they were stupid, Jaxson thought. 

He had a desk full of documents that needed his urgent attention back at his office. He also had the pressing matter of a very dangerous man hell-bent on stealing his company, but instead of focusing his time and energies towards the safety and success of the company, he was standing in a campus car park hoping to see a woman who might as well have been a figment of his imagination.

SWAR college had clearly seen too much of him in the past few days. And so had Hunter, if the laughter in his eyes was any indication.

“I think she is avoiding you, brother,” Hunter stated the obvious.

A nerve in Jaxson’s temple twitched. “I have already established that.”

Hunter let out a soft chuckle. “Well, you do stand out. It’s kind of hard to miss that you are not a regular student. She probably sees you a mile away and takes a different route back to her room.”

Jaxson turned his head and glared at his brother. “Any more obvious observations you would like to point out?”

His younger brother raised his hands. “I am just saying… If you truly want to see this chick, then we would have to come up with a better plan.”

He thought about it. Humiliation was fast becoming his middle name and he didn’t appreciate it. Jaxson couldn’t remember any woman giving him so much trouble. They practically fell over themselves to just have a piece of him. 

If any of his past lovers saw him now, Jaxson thought, they would think he was losing his mind and was in urgent need of medical help, and he wouldn’t blame them. He was practically stalking this woman, and it was totally out of character. 

Very soon, he knew he would have to make the decision to walk away. There were more important things that needed his attention. Both his and Hunter’s survival depended on Jaxson keeping a clear head on his shoulders. 

So he had nothing to lose by listening to Hunter. Jaxson gave a nod. “Okay, what are you suggesting?”

A broad, mischievous smile spread across Hunter’s face. “Leave it to me.”