On Monday, I got to class late, but thankfully Dax had saved me a seat and Feldman was also late.

I took it and opened my books, fighting the major disappointment that Declan wasn’t in his usual seat.

I looked at Dax “Where’s your brother?”

He shrugged.

“It’s not like him to skip class. He isn’t injured, is he? From a fight? How can you let him continue doing that?” I closed my eyes briefly. “Why does he do it?”

Dax’s lips tightened, and it was the first time I’d seen him with a truly unhappy expression on his face. “For money so he can open his gym. It’s his piece of home that he doesn’t have here in the states.” He looked down and then back at me. “I know everyone thinks I’m a joke, but I—I get him. His dream is to be his own man and break away from us—from me. I wish he’d just take my half of the money, but he won’t. In case you haven’t noticed, Declan’s stubborn.”

“Yeah.”

“Miss Bennett, care to tell us what you’re discussing in the middle of my class?”

Shit. Caught. I shook my head. “No, sorry, Dr. Feldman.”

She tapped a pencil against her desk. “Then perhaps you’d like to answer some questions?”

Not today. Please. My mind was everywhere but on this class.

Dax’s long frame stood and half the auditorium sighed. “I was the one talking the most, Dr. Feldman. I’d be delighted to answer your questions,” he said in his clipped accent that I could tell he laid on extra thick.

After class, he met me outside the humanities building. I had a math class next, but decided to skip it to find out more about Declan. We found a bench in the quad near a fountain that was popular and took a seat. We chatted about what he was doing in his classes and how he struggled to keep his head above water, and I could tell that even though he wasn’t an A student, he did try. I didn’t want to pressure him to talk about Declan even though I was dying to know more.

“You’re a good listener,” he said after a while, giving me a gentle poke in the ribs.

“You’re easy to listen to.”

“Not to mention how hot I am.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re full of crap.”

He tossed an arm around me. “You better believe it, love.”

I toyed with my backpack. “So about Declan …”

He sighed and took my phone and typed in some digits, giving me a self-satisfied smirk.

“What are you doing?”

“Texting Declan and telling him to meet us for lunch.”

“Lunch? What if I already had plans? And use your own phone.” I tried to jerk it back, but he held on to it.

“But he might come if you ask. Dude doesn’t even budge for me.” He handed my phone back. “Here, I’m done. He now thinks you want to see him at the student center in half an hour. He also thinks you want to shag him in the science lab later.”

My mouth parted. “Seriously?”

He laughed just as my phone pinged and I saw it was from Declan.

“What does it say? Is he excited?” he said in a girly voice, leaning over my shoulder to read my phone, his dark hair tickling my arm. Of course, Dax had lied about the shagging text, so I didn’t smack him.

“He said ‘Okay.’ That’s vague,” I muttered.

“Hmm.” He sat back and scratched at his unshaven jaw as if what he had to say he’d thought about carefully.

“What’s up?”

He sent me an unsure look. “It’s just, Declan really likes you, but Nadia yanked him around pretty good, and I just don’t want you to do that to him.”

“How do you know he likes me?”

He sent me an exasperated look. “He gave you a cute nickname for starters. And he watches you like a hawk in class. He’s rather jelly, my bro, but when he loves, he loves hard.”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed. “He puts his all into whatever he does. Fighting. His gym. Me. When we first moved here and were the new kids at our private school, we were both scrawny, and of course, we talked funny. He lashed out at the wankers who teased me and ended up with the rep as the guy with a chip on his shoulder, which wasn’t true. But word got around and pretty soon rednecks were showing up and trying to push him around. Mostly he tried to stay out of trouble, but senior year while he was on a date, he got jumped by four guys behind the bleachers at a football game. He’d filled out by then, and it took three to hold him down while one pounded him with brass knuckles. When he came to, he was lying on the ground and they were all laughing and tossing back their beer. He got up and beat the bloody hell out of them, even chased one down the highway. Then the cops showed up. It was a hell of a night. Father was not pleased.”