40. Zac

FORTY

zac

ARRIVING AT ASTOR the next day was a completely different scene from the prior two days. With King taking care of the situation behind the scenes, the entire campus, as well as the Waldorf Towers, was now a no-press zone, which meant the media couldn't get anywhere near close enough to harass East or his friends. Cops were stationed at frequent intervals to enforce the new boundaries, which made everything a lot quieter walking in that morning—and a lot more surreal.

I hated that I had a meeting all the TAs were required to attend early that morning, or I would've liked to be there with East when he arrived. But King had taken care of that too, making sure the driver who usually chauffeured the princes around in their Sprinter—Scotty, maybe?—had picked up East first before stopping at the Towers for the rest of his crew. The last thing King needed was all of those guys finding out about him or where he lived. Even though West had claimed he wouldn't say anything to the others, it was only a matter of time before he spilled what he knew. I doubted that group kept secrets from each other for long.

"Why don't you leave all that for now?" King said when I dropped my folder for the third time in a matter of minutes. He pushed his chair back from his desk, giving his sole focus to where I worked steadily at my own station, or was trying to. I was just distracted. I kept glancing at the clock and wondering if East had made it here, if anyone had bothered him, if he was upset or working through things a little better, if he'd heard anything else about his father now that he'd apparently made bail.

"Zac?" King said. "He should be here anytime. Why don't you go check on him?"

"No, I don't need to do that. I'm sure he's fine." I would've sent him a text to make sure, but King still had East's phone, unconvinced it was a good time to give it back.

He stood and came around his desk, stopping by mine. "Go. It'll make us both feel better."

"You too, huh?"

King brushed his thumb over my lips. "Yes, me too."

Knowing I wasn't the only irrational one in the room made me wish I could wrap my arms around King and give him the kiss I wanted to. It was only our location that stopped me, and that was when I realized how dangerous it was to blur the lines of whatever this relationship happening between the three of us was.

None of us were ready for any of this to end. Not yet.

I set my work aside and started across the room, but then King cleared his throat behind me. When I turned around, he put one hand on the closed door and brought the other up to cup my face. Then he lowered his mouth down on mine, and every fiber in my body came alive. Now this was straight out of a direct fantasy of mine, because how many times had I imagined him kissing me in this very office? Too many to count, but it had been worth the wait. King was hungry but restrained, given that we couldn't take things further. Leaving it there only ramped up anticipation, though we were missing a certain someone who would make this moment complete.

King stole another kiss and then stepped back. "Tell East to stop by my office today. I'd like to see him."

Translation: he was just as concerned and wanted to see with his own eyes that East was all in one piece.

"I'll tell him. Try not to stress, professor."

"Go check on our prince."

I aimed a wink at him and slipped out of the office, more determined than ever to track down East and make sure he'd arrived safely.

It wasn't too difficult to find him. The rumor mill was in full swing as I headed through the halls of Astor, with news of the most notorious prince having finally shown his face after his father's downfall.

It took everything I had not to turn on each and every one of the gossipmongers and tell them to shut the fuck up, but that wasn't exactly the conduct someone in my position could engage in with no repercussions. So I bit my tongue and searched out the head of dark hair that was always so perfectly styled, and that included his clothes. Some of which West had packed tightly into the bag that had East about to stroke out when he saw how wrinkled they were.

Not that you could tell this morning. If I hadn't seen the dark circles under his eyes for myself last night, I wouldn't have guessed anything was wrong. He was just as put together as he usually was, surrounded by his friends like a protective circle no one could penetrate.

That made me stop short. Only West knew East and I didn't actually hate each other, so I couldn't just walk over there?—

What was I thinking? Of course I fucking could. I didn't give a shit what any of those guys thought. It wasn't like I'd do anything stupid, like kiss him in the middle of the atrium.

As if he'd heard my busy thoughts, East glanced up, and the steel barrier he usually kept up softened a bit. He curled his finger, gesturing me to come over, but I was already moving. West was the first one to see me coming, but then Travis followed his gaze and stepped out in front of me before I could get to East.

"I don't fuckin' think so," he said, those kohl-lined eyes narrowing to slits. "He's not in the mood for your shit and neither are we, so you can move along now."

I went to step by him anyway, and the big, scowling one blocked me this time.

"Take one more step," Daire taunted me, like he hoped I'd do just that.

East rolled his eyes. "Stand down, Reaper."

This time it was Donovan who moved forward and held his hands up. "It's not a good time, Zac. How about you give him a break, man?"

I looked to East and held my hand out. I didn't even think, I just did, and he must've been on the same wavelength, because he took it and pulled me past his friends to be with him.

A hushed curse met my ears from one of his crew, but I didn't bother to check who as I moved in close to East. I searched his features for signs of stress, but when all I saw was a slight smirk and raised eyebrow, my anxiety eased a bit.

"Taking a bit of a risk being seen out here with me, aren't you, Zacharius ?"

There he was, the leader of the Park Avenue Princes back in full swing, but this time I didn't want to strangle him.

"I don't really care."

"No?" East grazed his thumb over the back of my hand. "Who are you and what did you do with my uptight TA?"

"Uh, yeah," Travis piped up. "I'd like to know that too. What the fuck is this?"

He gestured to our joined hands, and I let go. The last thing East needed was to be caught up in a scandal with a TA. But I'd needed that moment of contact with him, to hell with the gawking eyes around us.

"It's nothing," I said at the exact same time East announced, "It's none of your business."

"What do you mean it's none of our— Wait, are you two…" Travis did a double take at how close we were standing, but before he could form another thought, West shoved him in the arm.

"Stop making a scene. That's the last thing East needs."

West then leveled me with a look that said, Get him the hell out of here.

Before I thought through the consequences, I reached for East's hand again. "Can we talk?"

I wasn't sure why I was so surprised when he nodded. But if that had my head spinning, his lacing his fingers with mine almost had me passing out.

"Lead the way."

"Holy fuck," someone said from behind us as we started to walk away from East's friends. "Did he get a lobotomy during spring break?"

"Seems like he got poked and prodded with something , that's for sure," another said.

"Did East just tell someone else to lead the way?"

My lips twitched at his friends' disbelief as their questions faded and I found us somewhere quiet to talk for a moment. If anyone saw us, I didn't notice or care—I just wanted to make sure he was all right and see if there was anything I could do to make his day easier.

"How are you doing this morning?" I said, making sure my back was to the hall, shielding him from any prying eyes.

"The same as I was when I woke up next to you this morning—good. Why? Do I not look good?"

Of course his mind went there, but East had nothing to worry about in the looks department. Between his fashion sense and aristocratic good looks, he was one of the most attractive guys I'd ever met.

"You look fantastic and you know it. Just like you know that I don't mean that. Stop deflecting—it's just you and me right now."

"I'm aware. I've got to say, it was pretty hot the way you just forgot who you were out there for a minute, Mr. TA. I think you might've just short-circuited my friends' brains."

"I didn't forget. I just didn't care." I squeezed his fingers between mine. "You're more important than that."

East sighed and let go of my hand, and the cocky front he'd put on display slipped away, leaving the vulnerable man King and I had fallen asleep with the night before.

"I didn't think this would be so hard," he said more to himself than me. "Coming back here and acting like everything is okay."

I couldn't begin to imagine what he was going through—no one could. East hadn't seen or heard from his father since his arrest, and his mother didn't exactly strike me as the nurturing type. He'd been cut off from all his friends until this morning, when he'd learned his father had finally made bail, and now here he was, putting on the show of his life.

He had a reputation to uphold, and considering he was one of the most pretentious people to walk the halls of Astor, he wasn't exactly garnering sympathy from the student body—more like apathy.They didn't care what happened to James Easton or his father. In fact, most of them had popped the popcorn and were watching with rabid interest to see the mighty fall. Something I might've gotten on board with months ago, before I'd gotten to see behind East's fa?ade.

Was he arrogant? Yes. Was he condescending? Yes. Something I was beginning to suspect he'd had to be in order to survive the family he was born into. A defense mechanism of sorts. If he showed even the slightest hint of vulnerability, his father would've eaten him alive. What had East called him? A shark? I couldn't imagine how he'd had to swim in waters with someone like that his whole life, always worrying he'd be bitten.

Everyone thought they knew East, knew what made him tick. But there was so much more beneath the surface.

"You don't have to act with me—you know that, right?"

"I know, it's just…" East shook his head.

"What?"

"This is going to sound so fucking stupid."

"I'm sure it won't. Try me."

"I don't know who I am without this name, without…money. So I'm just out here faking it. Acting like nothing's changed. When the fact is I'm not sure I can afford a goddamn coffee this morning."

"East?" When his eyes fell to the ground, I put a finger to his chin to bring them back up to mine. "There is so much more to you than your money."

"Sure there is."

"There is ," I said, then lowered my voice. "Do you really think King and I were thinking about your name, money, or connections while you were on the island? While we've been back here?"

"No."

"Exactly. You have so much to offer. You've just never had to think about it before."

East snorted. "Yeah, well, I'd rather not have to think about it now, either."

My lips twitched, and I let him go before I did something crazy, like kiss him right there in the hall. "I know, but there are always options when it comes to making money. Things outside of your father's business. Like The Cellar, for example. You could come and work with me."

"As a waiter?" East looked so horrified I couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't really think I'm busboy material."

"I didn't mean as a waiter. I was thinking more behind the scenes."

I knew it was a far cry from how he'd always seen his life playing out. He'd said himself he was being groomed to take over his father's company, so anything less than a multimillion-dollar position must seem like a horrifying option.

But just when I thought East would throw it back in my face, he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

"Thanks for the offer. Who knows, I might just have to take you up on it."

I hoped that wasn't the case. Not because I didn't think he was capable, but because I knew what it meant to me to be a part of my family's business, and I wanted that for East.

But at the same time, I didn't want to see him hurt.

"Anytime." I glanced at my watch, knowing it was getting close to the first lecture of the morning, and there was someone else who wanted to see East before that. "Look, if you don't have anywhere else to be before your first lecture, there's a certain professor who'd like to see you."

"Why? I came straight to Astor like he told me to."

I chuckled at the frown forming between his brows. "Relax. He just wants to make sure you're okay."

"Oh." East's eyes took on that playful glint I hadn't seen in days. "So I'm not in trouble?"

"Do you want to be?"

He shrugged and stepped around me, back out in to the hall. "I don't know. If it means I might get a spanking, maybe?"

"You're incorrigible. Now go, or you'll be late for your king."

"Yes, sir." He went to walk away, but stopped and said, "Thank you for checking on me."

And before I could utter a response, East disappeared out into the hall.