After (The After Series)

considering doing this.
“Just tell him that you have to stay because . . . I don’t know. Don’t tell him
anything. What’s the worst thing he can do?”
I shudder. He will tell my mother. Without a doubt. Irritation toward Noah fills
me; I should not have to worry about my boyfriend telling my mother on me,
even if I do something wrong.
“He is probably asleep anyway,” Hardin says.
“No, he has no way to get back to his hotel.”
“Hotel? Wait—he doesn’t stay with you?”
“No, he has a hotel room close by.”
“And you stay there with him?”
“No, he stays there,” I say sheepishly, “and I stay in my room.”
“Is he straight?” Hardin asks, his bloodshot eyes dancing in amusement.
My eyes go wide. “Of course he is!”
“Sorry, but something is not right there. If you were mine, I wouldn’t be able
to stay away from you. I would fuck you every chance I had.”
My mouth falls open. Hardin’s dirty words have the strangest effect on me. I
flush and look away.
“Let’s go inside,” I hear him say. “The trees are swaying back and forth. I
think that is my cue I’ve had way too much to drink.”
“You’re staying here?” I had assumed he would go back to his frat house.
“Yeah, and so are you. Let’s go.” He grabs my hand and we walk toward the
back door.
I will have to find Landon and try to explain what he saw through the door. I
don’t know what’s happening myself, so I’m not sure how I will explain it, but I
have to make him understand somehow. As we walk through the kitchen, I
notice the mess is almost completely cleaned up.
“You need to clean the rest of this tomorrow,” I tell him and he nods.
“I will,” he promises. Yet another promise I hope he keeps.
My hand in his, he leads me up the grand staircase. I pray that we don’t run
into Landon in the hallway and I am relieved when we don’t.
Hardin opens the door to a pitch-black room and gently pulls me inside.

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chapter thirty-two
M
y eyes adjust to the darkness, but the only light is a small streak of moonlight
coming through the bay window. “Hardin?” I whisper.
I hear him curse as he trips over something and I try not to laugh.
“I’m right here,” he says and clicks on a desk lamp. I look around the large
room, which reminds me of a hotel. A four-poster bed with dark linens is
centered against the far wall and looks like a king-size with at least twenty
pillows on top. The desk is oversize and made of cherrywood, and the computer
sitting on it has a bigger monitor than the television in my dorm room. The bay
window has a built-in bench while the other windows are masked with thick
navy curtains that don’t allow the moon to shine through.
“This is my . . . room,” he says and rubs the back of his neck with his hand.
He looks almost embarrassed.
“You have a room here?” I ask, but of course he does. It is his father’s house
and Landon obviously lives here. Landon had mentioned that Hardin never
comes here, so maybe that is why it looks so museum-like, untouched and
impersonal.
“Yeah . . . I haven’t ever actually slept in it . . . until tonight.” He sits on the
chest placed at the foot of the bed and unties his boots. He pulls his socks off and
tucks them into the shoes. My heart swells at the idea that I am part of a first for
Hardin.
“Oh. Why is that?” I am taking advantage of his drunken honesty.
“Because I don’t want to. I hate it here,” he answers quietly and unbuttons his

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black pants and pulls them down his legs.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting undressed?” he says, stating the obvious.
“I mean, why?” Even though part of me is dying to feel his hands on me
again, I hope he doesn’t think I’m going to have sex with him.
“Well, I am not sleeping in skinny jeans and boots,” he half laughs. His hand
sweeps the hair off his forehead, making it stand straight up. Everything he does
sends that wild feeling through my body.
“Oh.”
He pulls his shirt over his head, and I can’t look away. His tattooed stomach is
flawless. He tosses the T-shirt at me, but I don’t catch it, letting it fall to the
ground. I raise one eyebrow at him and he smiles.
“You can sleep in that. I assume you won’t want to sleep in just your
underwear. But of course, I am perfectly fine with it if you do.” He winks and I
giggle.