"You? Go with it?" He laughs.

"I said I would try, if it doesn't work then I will take an extra Literature and do yoga again next semester. You are lucky that I love you so much." I laugh. Hardin turns his head quickly to look at me with wide eyes.

"What?" I ask him, unsure why he looks so surprised.

"Nothing."

"Why did you look at me like that?" I place my hand over his on my thigh.

"I don't know, I just liked how you said that." He says quickly and quietly.

"Okay.." I tell him I love him all the time, don't I? I know I could be more expressive when it comes to my feelings for him but I do my best to walk the dangerous line between protecting myself and letting him know how I feel about him.

"Should I just drop you off at the apartment?" Hardin changes the subject.

"Yeah, that's fine. I need to get a start on my coursework anyway. I already hate my religion class." I sigh.

"Why is that? How is the professor?" Hardin's tone changes.

"He's nice, I guess. I met him before."

"Where?"

"At Conner's, only briefly. He is young and seems unorganized." My head begins to throb thinking of his 'no syllabus' rule.

"Hmm..." His eyes stay focused on the road.

"Yeah, so how are your classes?" I feel uncomfortable talking to Hardin about Professor Soto for some reason, maybe it is the way he seems to have an issue with him already.

"Boring as fuck."

Hardin's car pulls into the parking lot of our apartment and he pulls into his usual spot.

"Except yoga?" I try to lighten up the mood.

"Yes, except yoga. Yoga was certainly.. interesting." He turns to look at me.

"Really? How so?" I chew on my bottom lip in an attempt to appear innocent.

"I think it has something to do with a blonde." He smirks and I tense.

"Excuse me?" I bark.

"You didn't see the hot blonde next to me? You are really missing out babe, you should see the way her ass looks in those yoga pants."

"You better not be serious." I scowl.

"I am though. You aren't mad are you?" He smiles, I am pretty sure he is teasing me but it's irritating me.

I reach for the door handle and open the door.

"Where are you going?" He asks.

"Inside. It's cold."

"Aww.. Tess are you jealous of the girl in yoga?" Hardin teases.

"No."

"Yes you are." He challenges me and I roll my eyes while I climb out of the car to head inside. I am surprised when he turns the car off and I hear his boots clambering on the concrete behind me.

I pull the heavy glass door open and walk inside, when I reach the elevator I remember that I forgot my bag in the car.

"Admit that you are jealous of the blonde in class." Hardin taunts me as he steps inside the elevator and presses the button.

"Fine, I am. Only because she was gawking at you and now you are saying she is hot." I try not to whine.

"You are an idiot." He chuckles.

"Excuse me?" I look up at him.

"You think I would be looking at some random blonde when you are there.. when I can look at you? Especially in these pants, I am not and literally can not look at anyone else. I was reffering to you." He takes a long stride toward me and I step back against the cold wall of the elevator.

"Well I saw her trying to flirt with you." I practically pout.

I don't like the way jealousy feels, it is the most obnoxious emotion possible.

"You silly girl." He takes one more step to bring his body to mine and his hand cups my cheek, forcing me to make eye contact.

"How can you not comprehend what you do to me?" He breathes inches away from my mouth, I can taste his breath.

"I don't know." I squeak when his free hand grabs mine and leads down to his shorts.

"This is what you do." He shifts his hips so his erection fills my hand.

"Oh." My head is swimming.

"You will be saying much more than Oh.." He begins to say but he is interrupted when the elevator stops before our floor.

"You've got to be kidding me." Hardin groans when a woman and her three children step into the elevator.

I try to step away from him but he wraps his arm around my waist refusing to let me move. One of the children begins to cry which makes Hardin huff in annoyance. I begin to imagine how humorous it would be if the elevator stopped and we were trapped inside with the crying child. Fortunately for Hardin, the doors open moments later and we step out into the hall.

"I literally despise children." He complains as we reach our apartment.

When he unlocks the door, cold air flows out from the apartment.

"Did you turn the heat off?" I ask him when we walk inside.

"No, it was on this morning." Hardin walks over to the thermostat and curses under his breath.

"It says it's eighty degrees in here when it's clearly not. I will call maintenance." He tells me and I nod.

I grab the blanket from the back of the couch and wrap it around myself before sitting down.

"Yes.. it isn't working and it's cold as fuck in here." Hardin speaks into the receiver.

"Thirty minutes? No, that won't work." He snaps moments later.

"I don't give a shit, I pay a small fortune to live here and I won't have her freezing to death.. I won't have it freezing in here." He corrects himself but it's too late. I heard him.

He glances over at me and I look away. careful not to embarrass him.

"Fine. Fifteen minutes. No longer." He barks into the phone and tosses it against the couch.

"They will be here in fifteen minutes to fix it." He tells me.

"Thank you." I smile at him and he sits down next to me on the couch.

I open the front of the blanket and reach for him. When he scoots closer I climb onto his lap and thread my fingers through his hair and tug lightly.

"What are you doing?" His hands rest on my hips.

"You said we have fifteen minutes." I brush my lips along his jaw and he shivers.

"Are you coming onto me, Tess?" I can feel his jaw move into a smile.

"Hardin..."I whine to prevent him from teasing me further.

"I'm joking, now take your clothes off." He demands but his hands lift the bottom of my shirt, contradicting his words.

(I know it is short but I've been traveling all day and I drove most of the way so I am so tired and its one in the morning but I wanted to make sure you had a little bit to read at least. ilysm and I can't wait to go back to regular daily updates! please vote and comment♥

After 2Where stories live. Discover now