Meant to Be Yours: New Adult BBW College Romance (Derek and Jaike Book 2) (4 page)

His lips twisted. “So hurry, dammit, and start falling in love with me.”

Chapter Two

Jaike’s phone suddenly rang, and she couldn’t answer it fast enough. “Hello?” Oh my God, she could barely hear herself over her loudly beating heart.
 

Someone at the other end of the line answered, but her mind only heard gibberish. It was still whirling, unable to process what Derek Christopoulos had just said.
 

What happened didn’t really happen, did it? It couldn’t. And if it did – surely he didn’t mean it? Because if he did, didn’t that mean Derek Christopoulos as much admitted…to loving her?

“ARE YOU THERE, JAIKE?”

Jaike jumped at the loud voice speaking on the phone, the words jerking her out of her jumbled thoughts. “I’m sorry,” she stammered. Her gaze strayed to Derek as she spoke. She couldn’t help it. She needed to see his face, needed to know if he really meant it.

But for once, Derek’s stormy eyes were closed to her.

“…someone’s here trying to move things into your room, and we need you to confirm in person that this is something you wish.”

This time, the dorm’s resident head’s words penetrated her mind, making Jaike’s jaw drop in confusion. “I don’t understand – someone’s trying to move into
my
room?”

“Yes. That’s why we need to have you sort this out as soon as possible—”

Jaike said without thinking, “I’ll come back now. Just give me twenty.”

The resident head sighed. “I’ll see what I can do, but these guys might not listen to me.”

When Jaike ended the call, she looked down at her shoes as she told Derek, “I just got a call from the resident head at my dorm. He says I have to go back. It’s an emergency.”

****

“She bolted?” Christien di Luca repeated Derek’s words with a bark of laughter. Half-French and half-Greek, Derek’s closest friend was considered by many as an incredibly successful negotiator because of his ruthlessness and smooth-talking ways. But none of the latter had been evident since Derek relayed Jaike’s reaction to his near-confession about his feelings.
 

“Couldn’t take a cab out of here fast enough. She left so quickly the security detail I had assigned to her almost missed her.” Derek’s tone was pissed, but his anger wasn’t directed at his friend or even Jaike. He was furious with himself. One look at Jaike’s panicked face and he knew he had moved too damn fast. He should have taken it slow, allowed Jaike to think everything was
still
a sexy flirting game between them.

But he hadn’t. And so he had paid the price, allowing Jaike to leave when his baser instincts told him to do the opposite. Derek told himself he should be thankful that she had not thrown the collar away. At least she had taken it with her. It could have been worse. She could have just returned it to him and told him she wasn’t ready for it.

From the other end of the line, he could still hear Christien laughing.

“Shut up.”

“Are you truly sure she returns your affection,
mon ami?”
Christien asked, but this time his tone was half-serious. Although he was known to be a man who was quick to smile and offer a pretty word, in reality he was all ice inside, and there were only a precious few Christien truly cared about. Derek was one of them, and he hated the thought of his friend having wasted all these years running after a girl who didn’t have any feelings for him.

“I am.” Derek meant it. But what he wasn’t sure about, dammit, was whether Jaike was stubborn and afraid enough to keep denying the bond between them.

“I see.” If Derek believed that Jaike Hepburn loved him, then he trusted his friend enough to believe the same thing – even if all evidence pointed to the contrary. Christien decided to change the subject, asking, “Where are you now?”

“On my way back as well.”

“You know, if she freaked out over the collar, it’s possible she could faint dead away when she realizes what we’re doing here.”

Derek grimaced. “That’s why I’m the one driving now. I’m hoping I can get there before her but…” He flicked a look at the slow-moving traffic ahead of him. “Just make sure she doesn’t see you, all right?”

“You want us to…
hide
?” Christien was skeptical, and rightly so. He was not a prideful man, but he was realistic. He and Derek were simply not the type of men that could easily blend in a crowd.

“Just do what you can. Or wait for me at the corner of her street."

 
One look at you guys and she’ll know something’s up.”

Christien frowned. “I’ll see if I can round up the guys and let them know what you’ve decided. But I’m not sure about Nick. I’ve been trying to call him for over an hour. He might just go straight to her place the moment he wakes up—”

Derek cursed. “He’s still having late nights over Karla?”

“Wouldn’t you if Jaike did what Karla did to him?”

****

Jaike stared in confusion at the ten-wheeler truck –
truck! –
parked in front of her dorm building. The driver didn’t speak a word of English, but he did speak Greek, and that alone gave her a bad feeling. What was a Greek-speaking truck driver doing in front of her dorm building? Why was he insisting that he had stuff to move into her place?

“Well? Did you get to speak some sense into him?” Chuck, the resident head, demanded. He looked harassed, apparently having been busy all morning trying to calm down the other students of Blake Hall. They had not appreciated the truck driver’s insistent honking waking them up.

“I’m sorry, Chuck, but I don’t speak Greek, either.” Gnawing on her lip in worry, she asked hopefully, “What about security?”

“You know that this truck wouldn’t have been able to come in here without security clearing it. He’s really meant to come here, but maybe he got the address wrong.” Chuck’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Isn’t that Nick Christakos?”

Nick Christakos?

Jaike whirled around.

Chuck hadn’t lied, she realized with even growing confusion. That was indeed Nick Christakos, one of the so-called BBFs, and everyone knew that Nick Christakos did
not
wake up any time before noon. So what was one of Derek’s closest friends doing here?

As he continued walking in her direction, Jaike became more and more nervous. Like Derek, Nick exuded a kind of arrogance that only men who were aware of their effect on women – and didn’t give a damn about it – possessed. Black-haired and blue-eyed, Nick Christakos always had women swooning all over him, and the fact that he had a twin only seemed to make him more attractive. It was as if most girls dreamt of having Nick
and
his twin together in one bed.

Nick’s sleepy blue eyes gleamed in recognition when he looked up and saw Jaike. “Hello there.” His voice was dark and velvety, the sound seductive even without Nick making an effort.

On Jaike, however, it had the opposite effect. The urge to bolt – again – was strong, but she told herself that doing so would make her a coward. And, dammit, she was tired of being a coward.
 

Cowardice was what had her choosing Angelo Valencia over Derek
, she thought painfully,
and look at what that got her.

Nick stopped right in front of her.

Jaike forced herself to look up. “H-hi.”

Nick was amazed. He had heard a lot of things about Jaike Hepburn. How couldn’t he when she was
all
Derek could talk about? Usually, words like “bitchy” and “grumpy” came up – but they were always uttered in an affectionate tone. However, the girl in front of him looked nothing like a grumpy bitch. If anything, she looked like a cornered rabbit – and one that desperately wanted to hop away in terror.

Nick’s lips almost twitched at the thought. Well, that was new. Normally, girls couldn’t get close enough to him. At least this one was sure not to be unfaithful to his friend.
Unlike some other women.

The way Nick’s face suddenly darkened made Jaike wonder if she had said or done something wrong.

Nick forced himself to push the past away, seeing how Jaike was now looking at him with even greater apprehension. “I apologize. I’m normally not this rude.”

She only nodded, unsure of what to say.

He looked around. “Are the others here?”

Jaike frowned in confusion. “Do you mean Derek?”

“Yeah. And the other guys? Christien? Reid? Anyone else?”

“I was with Derek a while ago, but I’m not sure if he’s coming here.”

Nick grunted. “Is that so? He wants us to do all the heavy lifting for him?” He shook his head in mock irritation.

Heavy lifting?

Slowly, she put one and one together to make a horrifying two. She gestured to the truck behind her. “This is going to be a stupid question, but is that truck over there—”

A grin flashed on Nick’s face, making him appear more dazzling. “Yeah. That’s
all
his stuff. If you didn’t know before then you should know now – you’ve got yourself a really high-maintenance man, Jaike Hepburn.”

****

“Any luck contacting Nick?” Derek asked the moment he stepped out of the car and joined Christien at the curb.

“Unfortunately, no. But I did manage to get a hold of Nathan. He says he’s going to be a little late and will meet us at the dorm.”

“Thanks, man. I got to call Reid, too. He should be here any moment…”

Christien gestured towards Derek’s back. “Speak of the devil.”

As Derek turned around, their other friend Reid Chalkias said with feigned disapproval, “I heard that.” With Greek blood also running through his veins, Reid was tall, dark-haired, and olive-skinned like his friends. His green eyes, however, was testament to the mysterious half of his parentage. The most dangerous among them, Reid was known throughout school as the Prince of Darkness – and it was a name he fully embraced.

“I can’t believe you had us waking up this early to help you move,” Reid said with a shake of his head.

Derek shrugged. “Just consider it as another favor I owe you. I want to things to be as normal as possible between Jaike and me.” Ever since the start, he had sensed the way Jaike shied away from the fact that he was a Christopoulos – and everything that it stood for, such as power, money, and fame.

The three of them walked together, exchanging small talk and catching up with each other. Around them, girls who caught sight of them stared and whispered, something they were all used to and paid no heed.
 

“What about Nick?” Reid asked.

Christien suddenly stopped. “Isn’t that him?”

Derek’s gaze followed Christien’s line of sight and cursed when he indeed saw his other friend. Walking swiftly to Nick, he asked right away, “Did Jaike see you?”

Nick grimaced. “Worse than that.” He held up his hands in apology. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know you were keeping it a surprise from her—”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.
 

Another thing about Jaike that he had long understood was her need for space. She liked taking her time with her decisions, and she hated feeling helpless. Finding out from another person that Derek was moving into her place would definitely make her retreat.

“It’s not your fault,” Derek said finally. “I had planned to tell her earlier but…things didn’t go as planned.” He looked around. “Where is she?”

Nick pointed to the back of the dorm. “She went there to make a call. Someone Marcy, I heard?”

“Thanks.” Derek started walking.

Nick caught up with him, and when he turned his head, he saw that his other friends had done the same.
 

“I’ll apologize with you. It’s partly my fault,” Nick said.

“I’m just coming with you guys because I’d like to see the great Derek Christopoulos grovel,” Reid said easily.

Derek flipped him the finger before asking Christien dryly, “And you, di Luca?”

Christien said politely, “Definitely the same as Reid.”

****

“I feel like I can’t breathe, Marcy.” Jaike plopped down on one of the stone benches. “How could he do something like this without even asking me first?” She placed her purse next to her, and she tried not to think about what was inside. If she did, she had a feeling she’d just start hyperventilating. Derek Christopoulos was moving too fast – too fast for her practical mind and scarred heart to catch up with her stupidly infatuated body.