Coco's Pov
I was still high on it.
The engine's roar, the heat of the crowd, the way the night air whipped around us like we belonged to it. I hadn't felt this alive in months.
Even the ride back had me grinning like an idiot under my helmet, arms tight around Xavier's waist, adrenaline humming in my veins like a second pulse.
The boy may have been insufferable, but he knew how to deliver a good time.
And then we reached the school gate.
We slowed to a stop under the looming iron bars. Past curfew. Dead silence. The guard inside the booth didn't even glance up from his paper.
I was already preparing to climb off the bike, rehearse some dumb excuse, probably fake a medical emergency—
But Xavier beat me to it.
He stepped off the bike like it was just another Tuesday and casually strolled up to the booth window.
He didn't knock. Didn't speak.
Just looked at the guy.
I frowned under the helmet.
And then—click—the gate buzzed, groaned, and opened.
Wait. What?
I hurried to his side. "Hold on—how did you do that?"
"Do what?" he said way too casually, taking the the bike to park.
"The gates. The guard. You didn't say anything. Again."
"Maybe I have a really trustworthy face."
"Xavier."
He glanced at me with that lopsided smirk. "You're overthinking it."
"No," I said, stepping in front of him, blocking his path. "You did the exact same thing earlier tonight when we were leaving, and I didn't question it then because I was… distracted. But now? That wasn't normal."
He arched a brow. "So you think I hypnotized a guard?"
"Did you?"
He didn't answer.
Which was answer enough.
My pulse kicked up a notch.
"You didn't even blink. He just obeyed."
"Maybe I'm just that charming."
I narrowed my eyes. "You're not that charming."
He smirked again, and I wanted to slap it off him. Or kiss it. Ugh, my brain was fried.
"I'm serious," I said, crossing my arms. "That guy didn't even ask a single question. This school has, like, military-grade security. What the hell did you do?"
He leaned in slightly, voice a murmur. "Ever think maybe I'm just good with people?"
"No. You're good at avoiding questions." I pointed at him. "And you've been doing it all night."
His expression darkened just enough for me to notice. Then he stepped past me, and parked the bike.
I followed. Of course I did.
"You're not telling me something."
"I'm not telling you a lot of things," he said without looking back. "Get used to it."
I stopped in my tracks.
That did not sit right.
Something about the way he said it—like it wasn't a threat, but a warning.
And suddenly the rush of the night started unraveling. All the weird little details I'd brushed off. The way people looked at him. The unspoken tension. The unspoken everything.
My stomach twisted.
He walked towards the girls dorm and I had to jog to catch up with him.
"You know I'm not going to let this go, right?"
He didn't answer. He just walked into the dorm
"Welcome back, Miss Millers."
I glared at him as I stepped through.
And if his fingers brushed my back on the way in?
No, they didn't.
I was imagining things.
Just like I was probably imagining that look on the guard's face. And the fact that nothing in this school is what it seems.
Yeah.
Probably.
----
We didn't speak much as we walked. The air between us was heavier now—not bad heavy, just… charged. I kept replaying what he'd done at the gate. That blank, unblinking stare. That guard obeying without a question.
My thoughts were so loud, I nearly missed his hand lightly touching my elbow.
"Careful," he whispered, pulling me back behind a stone column as a flashlight beam swept across the courtyard.
Crap.
One of the dorm matrons.
We ducked low, backs pressed to the cool stone wall, breath held.
Xavier's hand stayed on my arm, steady, firm. Too steady. Like this happened all the time and he was just annoyingly good at not panicking.
Me? Not so much.
I could hear my pulse in my ears.
The matron's shoes clicked across the path just a few feet from us. I could see the beam of her flashlight bouncing across the hedges.
Then—nothing.
Silence.
I let out a breath too early.
The light snapped back in our direction.
Xavier's arm wrapped around my waist and suddenly I was pulled fully into the shadows, flat against his chest, my back to the wall.
Close.
Way too close.
I could feel every part of him. Every lean, muscled inch pressed to mine. His breath was warm against my ear as he whispered, "Don't move."
As if I could.
The matron paused. We both stilled.
I swear, if she took one step forward—
But then, after a long, agonizing moment, the flashlight swung away again. Her footsteps faded into the distance.
I didn't move.
Neither did he.
Not for a beat. Or two. Or five.
His hand was still on my waist.
My heart was trying to escape my chest.
He pulled back first, just barely. Enough to put space between us. His gaze searched mine in the dark, unreadable as always.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
No. Yes. Maybe. I wasn't sure.
I nodded anyway. "Close call."
"You've got quick reflexes," he said.
"You've got a hidden talent for getting us nearly expelled."
That smug look of his crept back in. "Where's the fun in safe?"
I shoved his chest lightly. "I hate you."
"You're a terrible liar."
I rolled my eyes and started walking again,
letting out a sigh as the last of the matron's footsteps faded, the flashlight beam finally swallowed by the dark.
"We're good," I whispered.
Xavier didn't move.
"Relax, James Bond," I teased under my breath, trying to step away from him.
But before I could blink—voices.
Three more.
Coming from the other side of the courtyard.
My breath caught.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Xavier muttered something under his breath. Definitely not school-appropriate.
The new matrons were chatting, flashlights cutting the night like searchlights. The other was doubling back to join them.
We were surrounded.
"Crap crap crap crap," I hissed. I reached out and instinctively grabbed his hand, pulling him back through the side path. "Come on!"
"Where are we going?" he asked, voice tight.
"I don't know—anywhere but here!"
I was moving on pure adrenaline. I wasn't thinking. Just yanked him up the stairs until we reached my dorm wing.
Still too exposed.
Still too risky.
I glanced up at my room door, then at the patrol downstairs.
And then I made the dumbest, most reckless decision of the night.
We couldn't get caught. I might be expelled.
He resisted for a second. "Colette—"
"Shh!"
I didn't care that it was technically forbidden. I didn't care that boys weren't allowed in the girls' dorms after hours.
I didn't want to be caught. I didn't want him to be caught.
And if we stayed out there, we would be.
So I dragged Xavier Cage—mister dangerous smirk, walking sin, school rebel—down the hall of floor B
We moved fast. Quiet. Shadows.
By the time I shoved open my door and pulled him inside, my pulse was a war drum in my chest.
I slammed the door shut and leaned against it, chest heaving.
Xavier was standing in the middle of the room, back ramrod straight, arms tense at his sides like he didn't know what to do with them.
I took a breath. Then another.
"We made it," I whispered, turning the lock with a shaky hand.
He didn't answer.
I turned to face him.
"What?" I asked. "You look like I just dragged you into a lion's den."
His eyes flicked to me, sharp. His jaw was tight.
"You have no idea how dangerous that was."
"Yeah, well, so is getting caught after curfew."
"I didn't mean that."
My brows furrowed.
He'd been… weird. Tense. Ever since I pulled him close outside. Ever since I dragged him into the shadows, his body pressed to mine, no space, no air—
Oh.
Oh.
A rush of heat bloomed in my cheeks.
But he didn't like me like that, did he?
"I—" I cleared my throat. " I didn't really think it through."
"No. You didn't."
We stood there, awkward and still, in the dim light of my tiny room.