Rocky and Delilah

Chapter 11

Delilah

While Rocky assured me a hundred times he had everything under control, and I believed him, I had still been stressing about the whole situation. My dad was back from his work trip, so Reese and I were sitting in the coffee house on campus, surrounded by our homework and my second iced coffee of the day.

Everyone around us was staring at the flatscreen that was anchored on the wall, and after a minute of watching the news anchor interview a concerned citizen, Reese turned back toward the table and focused back on his work.

"It's kinda crazy they still haven't found that Shelby girl." I mentioned, and Reese looked up toward me.

"I know," He frowned. "I feel so bad. Her family's been begging everyone to speak up, and they said that anything is a help, no matter how small it seems."

"I asked my dad if they had anything to do with it, and he said no. I showed him a picture and everything." I told him, as I took a sip of my coffee, and Reese shut the massive book that was laid in front of him. He quirked an eyebrow, "Yeah, I asked Mikey too. Nothing."

"So? How has it been?" He asked expectantly, and out of slight embarrassment at the approaching subject, and I feigned confusion, but I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"How has what been?" I asked, as I pushed around my straw with my finger. Reese gave a look that said 'I know you know exactly what I'm talking about'.

"How's it been with the Don?" He amended, and I felt a blush rise to my checks. "Good. I don't have anything to compare it to, but I've been happy." I admitted, but he didn't look convinced.

"Just happy?" He parroted the words back, and I took a sip of my coffee.

"Yes." I squeaked.

"Delilah..." He trailed off warily, and I cracked too quickly. "I don't know, sometimes I feel like I get such a hot and cold vibe from him, y'know? Like I showed him my boobs and It's so weird because I don't have anything to compare it to but I just-"

"Delilah, shut up." Reese interrupted me in a hushed whisper, and I narrowed my eyes, "Excuse you."

"Look who's coming in." He nodded toward the door, but I was already too distracted by the familiar face. Cole St. James. Rocky's brother. The exact one Rocky told me to stay away from.

How freaking lovely.

I assumed Rocky gave him the same speech, and figured he'd stay away. But turns out I was wrong. Lovelier.

Reese interrupted again, quickly clarifying, "But I totally want to hear about this boob showing thing later." He told me, and I flashed him a grimace of annoyance in return.

Cole joined the line in front of him, and I watched him subtly as he ordered his drink and paid. When he stepped to the other end of the counter and moved closer toward us, he acted shocked. He approached our table in a less than subtle manner, "Well, who do we have here?" He asked, standing closer to the table than he should have. I tried to flash him a quick grin, "Hi Cole."

He took a long look at my tense face, and made a clicking sound, "Big brother gave you the same speech then too, right?" He asked, and I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. "He asked me to keep a distance." I admitted with a slight shrug.

"He's got you trained well then." He sneered, obviously wanting a rise out of me, but I wasn't giving in.

I trust Rocky, and if Rocky tells me to stay away from Cole, I will do just that.

"Sure." I agreed, not wanting to start an argument. Cole reluctantly left the cafe, and I gave a knowing look to Reese, "That was like, really weird right?"

He agreed instantly, "So weird. Dude didn't even pick up whatever it was he bought. Plus, why was he here at this cafe? Like, usually only people from campus come here."

"I think I'm going to text Rocky. He was super adamant that I let him know if Cole ever tries anything." I answered him.

Rocky

"Just an fyi, so you don't become all grouchy again, cole came into the coffee house reese and I are studying at and he was kinda weird and he didn't even get the coffee he paid for which is like a total red flag bc who goes to a coffee shop and pays for a full drink and doesn't even stay to get it, y'know? anyways crazy."

I reread Lilah's text to get a better understanding of what she was trying to tell me, but it was times like these when I definitely felt our age gap. Even though it was only thirteen years, when she said words like, "slay" and "vibes" or when she used emojis I didn't understand, it made me feel all of 32.

So after the two minutes it took me to go through and decode her text, I was livid. I gave my brother one simple instruction, and he still couldn't fuckin' manage to do that. I paged Duke down in his office, "Is Cole here?" I asked.

"I don't think so, no. He's been at the apartment in the city a lot lately. He's probably there."

I didn't hesitate, "Send someone to collect him and bring him to me. Now."

•••

Thoughts?!