Mine

Chapter 4

Her chestnut eyes went wide and then her expression turned into something else. Don't look at me like I've just told you that the Earth isn't round, he thought.

'You're joking right?', she asked rhetorically.

Blake gritted his teeth, a pulse ticking off at the base of his jaw, 'Does it look like I'm laughing? If you want to stay out in the streets in this weather, by all means, be my guest.'

'But this is crazy. I don't even know you.', she exclaimed.

'Look you asked me to handle this and I'm providing you with a fix. Take it or leave it. Although I have to warn you that the company in those coed dorms is not the company to keep around.'

He was hinting at the lax rules, blatant disregard for the code of sexual conduct and the unwarranted use of drugs. All because they didn't come under the university and operated individually.

'You molest people.', she mumbled under her breath, obviously not for his ears but he heard it anyway.

This girl was really testing his control. She looked up and realized he'd heard her opened her mouth to say something but he stopped her.

'Don't. Just say yes or no.'

She contemplating this like she actually has a choice! Blake was amazed.

'So you stay at an apartment?', she inquired.

'Yes, it's only about five minutes north of the campus and I happen to have a spare room. You can take a look if you want.', he assured.

She nodded, more to herself than to him. She sighed, defeated, 'Okay. Do you want to talk about the rent now-'

'Don't worry about it. Whatever you were paying at Morris' is fine.'

She nodded again, this time a little more confident.

'So I can move in within the next twelve hours?'

'Yes, you can. The real time depends on how fast you can pack your stuff.'

'I don't have much. Why don't you give me your address and my friend will help me with the move this evening.', she asked fishing for her phone out of her bag pack.

'Here', he took the phone from her and typed in his number along with his address. 'Give me a call if you have trouble finding it.'

She nodded again, taking the phone back.

'See you in the evening then. Nice to meet you Jake.', he greeted the boy still hovering in the distance.

'It's Jack, actually...', Blake heard Jack correct timidly as he walked away.

Aria and a very sullen looking Kate wrapped up most of her belongings in under two hours. She didn't have much except clothes, designing material and books, which didn't take much time courtesy of Aria's ultimate packing process.

'I know you said no yesterday, but just think about it. We could get an apartment together and split the expenses-', Kate spoke up as she labeled the few boxes.

'Kate, I can't let you do that. You're saving up for an apartment with Rick, and I'm not letting you throw that away because of this mess.', Aria interrupted.

'I can just ask my parents. Rick and I can wait awhile-'

'I'm not going to let you ask your parents for money so that you can support me. I love you for offering but I just can't.'

Kate let out an exasperated sigh, 'You're moving in with someone you barely know.'

'It's only temporary. I'll move out as soon as something else becomes available-',Aria tried to reason.