Guarded (True Alpha 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

small smile that felt like a lifesaver on her stormy sea of emotion. “Probably blocked it out.”
    She smiled in return. “The whole place could use one of those air purifiers you have a SparkTech.”
    His smile dimmed. “Well, at least you won’t have to stay here much longer.”
    She grimaced, thinking that at least in the dorm she had someone to live with, whereas Lucas was about to stick her in a hotel by herself. Or with a bodyguard. Which would be fine if the bodyguard was Lucas, but that seemed to be off the table.
    The hallway was empty, with the dead-quiet of too-early Saturday morning for most college students. The early risers were already gone, and the rest were probably sleeping it off. Mia dug her keycard out of her purse and slid it into the door. The blinds were closed, and the morning sun hadn’t yet been introduced to her room. At first she thought her roommate, Jupiter, wasn’t home—probably spent the night with her crush from last week, Jackson—but then she saw Jupiter’s telltale blue-feathered purse dangling from her wrist. Her roommate was buried under the blankets on her bed, face down, her wild red hair spilling out over the edge along with her floppy arm, but the covers were pulled up over most of her head.
    Lucas tiptoed past her sleeping roommate like she was a guard dog, but they would need some light to clear out her stuff. Mia strode over to the blinds on their window and opened them with a loud zip sound. Light crashed into the room.
    Jupiter groaned like she had been mortally wounded. “Et tu, Brutus Mia?” she croaked, still under the blanket.
    “I’m not stabbing you, Jeeter,” Mia said with a smile. “Although I should for what you’ve done to the place.” The open blinds had revealed the wrecked state of their room: overturned red cups, underwear she prayed was Jupiter’s draped over the chair, and it looked like someone had crumpled every piece of paper from the printer and tried to score baskets with it. Only two made it in the trash can.
    Lucas took in the disaster scene and just shook his head. She could only imagine what he was thinking.
    Jupiter stirred but only to pull the blanket tighter over her head. Her voice was muffled, but Mia could still hear her moaned complaint. “Oh, cruel fate. Why do you mock me?”
    “It’s a little early for Shakespeare, don’t you think?” Mia called. She emptied the remaining printer paper from its box and handed the empty to Lucas. They wouldn’t need much more than that to pack up her stuff.
    Jupiter’s muffled voice sounded stronger. “That’s not Shakespeare, Miss Business Major.” She shoved the blanket off her head and struggled to sit up. “It’s Homer Simpson.”
    Lucas had a small smirk on his face when Jupiter caught sight of him and shrieked. Then she covered her mouth, looking ridiculously embarrassed for that, rather than the bed head hair and Glenda the Good Witch getup: short, pink tutu, sparkles included, black and white striped tights that only went up to her thighs, and a stretchy, pink tank top that clearly revealed her bra had gone MIA during last night’s partying. Or perhaps she took it off for bed. But judging by Jupiter’s pool of goth mascara under her eyes, Mia guessed her roommate had simply fallen into bed last night in a drunken stupor.
    Eyes wide, Jupiter dropped her hand, then belatedly pulled her blanket up to cover her chest.
    Lucas’s eyes were laughing through the whole shenanigan, but he didn’t say anything.
    “Jupiter, meet Lucas,” Mia said with sigh. How was she supposed to introduce him? There wasn’t much she could tell her roommate, but by the way Jupiter’s eyes were dancing all over Lucas and hopping back and forth between them, she was sure her roommate would figure a lot out on her own. And grill the rest out of her. “Lucas is my boss at SparkTech.”
    That should light a fire in Jupiter’s brain.
    Sure enough, her eyes went even wider.
    “Lucas, meet