“You know, maybe I’d be able to get through the damn thing if you didn’t keep telling me that.”
“I’d rather you get through it right then at all.”
Already, I’m starting to question any sanity I might have had when I made the decision to put aside my apprehension to work with Rhys. The nearly forty-five minutes we spent in here on Sunday night had lulled me into a false sense of security. Irritated, I shove my hands in the front pockets of my shorts, rock back on my heels, and glare at the bottom of the black music stand for a moment before lifting my narrowed eyes at him. “Alright, we’ve got another ten minutes, let’s do this—” My words catch when he abruptly stands up, his full lips twisted to the side as he examines me closely. “Why the hell are you looking at me like that?”
“I want you to try something for me,” he says. I shift my eyebrow, so he moves in close to me. My body is instantly aware of him, and goose bumps pucker across my skin. Since he’s a few inches taller than my five-foot-eight, I tilt my head back to search his gaze. He points to the knit black beanie holding in my mess of wavy chestnut hair.
“Take the hat off.”
“What? No.” At his insistent nod, I demand, “Why?”
“Because you’re hiding beneath it.”
“Told you, I’m having a—” I gasp when his fingers skim the sides of my face as he carefully plucks the hat off my head. Before I can protest, he shoves the cap in the back pocket of his khaki pants and starts to walk backwards.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I snap.
“What’s the deal with the hats? You’ve got one for every day.”
“There’s no deal, it’s called frizzy hair,” I shout, trying to reach around him, but he effortlessly blocks my hands. Straightening my back angrily, I run my hands self-consciously through my long strands of hair, my fingers shaking violently. Who the hell does Rhys think he is?
“You had no right to touch me.”
Dragging the piano bench back to its usual spot, he sits down and readjusts his sheet music. “Start from measure one,” he orders, like he didn’t just come over to me and physically remove an article of my clothing. To be honest, I’m still so stunned that I find myself touching my hatless head again just to make sure it actually happened.
When he plays the key the song is in, I give my head a jerky shake and cross my arms tightly over my chest. “You’re going to give me my shit back.”
I’m not the least bit surprised that he ignores my request. “I’ve noticed something about you.” Staring directly at the sheet music, he plays the first chord of “Florian’s Song.”
I release an exasperated noise, and his long fingers spread to play the second and then the third chord. “What would that be?”
“You hide behind all those hats. I was gonna say something about the one you had on Sunday—the red fedora-looking thing—but you showing up here caught me off guard.”
The red fedora-looking thing. Now, I’m caught off guard that he even remembers what I was wearing two days ago. Swallowing the lump that’s pushing its way to the back of my throat, I force myself to focus on the issue at hand. “You still had no right to touch me,” I say again.
“I’m not going to apologize, if that’s what you’re waiting for.” Playing the next few chords, he skims his stunning eyes over the length of my body, from the toes of my black flats to the tiny strip of skin exposed between my skinny jeans and pale pink t-shirt and finally to my face, where he stares into my dark brown eyes.
“You sure are cocky, Rhys.”
“I think you’re more pissed at me taking away your security blanket than the fact I touched you. Here’s my issue with all your fucking hats: If you’re hiding behind them, you’re uncomfortable. If you’re uncomfortable, we get nowhere. Now we can finish.”
Once again, he’s rendered me speechless, and I make a little noise in the back of my throat as I stalk back over to the music stand. He plays the key again, before saying, “You can do this.”
I have to grip the edges of the stand, I’m shaking so much as I power through the piece. I know I don’t nail it—even I can hear all the notes I struggle with—but to my surprise, he doesn’t stop me like before. With my chest heaving up and down, I walk over to the side of the piano. Rhys gives me that look again, the one that feathers over my body and does something warm and uncomfortable to me beneath my skin.
“Happy?” I breathe, glaring down at him.
He pushes his face close to mine, and his lips carefully curl into a cocky grin. It makes me sick to my stomach that I find the way he’s looking at me so tempting.
“It’s a start. But you’re mine for five more minutes.”
I keep a close eye on the clock hanging on the far side of the room, and as soon as our thirty-minute session is up, I all but race toward the door. I need to get away from him. If I don’t, I’ll end up saying or doing something I regret. His voice stops me before I can stumble out into the hallway, reverberating against my skin.
“To have made such a big deal about it, you’re quick to forget it.”
I spin around to see him approaching me with the beanie. He holds his hands out to me, like he’s presenting me with a peace offering. When I don’t move to take it, he takes it upon himself to return it to the exact place he got it. Closing my eyes, I hold my breath as he tucks my hair beneath the soft fabric.
I know this is wrong. And it’s wrong on more than one level. Not only is Rhys technically my teacher and also the brother of the man who killed my sister, but I also know very little about him besides those two things. They should be enough to send me running in the other direction, and yet here I am, with my back against the wall and the rough pads of his thumbs brushing my temples just before he drops his hands by his side.
“So it’s not that I touched you?” he muses, and before I can stop myself, I move my head in a negative motion. “Why do you wear them? What are you hiding from?”
“Myself.” From you. Hats became my thing a few months after Lily died. I open my eyes to see him staring at me thoughtfully. “See you Wednesday.”
I’m in such a hurry to get away from the music building that I nearly run right past Mac. She’s outside on one of the benches, her phone positioned between her ear and the crook of her neck as she jots something down in a little notebook. As soon as she spots me, she waves me down.
“One sec,” she mouths, holding up a finger. I cast a wary glance at the front doors of the building, but I nod and stick around as she says goodbye to whomever she’s talking to.
When she’s done, she bounds over to me, the wide smile that stretches across her face revealing shallow dimples. “Thanks for waiting—my little brother talks my damn ear off. I was going to send you a text, but this is even better.” At the questioning look I give her, she quickly adds, “What are you doing this Thursday night?”
Out the corner of my eye, I see the door to the building begin to open. Not wanting to face Rhys, I gesture for her to walk with me, and I take off. After a few steps, Mac catches up to me.
“Let me guess. Just got out of a lesson with Professor Cameron?” When I don’t confirm or deny, she laughs. “I run the hell away from the building after spending thirty minutes with that woman, too. Of course, I’m usually bleeding by then because her talons have ripped my soul out.”
I almost want to tell her that compared to Rhys, dealing with Professor Cameron is a breeze. I can deal with her scrutiny a lot easier than Rhys’.
“No, I’m just hungry,” I lie. Moving my legs a little faster in the general direction of the main courtyard, I dip my gaze to hers, anxious to change the subject. “What’s going on Thursday?”
“Red Denial is playing at Ippy’s, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. They’re this little band, but they’re really, really good.” While I’ve yet to go to Ippy’s, a little bar that’s a few miles from campus, I’ve heard from both Nathan and Mac that the entertainment is usually amazing. I must be silent for too long because she tucks a strand of her short golden hair behind her ear and lifts her shoulders in a shrug. “I just remember you saying you’re big on Fuel, so I figured you’d like them. If you don’t have time, I understand, but know that I will definitely kidnap your ass to go to one of their shows at some point this year.”