Chapter 3. Anything You Want

Tessa’s POV

The redhead glares at me, her chest rising and falling like she’s trying to push the anger out in measured breaths. I wait for a comeback. Instead, she spares me one cutting look, huffs at Wyatt, and storms off down the hall, muttering curses under her breath.

I stare after her, irritation prickling my skin.

What is it with the Cooper brothers today? One has a blonde sneaking out of his room at nine-thirty in the morning, the other has a redhead storming out of his apartment at four in the afternoon. Apparently it runs in the family.

A low chuckle from the doorway pulls my attention back.

Wyatt leans against the frame, an infuriating smirk tugging at his lips. No shirt. His abs are on full display, golden in the hallway light, every line impossible to ignore. There’s a faint scar across his collarbone, the kind wolves only keep if the wound was silver.

“Didn’t think you had that in you, Lucky.”

I lift an eyebrow. “Lucky?”

He pushes off the frame and reaches toward me. I flinch back before I can stop myself, and his grin widens.

“Relax.” He tilts his chin toward my chest.

I glance down. Right. The big green four-leaf clover on my shirt, the words GOOD LUCK peeling off under it. Darcy bought it for me before finals freshman year, as a joke. I’ve never once been lucky in it.

Today of all days, it’s practically a lie printed across my chest.

“Do I look lucky to you?” I ask.

His eyes flick to my red-rimmed ones, then back to the clover. “Not yet.”

I bulldoze past him into his living room. “Put on a shirt.”

“Why?” His voice hums with amusement. “Getting distracted by the view?”

I spin around. “Ever heard the word decency? It’s spelled—”

“Hey, I can spell that.” He feigns offense. “What do you take me for?”

He shuts the door, strolls over to the kitchen counter, picks up a can of beer, and drains it in one long swallow while I watch.

My fists clench at my sides. “Is that alcohol?”

He gives me a strange look, then glances at the crushed can in his hand. “It’s beer. So, yes. Pretty sure that’s alcohol.” His smirk creeps back. “Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?”

“It’s four o’clock in the afternoon,” I say through my teeth. “On a day I’m supposed to tutor you.”

“It’s one can, Lucky. My wolf burns through that in ten minutes.” He tosses it in the trash. “Besides, maybe today we just get to know each other. Knox definitely didn’t mention you grew up into a pretty woman.”

My eyes dart to the door.

I could leave. I should leave. Then I remember Knox’s voice, you promised, Kates, and the thousand dollars, and the laptop that crashes every time I open more than four tabs.

I fix Wyatt with a death glare. “First of all, don’t call me Lucky. Second, have you considered that the reason you’re failing is that you flirt too much and think about hockey even more? If you stop thinking up ways to flirt with me, maybe we get something done today. If not, I’ll be happy to waste your time and watch you fail.”

“Do you have friends?” he asks casually.

It catches me off guard.

“Or did they all ghost you because all you do is read?”

The words land on the same bruise Cole pressed this morning. You were nobody before me. I swallow the sting.

“You must be so good at socializing that you forgot other things matter.” I lift my textbook. “Things like graduating.”

His smirk sharpens, like I’ve just thrown a glove at his feet.

“Where’s your room?” I say. “Let’s start.”

He leads the way. Blackhawks posters cover the walls, a framed jersey, a photo of a dark-haired woman laughing on a dock. It’s cleaner than I expected.

Until I look at the bed.

The sheets are a wreck. Two torn condom wrappers lie on the floor. The air is thick with the redhead’s perfume and something warmer under it.

Bile climbs my throat. I back out so fast I bump the doorframe.

He follows, amused. “Why’d you run like that?”

“We’ll work here.” I drop my books on his dining table, my arms aching. “You should clean up after sex, especially when you’re expecting company. It’s called decency. You’ve clearly never heard of it.”

He comes closer and tilts my chin up with two fingers, forcing my eyes to his. They’re green, ringed with a thin gold line.

“Are you sure that’s the only reason?” he murmurs. Then his gaze drops to my wrist, and the smirk is just gone. Wiped off his face like it was never there.

“Who grabbed you today?”

His voice is very quiet. Too quiet. The gold in his eyes spreads, thin ring to thick band, and the air in the room goes heavy, the way it does before a storm. I’ve been around wolves my whole life. I know what it feels like when one of them decides something is his business.

I look down. There are faint red marks on my wrist. Four fingers. I hadn’t even noticed.

And I’m not going to explain them to Cole’s brother.

I snatch my books off the table and head for the door. “None of your business. Find another tutor.”

He doesn’t grab me. He just moves, faster than I can track, and suddenly he’s between me and the door, hands raised, palms out.

“Hey. Hey. Okay. I’m sorry.” His voice drops, softer. “I’ll behave. I’ll put on a shirt. I’ll stop calling you Lucky. I’ll never say another word you don’t like. Just please tutor me. I’m desperate.”

I whirl around, ready to tell him he doesn’t act desperate, when my pocket starts buzzing.

And buzzing.

And buzzing.

With a huff, I pull out my phone.

It’s Cole.

For one stupid second I think it’s an apology. Then the messages fill my screen, one after another.

BRYAN: You threw a necklace at me like a psycho.

BRYAN: Everyone’s asking why you were screaming.

BRYAN: Return my varsity jacket. My new girl wants it.

BRYAN: And don’t bother showing up to the Night Circuit on Saturday. Wolfless girls just walk the outer trail and watch.

Everything else blurs. I read the line about the jacket twice, but the words don’t change.

My new girl.

Not even twelve hours.

My jaw clenches so tight it aches. He’s doing this to get to me, and God help me, it’s working.

And the worst part isn’t the jacket. It’s that some small, tired part of me reads wolfless girls just walk the outer trail and watch and nods along. Because I have. Every Circuit since I was fifteen, I’ve walked the outer trail at the back of the crowd, holding everybody’s coats.

I’m so tired of being the girl who holds the coats.

“Hey.” A tap on my shoulder. “Did you hear a word I said? I said I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”

My head jerks up.

Anything you want.

The words echo, and suddenly my mind is crawling with ideas that should not be there.

My gaze rakes down his frame and back up. He catches it, and his brows pull together.

He’s never had a girlfriend. Not once. Not in three years.

And Cole has spent his entire life trying to beat his brother.

It isn’t even about revenge. Not really. I want Cole to see it, yes. But more than that, I want to know if it’s true. If I’m the girl nobody picks. If the empty place where my wolf should be is all anyone will ever see.

I want, just once, to be chosen. Even if I have to write the contract myself.

I turn to face Wyatt fully.

“You’ll do anything?” I ask.

For the first time since I walked in, uncertainty flickers across his face. He nods anyway. “Yeah.”

I take a slow breath. “Then here’s the deal. I’ll tutor you. Not just enough to pass. I’ll get you at least a B in Marketing Management and in Business Ethics. Those are the two you’re failing, right? I’ll get you through both. That’s my part.”

His eyes narrow. “And mine?”

“In return,” I say, “you’ll pursue me. Publicly. Your charm, your connections, your golden-boy reputation, all of it. Everyone on this campus will see you chasing me.” I hold up my phone so he can see Cole’s name on the screen. “Starting with your brother.”

I expect him to laugh. Or smirk. Or call me Lucky.

He doesn’t do any of it.

He looks at Cole’s name on my screen for a long, long time. Then he looks at my wrist again. When he finally meets my eyes, his are fully gold, and his voice is so calm it makes the hair on my arms stand up.

“Do you want Cole to see us together, Tessa?” he asks. “Or do you want him to see you?”

I open my mouth. Nothing comes out.

“Because those are two different deals,” he says softly. “And only one of them ends with nobody getting hurt.”