"love makes the shy brave and the brave shy."

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

I walk out of the lecture hall trying not to trip as I shove a textbook into my bag. Not looking I bump into the shoulder of some guy, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I apologize, looking up at him.

"Why don't you watch where you're fucking going next time," he spits out.

I almost need to laugh at his attitude, no way someone is going to talk to me like that. "Excuse me? I said sorry and it was an accident, no need to get crass with me, asshole."

A demeaning smile grows on the monstrosity that is his face as he looks me up and down predatorily."Why don't I apologize to you when we go out for coffee, say 1:00 tomorrow?"

Now I do laugh. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? I start to grow uncomfortable as he slowly inches closer to me and suddenly the urge to put him in his place lessens. As much as I want to put him in his place, I want to get away from him even more.

I put my keys in between my knuckles as a precaution and mentally prepare myself to call someone.

Yes, I am an independent woman who doesn't enjoy being belittled and I definitely don't feel the need to be saved by a 'strong man', but I am realistic and I value my life.

I start to walk away from him but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back. "Don't ignore me," he scowls, "why don't we go get that coffee now, huh?"

I rip my hand from his grasp and just as I'm about to run away, knee him in the dick, or both, my heart rate settles when I see some of my favourite boys.

"Hey fuckhead, get your hands off of her, now!" Luke yells as he runs over, Owen and Mason following behind him.

Owen walks up to us and acts as a human barrier between me and at the creep in front of me. "Do we have a problem here, asshole?"

Mason stays quiet and silently checks on me as he mouths, 'you okay?'

I nod my head and he stands beside me, placing a protective hand on my back.

The guy's eyes widen as he takes in the three of them who are clearly much taller and jacked than he is. He stutters on whatever is about to come out of his disgusting mouth when he sees the hockey jackets they're wearing. The hockey team has a reputation on campus. A reputation of not taking people's shits and they've been known to beat up a jackass or two.

"Never mind," he mutters as he walks away from us quickly and I'm finally able to breathe.

"That's right, jackass, walk away. Don't you dare come near her again or so help me god, your foot will be shoved so far up your own ass you'll never be able to walk again," Owen grits out.

Luke turns to me the second he sees the guy leave, "Holy shit, Dell. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," I answer, "thank you guys."

"Of course," Owen replies as he pulls me into a big hug.

I fucking love these three.

I decide to join the boys as they head back to their house when I remember I'm meeting Sterling for tutoring tonight anyway.

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

When I get to the house, the boys retreat to their rooms and I decide to finish the book I've been reading for the last week while I wait for Sterling to get home.

Maybe an hour later I'm in tears at yet another heart-wrenching ending. I don't know why I pick sad books and do this to myself, but it's addicting, I swear.

Just as I put down the culprit of my breakdown Owen walks down the stairs, probably to get a snack.

His eyes catch my reddened face and tear-stained cheeks and he changes his path from the kitchen to me.

He examines my face and takes a deep breath. I watch as he pulls his arms behind his head to stretch them and cracks his neck making me wince at the noise. "Alright I'm ready now, who do I have to beat up?"

Before I get the chance to first of all laugh at his reaction and second let him know this is all because of a book, he yells upstairs, "Luke, Mason, Theo, get your asses in here. Oh, and one of you get the bat from my room."

At this point I don't even bother explaining the real situation to him, I'm kinda curious to see what's about to happen.

I chuckle at the stomps coming from the boys running down the stairs.

"What the fuck happened?" Luke comes storming into the room first, his eyes scanning the downstairs for someone to harm.

Mason and Theo follow, them a little more level-headed. "I brought the bat," Theo remarks, holding up the piece of metal in his hands.

Owen looks satisfied with his friends' speed, "Okay, tell us who we are killing tonight, we're on it."

"No," my smile widens at how protective they are, "No one is getting hospitalized tonight and none of you are ending up in jail."

Theo is the first to put two and two together when he sees the book I'm holding and listens to my words. Rolling his eyes he drops the bat to the floor and joins me in my laughter. "Fucking idiot," he mumbles about Owen to himself as he sits next to me on the couch.

I think Mason starts to realize nothing is really wrong, although it's clear he's still confused, and both Luke and Owen are still out for blood.

"No one hurt me, I'm crying because of this," I hold up the book in my hands and watch as realization flashes in their eyes.

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

After the little scene my emotions caused, everyone cleared out of the living room, returning back to what they were doing before Owen assembled them into a firing squad.

Sterling got home shortly after and we've been working ever since. I swear this boy is smart and doesn't even need me to tutor him but then he writes a test and his grades say otherwise.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Sterling gets up from the table and walks over to his backpack.

I roll my eyes at his excuse to stop working, "Hmm?"

"I got you something."

I perk up, excited for whatever this is. "You did?"

"Yes, now close your eyes and hold your hands out."

I feel his presence get closer as he makes his way back towards me. He sits back down and I hear the shuffle of his chair as he moves. Our bodies now facing each other. He puts the present in my hands and I wait to open for his words before I open my eyes.

"Open, Laney."

My face twists in a mixture of confusion and gratitude as I look at the pair of fluffy grey mittens with the number 6 laying in my palms.

"Mittens! Thank you, Darling," I exclaim. "Is there more to this? Like a joke or something I should be getting right now?"

He smirks at my puzzled expression.

Fuck, those dimples.

"I just thought they would be good you know," He looks into my eyes for any hint of understanding. "For the rink, when you're watching a game or waiting for me to finish practice. So your hands don't get cold. Although I'm still more than happy to be your personal hand warmer, this is just when I'm not with you."

I think I feel my heart double in size at the fact that he remembered my hands get cold and he actually thought about it. The fact that it's his jersey number on it too makes it even fucking cuter.

Shit.

The corner of my lips tug upwards and I don't even try to fight a smile, "Thank you. I'm going to wear these every time I go now."

"Good."

Sterling smiles to himself and I have to hold in a laugh at how proud he looks of himself. This man really is a big baby.

Suddenly, the boys come down from their rooms holding a little pad of paper each.

Oh god, what are they up to now?

"Oh god," Sterling sighs, "what the fuck are you idiots up to now?"

Jinx. Even though I said it in my head.

"Fuck off Blake, no need for the 'tude, you're going to want to hear this."

My curiosity grows at Owen's seriousness.

"We've created a schedule to walk Delaney to her classes every day," Luke explains.

"So I'll take Mondays, Theo is Tuesdays, Sterling is Wednesdays, Mason is Thursdays and Luke is Fridays. If one of us is busy we can cover for each other, maybe even Chase if he's free. We just wanted to make sure you're okay, Delaney."

My eyes almost water at how sweet they are and I rise from my chair to kiss Owen on the cheek in appreciation. Sterling just scowls disapprovingly and takes my hand in his to pull me back down into my seat.

A big baby who's jealous, I guess.

"Guys this is really sweet and I'm so grateful for you all, but I really don't need all of this."

"I'm sorry, am I missing something right now?" Sterling speaks up in confusion. "Did she break something, why does she need escorts now? Not that I won't do it."

Luke takes point on explaining the events of this afternoon to Sterling and I cringe the entire time. I feel like it makes me look helpless, and god knows Sterling has seen me in other embarrassing situations, I don't need to add onto them.

"He what? Who was he? I'm going to beat his fucking ass!" Sterling's volume makes me flinch.

Oh boy, I hope for his future career's sake he never identifies that creep.

He turns back to me and cups my cheeks with both his hands. For a second, looking into his eyes full of worry and rage, I feel like the two of us are the only people in the world. Suddenly those recent 'embarrassing moments' are no longer embarrassing but rather vulnerable. And with him, I feel okay to be vulnerable.

"Laney, are you alright?" he repeats his question and I rip myself out of my thoughts.

I pull the corner of my lips into a reassuring smile, "I'm okay. The boys had my back."

"Good." Sterling turns to them. "Thank you guys."

"I second what Sterling just said, but really you guys, I don't need escorts every day. Plus, somedays I'm not even on campus."

"Why don't you let us know what days you do go to campus and one of us can walk you there, if you want. If not, just call us if anything does happen and we're not there," Mason offers another solution.

"I think that sounds more reasonable, I mean you guys have lives too, if you've forgotten, and I'm not completely helpless."

The boys and I agree on that idea and once again, they disperse from the room, leaving me and Sterling alone.

"I know what we just agreed on, but I don't feel good about it, Laney."

"I know you don't." After all, he is an older brother, he was built with double the protectiveness of the average person.

"I can walk you to every class, really, it's no problem."

"I'm sure you can, darling. But no, you have class and hockey."

"Fuck school and hockey, what if something happens to you? That's so much more important."

His concern and conviction gives me goosebumps.

"Alright, how about this; I'll call you on the phone the entire time I'm walking. That way you can still be in class or at the rink but you'll make sure I didn't get kidnapped or something."

"Facetime, and we have a deal."

"Ok, Facetime."

We shake on it and I can tell by the unusual seriousness shown through his features, this means a lot to him.

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

I wanted to do more chapters with the boys because I think their friendship with Laney is precious and I hope you guys enjoyed it.

I just realized it's 3:00 AM and I didn't even notice while I was writing. Also, update on the cake pops from last chapter: apparently I don't like them and now they're sitting in the fridge downstairs because I forgot about the and I haven't even dipped them in chocolate yet.

Question of the chapter: Do you guys like cake pops?

Please comment and vote if you guys enjoyed it because your support helps my book so so much <3

Okay, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! I love you all so much :)