PANTY RAID

78| Friends don't look at friends that way

Dayo pushed away from the car, straightening to his full height in one graceful motion. His jaw tightened, a muscle ticking along the edge. Rage and jealousy coursed through him. He didn't like seeing his girl smile so warmly at another guy.

He'd never been the jealous type. Never. He'd never cared enough before, but then, he'd never met a girl quite like Eniola before. The anger on his face was plain because she quickly shifted away from the guy that was standing next to her, as if she'd been caught red-handed, doing something she shouldn't be doing.

Mr. Stranger followed the direction of her gaze and watched as he strode toward them. Eniola turned to him with a slightly nervous smile as he reached her. "Hey," she said.

"Hey, babe," he said, trying his best to keep his voice leveled. Unable to quell the primal instinct to let this guy know that she was his, to mark his territory — he tilted her chin toward him and kissed her, a brief but burning kiss.

When he pulled back, she glanced at the strange guy, suddenly looking uncomfortable. An expression that Dayo identified as jealousy flitted across his face for a split moment before he glanced away.

Satisfied that he's staked his claim, he slipped an arm around her to pull her tight against him with a possessive grin, "who's he?" he asked.

Eniola cleared her throat, feeling the tension crackling between them. "He's, um, a friend," she said.

The guy extended his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kam," he said with a forced grin. Dayo stared at his outstretched hand, up at his face, and then directly into his eyes.

Kam's eyes danced with a dangerous challenge and Dayo had to stop himself from punching him in the face. He slid a glance at Eniola who stood rigid beside him, and as he watched her bite her lower lip, he knew she was nervous.

He wanted to leave his hand hanging but that would have been too petty so he hesitantly returned his handshake. His grip was firm and his palm felt rough with calluses, an odd contrast to his soft physical features.

"Dayo," he said, giving him an obvious once over. Then, with a smirk, he added, "I'm her boyfriend."

Kam pulled his hand back as if he'd been burned. "You're one hell of a lucky guy," he managed to say, his voice tight and strained.

Dayo unconsciously tightened his grip around her waist. Kam's eyes got oddly intense as he returned his gaze to Eniola who seem to be avoiding meeting his eyes. "I'll catch you later, princess," he said and walked away.

"Let's go. We're late." Dayo said. His voice was cold and brittle and she looked up at him, surprised by his tone. "Babe?" she said, her voice a little cautious.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, following him to the car. He let out a dark curse, his hand pausing on the car door. "Who the fuck is he?"

Eniola looked everywhere but at him, and his suspicion increased. She definitely had history with this Kam guy. "I told you. He's my friend."

He grinned coldly. "Friends don't look at friends that way, sweetheart." With that, he got into the car and waited till she slid in beside him before starting the car.

The tension was so palpable it hung in the air like a cloud of thick, cloying smoke. He hated the silence between them but he wasn't in the mood to talk right now.

It took less than twenty minutes to get to campus but finding a parking space took another ten minutes and by the time they got to the lecture theater, the class had already started.

Fortunately for them, it wasn't one of their older lecturer who was taking the class. Dr. Bernard Agunbiade gave them a warning stare as they came in and continued his elucidation on the literary analysis of Beowulf as scrawled out on the whiteboard.