All Chapters of The Rogue Next Door: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Maya I did not mean to fall asleep. That’s the first coherent thought that manages to push through the fog in my brain as I slowly wake up. For a few seconds, I don’t know where I am. There’s warmth all around me. Something solid beneath my cheek. A steady heartbeat under my ear. The faint scent of laundry detergent mixed with whatever cologne Cole wears wraps around me like a blanket. Then reality catches up. Cole. My eyes flutter open. The room is dark except for the soft glow of a desk lamp in the corner and the dim light from a laptop screen balanced on the desk across the room. Football footage is paused mid-play. The glow casts long shadows across the walls, giving everything a quiet, late-night feeling. And somehow… I’m practically sprawled across Cole. One of his arms is wrapped around my waist. A blanket covers both of us. My head is tucked against his chest like it belongs there. Oh my God. I fell asleep on him. Not next to him. Not near him. O

Maya I am emotionally exhausted. No, actually, that’s not strong enough. I am emotionally, mentally, academically, and spiritually exhausted. At this point, I’m pretty sure my brain has simply given up and decided to become a full-time disaster. The realization hits somewhere around halfway through my statistics lecture. Professor Monroe is standing at the front of the room explaining probability distributions with the enthusiasm of a man who genuinely believes standard deviation is exciting. Meanwhile, I’m sitting in the third row having what can only be described as an internal collapse. Because instead of paying attention, my brain keeps cycling through the same list of problems. Cole. Cole. My scholarship. Cole. My grades. Cole. The fact that I slept in Cole’s bed. Cole calling me baby. Cole calling me his girl. Cole existing. Honestly, at this point, I should probably send him my therapy bill. I stare down at my notebook. Professor Monroe

Cole I’m completely screwed. That’s the only coherent thought left in my head as I stand frozen near the front door of Sigma Two and stare at Maya Bennet. Because what the hell is this? What the actual hell is this? Somewhere behind me, music is pounding hard enough to rattle the walls. People are laughing. Someone is yelling about beer pong. The entire fraternity house is packed shoulder-to-shoulder with bodies. I don’t hear any of it. I barely see any of it. All I see is her. Maya stands near the kitchen with Bree beside her, looking wildly out of place and somehow completely impossible to ignore at the same time. Dark jeans. Black top. Her hair curled around her shoulders. Lip gloss catching the colored party lights every time she turns her head. And the worst part? She has no idea what she’s doing to me. None. Jake whistles low beside me. “Jesus Christ.” I don’t answer. Because I physically can’t. Markus takes one look at my face and immediately starts laughing

Chapter 78 Maya I should not be this happy at a fraternity party. Honestly, if you had asked me three months ago where I’d be on a Friday night, the answer would have involved sweatpants, a blanket, and approximately six hundred pages of assigned reading. Not this. Definitely not this. Not standing in the middle of a crowded Sigma Two house with music shaking the walls and bodies packed shoulder-to-shoulder around me while Cole Ryder looked at me like I was the only person in the room. Yet somehow… Here I was. The bass vibrated through the floor beneath my sneakers as another song started. Colored lights flashed across the crowded living room, catching on laughing faces and raised cups. People were dancing, shouting over the music, and generally behaving exactly the way college students in movies always behaved. Normally that kind of environment made me want to run. Too loud. Too crowded. Too much attention. Too many opportunities to embarrass myself. But tonight felt di

Maya The second I see my dad’s name on my screen, everything changes. One minute I’m standing on a back porch trying not to drown in feelings for Cole Ryder. The next? It’s like somebody dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. Three missed calls. One text. And six words that immediately make my stomach twist itself into knots. Need you call me back ASAP. It’s important. I hate that word. Important. Because in my family, important almost never means something good. Important means bills. Important means stress. Important means someone is trying to figure out how to stretch forty dollars into a hundred. The warmth from the party disappears completely. The music. The lights. The laughter. All of it suddenly feels far away. “Maya.” Cole’s voice cuts through the panic trying to take hold of me. I blink. Realizing I’ve been staring at my phone for several seconds without moving. “What happened?” His expression has changed. The softness from a minute ago is gone.