I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 07
Cole crossed the bathroom in two strides and seized Brent by the front of his shirt. He dragged him away from Kaitlyn with enough force to send him into the wall. Brent’s protest died beneath the force of Cole’s fury, while Kaitlyn clung to the sink and tried to understand whether help was real. When she swayed, Cole released Brent only long enough to catch her against his chest.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, his voice changing completely for her. “You’re safe.” Kaitlyn’s clenched muscles loosened at the promise. She had never been more grateful for anyone’s arms.
Cole studied her unfocused pupils, flushed skin, and uneven breathing. She could not support her own weight, yet he knew she had barely touched alcohol. His gaze returned to Brent with terrible calm. “Did you drug her?”
Brent’s face froze. The fraction of hesitation told Cole everything. His fist struck Brent’s jaw before an excuse could form, and the impact carried into the hallway.
Students rushed toward the noise and crowded around the broken doorway. They knew Cole as the controlled graduate student who excelled at everything and lost his temper over nothing. His reputation had been built on discipline: perfect grades, careful answers, and a calm no insult could disturb. Now he looked ready to dismantle Brent with his bare hands, and no one was foolish enough to intervene.
Brent shouted that Cole was insane and tried to pull free. Cole hauled him upright and demanded the truth in front of everyone. When Brent denied wrongdoing, another blow sent blood across his lip.
Lydia and Nat watched from the edge of the crowd. Lydia whispered that Cole might discover their part in the plan. Nat told her to be quiet and insisted he would not cause a scandal over one freshman, but her confidence vanished as Cole prepared to strike again.
Brent finally broke. He admitted putting something in Kaitlyn’s drink and pointed toward Lydia and Nat, naming them as accomplices. Shock rolled through the hallway. The women denied it immediately, but their panic carried more conviction than their words.
Someone knocked a tray of party drinks onto the floor as the crowd recoiled. Bright punch splashed over expensive shoes, and angry cries added to the chaos. Cole ignored it all. His entire focus returned to Kaitlyn.
He stepped in front of her so his body shielded her from every staring face. Kaitlyn could still hear students whispering about her, but Cole’s broad shoulders blocked their phones and their curiosity. Then he warned the room that anyone who laid another hand on Kaitlyn Sinclair would answer to him. The threat was controlled, public, and impossible to misunderstand.
No one challenged him. Cole wrapped an arm securely around Kaitlyn and guided her outside. She leaned into his strength, trusting him to carry the balance she no longer possessed.
Cool night air struck her overheated skin. Cole led her away from the lights and noise, choosing a quiet place where she could breathe without a crowd watching. He asked whether Brent had hurt her and searched her face as though afraid of the answer. Kaitlyn shook her head, then saw the split skin across Cole’s knuckles. Even after what he had done to Brent, his touch on her remained exquisitely careful.
She asked why he had come and why he cared so much. The honest answer rose instantly: the thought of losing her had terrified him. Ryan’s trust and Kaitlyn’s vulnerability stopped the confession before it reached his mouth.
“You scared me,” he said instead. “That’s all.” Even drugged and exhausted, Kaitlyn recognized the lie. Cole had crossed campus, broken down a door, and attacked a man in front of dozens of witnesses; nothing about his reaction was casual.
She reminded him how many men had stared at her and how determined he had been to make her change clothes. Cole said they had looked ready to devour her and she did not understand the effect she had on them. The vehemence of his answer gave her courage.
“Do I have that effect on you?” she asked. Cole went still. Kaitlyn stepped closer within the circle of his arm and observed that, if she did not know better, she would think he was jealous.
He denied it too quickly. His mouth formed another explanation, but none survived the way she looked at him. He could have blamed Ryan’s expectations or the duty any decent roommate would feel, yet neither explained the violence of his relief when she whispered his name. The danger had stripped away his ability to pretend she was merely a responsibility inherited from Ryan.
Kaitlyn waited, green eyes searching his face. Cole could still feel how fragile she had been in his arms and how violently fear had moved through him. He knew this was not the moment to burden her with feelings she might not share when fully clearheaded.
Yet silence became its own confession. Kaitlyn’s faint smile told him she understood more than he had intended to reveal. Her hand rested against his arm, small and warm, and neither of them stepped away.
Cole had come to the party believing he was protecting his best friend’s little sister. He left knowing the truth was far more dangerous: he had been jealous of every man who looked at Kaitlyn, and the thought of losing her had terrified him. Under the quiet night sky, that truth pulled him toward her before reason could stop what happened next.