“Here you are,” Gina pronounces. She slides a plated waffle with whipped cream and strawberries toward me. “Would you like anything else?”
“Orange juice, please.”
Our chef passes me a glass of freshly-squeezed juice and watches as I drink it. I know that it’s practically all sugar, but I can’t give it up – there’s just something so refreshing about a glass of orange juice in the morning.
When I’m finished eating, I wash my hands and grab my bag. I go into the pantry looking for Gina to thank her, but she’s nowhere to be found. I frown as I walk back to the kitchen with my hands on my hips.
That’s when I hear the sound of my father’s angry voice coming through the wall. My heart leaps into my throat and I cover my mouth with one hand so I don’t accidentally make a sound. Sneaking down the hallway, I press my ear to the door of my father’s office and listen.
“God damnit, I told you!” My father’s voice yells into the phone. “I’m not taking no for an answer!”
The hair on the back of my neck stands up as I listen to his deep growl. There’s silence for a moment – presumably the person on the other end of the phone is trying to craft some ludicrous excuse. I know that I should be getting along. My father hates it when I stand outside of his office. Once, when I was a child, he slapped me across the face for eavesdropping. But it’s like my feet are glued to the floor. I can’t move, even if I want to.
“That’s more like it,” comes my father’s reply. I hear the creak and strain of his leather executive chair as he kicks his feet up. “I thought so.” His booming laugh fills the air. It’s an evil sound that chills my blood and I shiver.
I don’t know how I know that my father’s a bad man, but he is. Call it intuition, or maybe it’s years of living under his roof. I’ve witnessed countless cruelties, small and uncaring, and summed together they make Jason a twisted monster. Finally, I force myself to scurry away. Grabbing my backpack from the foyer, I head outside and into the bright sunshine.
When I get to campus, the atmosphere is quiet. Classes are finished for the semester and I make my way to the library. Of course, I can’t help but think of Dane. The last time I was here, I was doing research on him. Part of me is tempted to ignore my studies and go right back to stalking him on-line, but I know that I can’t do that. My grades are precarious enough as is.
No need to make things even more tense at home.
“Hey, Em!”
Turning around, I see Lacey standing in the library foyer with a huge pile of books in her arms. Her blonde hair is tied up in a greasy knot on the top of her head and she looks exhausted.
“Hey,” I say. I raise an eyebrow. “You look like you didn’t get much sleep.”
My friend groans. She sets her pile of books down on a table and yawns, rubbing her jaw with the fingers of one hand. “I didn’t,” she says sourly. “I’ve been up all night cramming for History.”
I sigh. “I still need to get started. I fell asleep with my books untouched.”
Now it’s Lacey’s turn to look suspicious. I’ve never been a good student, per se, but I’ve usually always been good about cramming at the last minute. And we’ve reached the point of do or die, so my buddy shoots me a strange look.
“I think we could both use a little fuel,” she replies. “What do you say we head to the Union? They have those great breakfast sandwiches. Come on, my treat.”
Even though I’ve already eaten, my stomach rumbles at the thought of a breakfast sandwich. It seems like the kind of thing Dane would prefer to fussy waffles: a big toasted English muffin crammed with sausage and cheese and eggs dripping with butter.
“I knew that would get you,” Lacey says slyly. She links her arm with mine. “Besides, now maybe you’ll finally talk to me.”
I turn to her and frown. “Talk to you about what?”
Lacey grins. “Exactly,” she says. “That thing – whatever it is – that you’re hiding from me.”
A hot flush spreads across my cheeks as we walk out of the library. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say innocently. “I’m not hiding anything at all. Why would you think that?”
But Lacey doesn’t answer. She just grabs my arm and pulls me across the courtyard. My heart thumps nervously. Hopefully she doesn’t ask too much … because what will I say?
10
Dane
Emma.
Just the sound of her name makes my heart leap into my throat. I can hardly think about her without my cock twitching or my stomach clenching in a knot.