Chapter 22
Lacey
When I finally arrived home, a cab took me back to the campus. Weirdly, the first thing I wanted to do was lie down in my bed. Sleeping on that pull-out couch was very uncomfortable, especially for six nights. I don’t understand how anyone can do that. It didn’t take long for Angela to walk in.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were back. Where did you go? Have fun?” Angela continued to ask many questions.
“Yeah, it was fine. Glad to be home for sure.”
She came over and sat next to me on my bed. “Did you meet someone? You look like you just got into a huge fight.”
I didn’t know what it was about Angela, but she could always tell when something was wrong. “Yes, I did. But it ended in tears. What’s new?” I didn’t really want to talk to Angela about this. She wouldn’t understand, and I couldn’t tell anyone about where I was. It was part of the deal with Matteo. I might hate his guts right now, but I still needed payment from him.
The next couple of weeks for me didn’t go so well. I assumed my life would be kept under wraps, but horror soon struck. Everyone on campus had seen the article on me. I felt like my private life had been leaked all over the internet, and they were still following me.
All I could really do was make my studies my top priority. My grades needed to improve, and it was going to take a lot of effort to do so.
After three days of torture, in the middle of my English lit class, my phone chimed. I side-eyed it because I didn’t want my college professor glaring at me for checking my phone. A $10,000 deposit had been made. My heart sank, realizing that was it. Our arrangement was over. Not that I expected a phone call or text from him. It was Matteo. He was probably back to his asshole ways. I was wondering how long it would take for him to deposit the money, but there was no way I was going to harass him about it.
After class, the first thing I did was go to the bank and take out $5,000 to pay off the rest of the tuition for this year. Boy, it felt great to be handed a paper saying PAID IN FULL. It took a lot of stress from my shoulders. All I had to tell my parents was that I was offered a scholarship. They wouldn’t ask questions.
As I walked into the dorm room, my phone chimed again, only this time it was text.
Matteo: Did you receive your deposit? Just want to confirm since it is a lot of money.
I didn’t really want to talk to him at this point. I was still so furious about what happened back in the Bahamas that a one-word answer would suffice.
Me: Yes
I was just so pissed at how he ended things after how close we became. I mean I didn’t expect him to fall in love with me or anything, but I expected to at least end things in a manner that wasn’t me crying my eyes out in front of his entire family.
Honestly, I thought he might call me when he got back. Maybe he had realized how wrong he did me. Sitting here on my bed, I couldn’t believe I thought that. Matteo was back to his old ways. The egotistical stick-up-his-ass Matteo. If he was that way, he was never going to find happiness. I hoped he would at least take my advice and use it to his advantage. Probably not.