“I wasn’t planning on staying long.” I narrowed my eyes. “What is it to you anyway?”
“No reason. Just making conversation.”
I prayed he wasn’t going to notice how tired I looked or that I most likely still stank of stale alcohol and the bar and possibly even the alleyway, though I’d done my best to get cleaned up in the bathroom at Jayden’s place. I wore my hair loose, so it covered the plaster that Jayden had used to stop my head bleeding. I liked to think I was normally well put together, and right now, I definitely wasn’t. I’d used what products I’d found in Hallie Wynter’s old bathroom, trying to freshen myself up, but it wasn’t the same as having my own stuff. I’d considered using the en suite shower there, but I hadn’t been able to bring myself to strip completely naked in Jayden’s penthouse.
Kyle didn’t seem to recognise any of these differences about me, however.
“You want some company in the library?” he asked.
Kyle and I were just friends, but he made no secret about the fact he wished it could be more. He’d asked me out on a couple of occasions, and he even tried to kiss me once at the student union on a night out with everyone, but I’d managed to duck out of his way. The whole thing had been kind of awkward and embarrassing, but he didn’t seem to have got the hint yet.
“No, thanks. I’m not going to be long.”
He shrugged and fell back a little, allowing me to walk on. “You’ve got my number if you change your mind.”
That wasn’t going to happen.
I lifted my hand in a half wave and put my head down and kept going.
The library was quiet at this time in the morning. I didn’t have my student card that allowed me to buzz through the turnstiles, but the campus security guard knew who I was and let me through.
I loved this place. It was my favourite spot in the whole university. While the other students in my year hung out at the student union or in one of the numerous cafés, I preferred the solitude of the library. I wasn’t someone who made friends easily, and big crowds made me nervous. I always felt like I was sitting on the outskirts of everyone else’s conversations, embarrassed and awkward in case people noticed no one was talking to me. Then someone like Kyle did try to talk to me, and I brushed them off. I expected people thought I was stuck-up and arrogant, because I had money and a powerful family. Maybe people didn’t make an effort with me because they were nervous about the repercussions?
Either way, it was just easier to hang out on my own. Books never judged, and I didn’t have to second-guess them either.
I found a quiet spot in the corner and settled down to read with a book I’d selected off a shelf. I would be able to pass a couple of hours this way until it got to a reasonable time for me to make my way home again. If anyone had noticed me missing at home, I’d be able to give an explanation. Now the campus security guard had seen me here—as had Kyle—I also had witnesses.
I missed not having my phone with me. I wondered if the person I’d been supposed to be meeting last night would have tried to get hold of me. They clearly had cold feet, but they couldn’t expect this to just go away.
When enough time had passed, I made my way home. I’d switched the expensive high heels for a pair of trainers back at Jayden’s penthouse, so at least I wasn’t having to walk in stupid shoes. I bit my lower lip thinking about those heels. Would I ever get them back? Maybe they could be an excuse for me to go and call on Jayden again.
I shook the thought from my head. No, I wasn’t going to see him again. What had happened last night was nothing, it had just been a case of him being at the right place at the right time. And anyway, literally nothing had happened. Unlike his reputation, Jayden had been a complete gentleman. He’d not laid a finger on me. Was I disappointed about that?
The walk home took me twenty minutes. I hadn’t slept all night and I was exhausted. All I wanted was to climb into bed and sleep—though I needed a hot shower first—but I braced myself for the onslaught of an interrogation about where I’d been all night.
Since I’d lost my key, I had no choice but to ring the bell.
I was relieved when it was my maid rather than one of my father’s men who answered the door. Though this house was technically mine in name, it was run by my father’s company, and it was his people who took care of the place.
“Hello, Mara,” I said, stepping past the older woman. “I lost my key.”
She frowned but nodded. “I can arrange to have another one cut.”
“Thanks. I’d appreciate that.” I paused then said, “And can you not mention it to my father. You know what he’s like. He’d probably insist on having all the locks changed.”
Mara gave me a knowing smile. “I won’t mention anything.”
I was going to have to tell my father I’d changed my phone, unless I was able to contact the phone company and try to keep the same number. What reason could I give? I had enough money that I didn’t need to go to him, cap in hand, and ask for a new one. I had a spare credit card, kept for emergencies, in my room, so I’d use that. If he noticed the change, I’d tell him I dropped it and the screen smashed too badly for it to be repaired. I needed to cancel the contract with the old one, too, but I couldn’t face it right now. I hadn’t slept all night, and I was still shaken from the attack.
My plan had worked, and I should be pleased. There was the possibility I’d still have to tell him the story about someone stealing my bag if he noticed I had a new phone or he spotted a new bank card arriving, but so far, it looked like I was in the clear.
I shut myself in my bedroom and took a shower, scrubbing away any remnants of my disastrous night. The thought of those men’s hands on me kept trying to penetrate my head, so I deliberately turned towards thoughts of Jayden instead.
I’d been raised on stories of how terrible the Wynter family were. My whole life, I’d been warned they were vain and weak and only cared about money. I was told they treated the people on their territory with contempt and failed to protect them.
When the Wynters joined with the Cornells through Tam and Hallie’s marriage, it was all doom and gloom. All I heard was how the city would go to ruin now, how businesses would be driven into the ground, and how violence would only increase.
From what I could see, the only violence had originated at my family’s hands, if what Jayden said was true about my family being responsible for the bomb that had killed his father.