by V. L. Silva
He wanted me to go upstairs and if he was good enough to be faculty at an institution like Barnet then it stood to reason he was a pretty gifted salesman.
Therefore, the only way to win this battle was to walk away.
But wasn’t I tired of walking away?
He looked at his watch and then dropped his head. “I have to go. It was nice meeting you, Ms. Malonie. Tell your mother I said hello.” He gave me his back and walked away. Then tossed out, “I’m sure your father would be proud of you.”
And bam. There went the metaphorical mic drop. The simple line left me devastated. It was like he’d ripped me open and stepped back to watch me bleed.
I’m sure your father would be proud of you.
If he’d shot me it would have ached less.
As it was, I was questioning my decision once again but with the added bonus of knowing that if my father was alive he would not be proud of my decision. Backing out of PR went against every ambitious bone in my body.
I stood here in the middle of The Alpine and asked myself what I was afraid of.
The answer trembled itself into my heart and then stormed through the front door.
Axel was on the prowl and out for blood. I knew he was looking for me. I wanted to hide but my feet must have forgotten my head was in charge because they didn’t move.
Axel was still in the suit that had probably taken all the yards of fabric his tailor had on hand to create. He was the height of the door.
People scrambled out of his way as if he held a weapon.
They knew who he was and what he was capable of. He didn’t need to wield a weapon when he was the embodiment of one.
He crossed the lobby in two strides and took my arm. “We’re leaving. Now.”
“Mr. King.” Dr. Chandler rushed over. “Are you coming to the meeting upstairs? We need to work out the final draft for your presidential speech for Friday.”
President? Someone had let this man become president of the school? Was that the reason he had his own parking spot?
Axel spoke to Chandler but didn’t bother glancing in his direction. He only had eyes for me. “Later. Hope and I have some personal business to discuss.”
“Hope, are you sure you’re not coming to the meeting?”
I was drowning, falling so deep into the sea of Axel’s eyes that I almost missed the lifeline Chandler tossed to me. The moment I realized what it was I grabbed it. “Yes! I have a meeting.”
Dr. Chandler held out his arm for me. “This way, Ms. Malonie.”
Axel had no choice but to let me go. I managed to control myself from clenching Dr. Chandler as we climbed the stairway. Axel, Silas, and another guy I hadn’t met but remembered seeing hanging out with Axel in the cafeteria followed us up.
I hadn’t even realized he’d come with an entourage until that moment. Once Axel stepped into a room the rest of the world disintegrated.
The upstairs was bigger than I thought it would be. It was one big room. One side was set up with video games, a big screen TV, and red couches. The other side had a long conference table with a small business center with a printer in the corner. Then there were two doors in the back. One led to a private stall and the other to what looked like an office.
Carolyn was sitting at the conference table with her face in her laptop. She also wore a pair of red-framed glassed that did nothing to distract from her beauty. She looked up and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me.
That guilt hit me again. If it wasn’t for Dr. Chandler I’d have left her high and dry.
Her expression soured when she saw who was coming up behind me, then she turned away.
She wasn’t alone. Two other people sat at the table as well.
Dr. Chandler introduced me to the table and then to Wyatt, who was over the print department, and Hadley, who was the face of Barnet. She was very pretty and I spotted the longing in her eyes when she saw Axel. It shot up higher when she saw Silas and their other friend. Her mouth looked ready to water like she was at a buffet.
Dr. Chandler sat me between him and Carolyn.
Silas sat across from me and winked.
I tucked my chin and listened as Dr. Chandler spoke.
The final guy of Axel’s posse turned out to be Rome Ellis. He was beautiful with dark skin, a strong jaw, and a set of lashes I envied. I wanted to say he had a broody personality but the word failed to capture what was going on.
In reality, Rome had a pissed personality. I’d never understood the term chip on a shoulder until I met him. He tapped long fingers on the table. The rhythm and sighing showed his agitation.
He didn’t want to be here and I had a feeling I knew who’d dragged him across campus.
But what I couldn’t figure out was why he didn’t like me. I felt it in the way he watched me. Like I was a roach. If he could’ve snapped his fingers and made me disappear, he would have.
The funny thing was, Axel didn’t look like he cared too much for me either. Instead, he stared at me with open hunger. His need went beyond want. He watched me with a craving that made me question what would happen if there wasn’t a table between us and a faculty member on my side.
I’d have to sprint to get out of his building alive.
The only guy on the other side of the table who even bothered to pretend that he liked me was Silas, but I knew his smile was deranged. His black gaze was sharp, stabbing me like he expected candy to spill out of me at any moment.
Or blood. Maybe he wanted blood.
It was safe to say the first half of the public relations meeting did not go well and I was holding the urge to use the bathroom. I knew the moment I was away from the table Axel would corner me, and I didn’t want to be cornered right now.
During the second half of the PR meeting, I concentrated on Wyatt who explained how the teams worked.
“Here is the events list for the school year we have thus far,” he said. “Does the president have a speech for us?” Wyatt was a guy of average height. Before meeting Axel I would have said he was tall. He was just a few shades paler than gold and his dark eyes tilted up at the corners. He wore his dark, unruly hair to his shoulders and I quickly learned his sign of frustration was to sweep the locks back.
Axel played with his pen. “Just use whatever Tommy wrote before he stepped down.”
“Who’s Tommy?” I asked.
“The original president,” Carolyn said. “He mysteriously stepped down during the summer. No one knows why.” How she managed to keep a straight face through that was beyond me. Everyone who’d met Axel knew there was no mystery.
“Carolyn,” Silas cooed. “Watch yourself.”
Carolyn looked away.
I looked at Axel. “So, you’re just going to use someone else’s readymade speech?”
“Why not?” Axel asked. “I read over it. I agree with everything he said.”
“But shouldn’t the president’s speech be personal?”
He stroked his pen. “Is that what you want? Personal?”
I pressed my knees together. The pressure to pee rose. I never should have gotten the coffee. This was the second time coffee had let me down.
Dr. Chandler said, “I know you were his running partner, Axel, and you probably had some influence over the first draft but it would be good to come up with your own words.”
I watched the power dynamic between the professor and the student and wondered who’d come out as king.
Axel gave Chandler a bored look. “No.”
The table fell silent.
Chandler sighed with defeat. “Very well.”
Dang it!
“Moving on.” Wyatt pushed his hair back. “The athletics team has signed some new deals with some new all-natural sports aid companies. The captains of the teams will be at the meeting with the vendors next week. Are you interested in going as our representative?” he asked me.
I was shocked that he’d give me something so heavy so quickly and glad Dr. Chandler had convinced me to join th
e team. When people spoke about Barnet, this was what they meant. I’d be going to an actual business meeting and listen to people shift real money around. “I’d love to—”
“She’ll pass,” Axel said. “Hope is going to work behind the scenes. Send Hadley.”
Hadley grinned. “Yes, I’ll go.”
“Fine.” Wyatt rolled his eyes but didn’t protest otherwise. He was a senior and my guess was that he’d had a run-in with Axel before and knew when to quit.
I didn’t. “I want to go.”
Axel laced his hands on the table and leaned forward. “You’re up to three.”
My heart jumped and my stupid vagina tightened. Why did the thought of punishments excite me?
Hadley asked, “Three what?”
“Hope knows,” was all Axel had to say to squash the topic.
Dr. Chandler spoke. “Hope will go. I’m excited to see what comes out of it. Her father was a legend here.”
My cheeks burned.
“A legend?” Silas asked. “That’s a strong term.”
“He all but ran every presidential campaign while here and his candidates always won,” Chandler said.
I smiled. These were the stories I wanted to hear.
“I didn’t know that,” Axel said, catching my eye as he made the accusation.
“Also, he made the jingle for Molten Cookies,” Dr. Chandler added.
Carolyn gasped. “What? I love that jingle!” She sang, “Molten Cookies. They melt in your mouth.”
Axel smirked. “So, she does sell cookies after all.”
Did I say my face was burning before? Because it was definitely on fire now.
Carolyn groaned. “Axel, you’re such a—”
Silas cut her off with a look. “Eyes back on the keyboard, Housley.”
Carolyn’s gaze dropped immediately but her anger burned behind her lenses.
My need to use the bathroom grew to a point that I couldn’t refuse the call of nature anymore.
I got up and excused myself.
There was a short hallway to the bathroom. I used it quickly, washed my hands, and stepped out.
Axel slammed me into the wall and kissed me.
I turned away and licked my lips. In doing so, I licked up the flavor his mouth had left behind. “Let me go.”
He grabbed my jaw and forced my chin up. “I don’t like not knowing things about you.”
“What?”
“Your dad was an alumnus? You didn’t tell me that the night we met or since.”
It’s kind of hard to talk with your tongue always down my throat. And now he wanted to get to know me? I’d never heard of that being a prerequisite for sex.
Confusion didn’t even begin to explain what I felt. “Axel, I don’t understand.”
“You said some of the business executives you admired were alumnus. Not your dad.”
“So? What do you care?”
“I care.” He caressed under my chin, down my throat, and back up.
I dug my fingers into the wall behind me and decided to wait him out.
With nothing else to look at, I studied him. The hollowed cheeks made his face as severe as his temperament.
His eyes softened before they dropped to my mouth.
He leaned in.
“Why don’t your friends like me?” I asked.
He stilled an inch from connecting his lips with mine. “What friends?”
“Silas and Rome?”
He shook his head and dropped his hand. “They aren’t my friends. They are my allies.”
“Allies? Are you at war or something?”
“Did you call off?”
“No. I might even wear these shorts. I haven’t decided yet.” I emphasized who’d be making that decision, just in case he needed the clarity.
He placed his arm on the wall by my head and closed me in. “Come back later.”
I thought he was speaking to me until I heard someone scamper away. I shook my head. “You think you run this place, don’t you?”
He tilted his head. “I do.” He stroked my hair line with his other hand and tucked a loose end of my hair behind my ear. It was like he couldn’t stop touching me. No one had ever concentrated on me the way he did. That familiar feeling of the butterfly in the glass began to rise up again. “You don’t run me.”
“You don’t think so, but you will.” He was gone a second later.
Back at the table Dr. Chandler said, “Let’s call it a day, shall we? I think we accomplished plenty. Ms. Malonie, thank you for joining the team.”
“I’m glad I did.” And I didn’t care what Axel said. I was going to that sports meeting whether he liked it or not.
But as everyone started getting up I realized my problem. How could I escape without being cornered?
Dr. Chandler saved me. “Hope, let me walk you to your car.”
“I don’t have one.”
“Well, then I’ll take you home,” he offered just before Axel did.
My heart raced. I avoided Axel’s eyes as I packed my things and followed Dr. Chandler downstairs. He didn’t stop me but I felt his eyes stalk me the entire way home.
8
Hope
You’re up to three.
He was coming for me. I knew it, but I regretted accepting Dr. Chandler’s assistance at the moment I was strapped into his car. Axel was my battle and I needed to find a way to deal with him by myself.
“I worry about that kid,” Dr. Chandler said as we got on the highway. I’d told him where to go.
“Who?”
“Axel.”
I laughed. “Axel? You worry about him?”
The professor stared straight ahead. “Things got dark after his father fled the country. I think he’s having a hard time dealing with the abandonment.”
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. I wasn’t a terrible person. I did feel bad for him but his past wasn’t an excuse for his current behavior. Grief didn’t mean I wouldn’t hold him to the same standards as everyone else. I’d lost my father, too, and my mother for a few years after that. Even after all these years, my mother still struggled with Dad’s death.
My dad had been the one for Mom. He’d made life easier. I tried to do that for her.
But after everything that had happened to my family you didn’t see me going around harassing people.
I deserved to be treated fairly. Everyone did.
“She wasn’t even supposed to be out there that day,” he murmured. “None of them were. Isn’t that funny?”
“What?”
“Claire King and her friends. They weren’t supposed to be out in the Pacific that day. The approaching storm had been all over the news. People were anxious for it. California was going through a drought, but then, when isn’t California in a drought?”
“The women weren’t supposed to go sailing that day?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“So, why did they go?”
“I don’t know but I do know the storm never came. I don’t know if it was by luck or not.”
I fell silent and tried to imagine Axel three years ago. His mother had gone on a trip and never came back.
Dr. Chandler backed up my earlier thoughts. “But that’s no excuse for what he’s doing. I’ll have a talk with his aunt.”
I didn’t know Axel’s aunt but I knew the man lived by no one’s authority but his own. Talking to the aunt was a bad idea for many reasons and one of those reasons was getting Dr. Chandler further into his crosshairs.
“Don’t,” I said. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“No, I’ll talk to her. Brigit attended Barnet as well. We know each other.”
“You had classes together?”
“No, but she’s on the alumni board. We’ve talked a few times.” He grinned at me. “Barnet is such a magical place. I’ve never wanted to attend or work anywhere else.”
“Do you think you’d have made it in the corporate world?”
He scrunched up his face and then grimaced. “No. It takes a certain cutthroat personality that I don’t have.”
I grunted. “You could have fooled me.” I didn’t forget his comment about my dad at The Alpine when he mentioned how proud John Malonie would have been, all the while implying that he’d be anything but.
Dr. Chandler blushed. “Sorry, but I had to stop you from leaving. I knew your dad. He would be proud of you.”
“Yeah. Well, I’m just trying to survive the year.” Axel was a senior. Once he left he’d move on and so would I.
“There’s nothing to fear. I’ll see that you’re settled. It’s the least I could do for John.”
This wasn’t a job for Dr. Chandler. Taming Axel, or at least getting him to treat me like a decent person, was my responsibility. “Don’t worry about it, Dr. Chandler. I can handle Axel.” Hopefully.
“No more about Axel,” he said. “Let me tell you about your dad.”
He went on to tell me stories about the things my father had done and said during their years as students and while he talked all I could do was wish that I was in a better frame of mind.
I only picked up on half of what he said while I kept looking back into the rearview mirror to see if you-know-who was following.
What would he do if he caught me? Push me against the wall? Kiss me? Spank me? Finger me into an orgasm? At the apartment, I thought about nothing but what he could do to me as I showered and got ready for work.
By the time I made it to Greener Day I was a sweaty mess and not a drop of it was rooted in fear.
“I asked for no ice.”
I looked down at my irate customer and then at the glass in my hand. The condensation froze my fingers to the point that I couldn’t feel them anymore. I was numb all over. I couldn’t even remember his order, much less what he wanted to drink. Was this Coke or Dr. Pepper? “I’m sorry. I’ll get another glass.”
“No, it’s fine. You’ve already messed up twice.” The older guy snatched the glass and then turned to his comrades, effectively shutting me out with his shoulder.
I predicted low tips in my future. I’d made it to the back of the restaurant just as I heard my name.
“Hope.”
I jumped and spun around, my skirt following a second later. I was wearing a pink skater dress that was scattered with strawberries and nude tights. I finished the look with another scrunchie and my white sneakers.
