Loch (The Powers That Be Book 3)

by Harper Bentley

  So today when I’d parked and gotten out of my Jeep, it had felt right, like coming home.

  “Mom! I know you’re teaching, but I had to leave a message. I just walked by the tennis court where Dad played. This is so cool! Anyway, I’ll call you tonight to let you know how it went. Love you! Bye!”

  Walking to my Intro to Algorithms class (I was definitely a geek) I was excited to continue with my degree of becoming a software engineer here at Hallervan. When I got to the amphitheater where my class was held, I saw it was packed (guess there were lots of other computer geeks here too) and walking up the middle aisle through several other students, I made it to the fourth of the five rows of curved tables and found an empty seat next to a really cute guy who I smiled at shyly. He smiled back then kind of made a show of reaching to his right to hold the hand of the pretty girl next to him. Well, all right then.

  I rolled my eyes as I got out my notebook then thought about my boyfriend Jared who I’d left behind at Berkeley. Well, I guess I should say ex-boyfriend now. He and I had dated for almost a year but for some reason I just hadn’t been feeling it. I mean, he was nice and all, attractive with a great body, but it had always seemed like something was missing. So when I decided I’d be attending Hallervan, we’d talked about how it didn’t make sense for us to stay together and we’d had a fairly amicable breakup (I think he’d felt the same about us which was why he didn’t get too upset) but we promised to keep in contact. Matter of fact, he’d texted me this morning to wish me luck on my first day. His classes didn’t start until tomorrow, so I’d wished him the same. He’d also reminded me that he had some friends here so if he made it up to see them, he’d call so we could get together and have lunch or something which had made me happy that we could be so chill with each other.

  As I smiled at this, Dr. Lykins, the professor, came in, took a look around the full room then jumped right into his lecture about asymptotic analysis and Big-O notation. Of course, there were the usual snickers at the mention of “Big-O” and Dr. Lykins even chuckled a bit saying he knew that was coming and his pun made everyone laugh even more. Then he got right to it and before I knew it, I had an entire page filled with notes.

  I flipped my notebook page over ready to scribble more and had the weirdest feeling that someone was watching me, so bringing my head up I glanced around the room for a moment, looking first to my right through the sea of faces busy listening to the lecture or furiously scrawling on their paper as I’d been, then to my left and was instantly met with the most gorgeous pair of chestnut eyes surrounded by long, sable lashes gazing back at me which almost made me drop my pencil.

  Holy smokes!

  And the guy the eyes belonged to was hot! His dark caramel hair was short on the sides but longer on top which he’d combed back and I could tell he hadn’t used any gel or pomade in it because it lay softly in an array of fashionable messiness. He had a perfect, straight nose and his hollow cheeks and chiseled jaw made me think he might be a model. Dang! I stared back watching completely mesmerized as his mouth slowly tipped up into a smile. It was only then that I realized I was gawking at him, and I became flustered, my eyes going huge as I whipped my head around to face the front. I then let out a little gasp of surprise as my pencil flipped out of my hand and over in front of Cute Guy next to me. I could sense his frown as he turned toward me and handed it back. Glancing sheepishly at him as I took it, I pushed some hair behind my ear in embarrassment which made him squint his eyes at me in disapproval then turn away.

  For the rest of the class, I did that thing all women do, you know, where you act like something’s so much more interesting other than what you really want to be looking at, which in my case was to see whether Mr. Hottie McTottie, who may very well have been the most handsome man I’d ever laid eyes on, was still gazing at me. Instead, I found myself taking notes with such forced concentration it was almost as if the state of the free world rested on whether I crossed my “T’s” just so. Lame.

  When class was over and Dr. Lykins had told us class wouldn’t meet Friday, I made a note of it then gathered my things and as I stood to go I had to wring my hand a bit to get the cramp out of it from gripping my pencil so hard. Then turning to leave, I ran smack dab into a wall of white t-shirt covered by a faded blue denim button up with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

  “Sorry!” I exclaimed then my eyes went big when they landed on the tee that clung to well-defined pecs. Nice! I next noticed the muscular forearms that were attached to hands that were resting on my waist. Whoa! My eyes shot up to see who was being so bold as to put their hands on me that way (even though he’d probably done it to stop me from running into him) and also to see who this amazing body belonged to and I swear, if I’d still had that stupid pencil in my hand, it probably would’ve flown up to stick in the ceiling when I realized it was Smiling Model Guy who was all up in my space. Gah!

  “Hey,” he said as one side of his mouth curled up into a half grin while his umber eyes glittered mischievously at me as if he knew exactly the effect he was having on me.

  Just being this close to him was making me have to focus on getting my breathing under control before I passed out. Man, I seriously needed to work on my hot guy interaction skills.

  When an “H” sound puffed out of my mouth before I finally got my wits about me enough to utter the complete word, “Hi,” I wanted to smack myself.

  Then things just kept getting better because I continued standing there like a total fool, enthralled with the fact that his eyes had flecks of gold in them. But when I saw the sides of them crinkle I realized he was laughing at me. Shaking myself out of the hypnotic hot-guy-all-up-in-my-face state I was in, I took a hasty step back making his hand drop from my waist. Then I really felt dumb because I saw the reason why he’d been chuckling at me. He’d been holding out his other hand out for me to shake the whole time. Oh. Mentally chastising myself for being such a dimwit, I internally rolled my eyes as I now held out my own hand to his.

  His huge hand enveloped mine then he squeezed gently. “Hey,” he repeated, his eyes dancing with humor at having to start over again.

  I couldn’t help but huff out a laugh at how ridiculously I’d behaved. “Hi.”

  “You new here?”

  He kept holding my hand but instead of being uncomfortable, I found that I really quite liked it and kind of hoped he continued doing it.

  “Um, yeah. Well, I was actually born here but my family moved away when I was little.” I lifted a shoulder. “But now I’m back.”

  “Well, welcome back.” He grinned now and my eyes landed on his perfect mouth. Wow. “I’d be glad to show you around sometime if you’d like.”

  My eyes darted up to his because, gosh, how nice was he? As his deep, soulful eyes held mine prisoner the shiver that ran through me confused me because I’d never reacted this way to a guy before.

  But as our eyes remained locked, something weird happened. Mine now narrowed and I canted my head to the side as I took him in because it suddenly seemed that there was something so familiar about him, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Still, come on, no way would I forget someone who looked as good as he did. That amazing hair, those perfect lips, the flawless face, the cocky attitude.

  And then it came to me and it felt like a giant fist plowed into my gut.

  No!

  No, no, no!

  My mortal enemy was standing right in front of me and he was holding my hand!

  Oh, my God. Could the odds that were so stacked in my favor have really come crashing down this quickly?

  My eyes remained squinted as they quickly roamed over his face and I watched as his narrowed a bit too as if he recognized me also. I watched engrossed as he frowned and blinked, then he dropped my hand and pulled his head back as if to say, “Could it really be Simone?” I was even more rapt when I caught the emotions crossing his face that looked like, “No! It couldn’t be her! N
o way could she have turned out to look somewhat decent!” And that’s when I became a tad angry then just flat-out pissed when the look disappeared altogether and I knew he’d convinced himself that there was no way could it be me.

  Jerk.

  “Uh, sure. That would be nice,” I responded weakly, hating that being near him was turning me back into the insecure little wimp I’d once been.

  “It’s a date then,” he answered with a wink.

  And even though I was convinced it was him, I had to know for sure, so I casually inquired, “So, how long have you gone to Hallervan?” and was surprised at how nonchalant it came out.

  “This is my third year. My family’s from Seattle. Matter of fact, I’ve had two brothers graduate from here already. My other brother’s a senior this year and we’re the last two, so I guess we’re kind of a keystone here.” He chuckled.

  I bit my lips and nodded slowly. It was definitely him. Marcy was going to flip when she heard this.

  “Can I see your phone?” he requested making me frown for a second. Consequently, my mind hovered between giving it to him or telling him where he could stick it, but not wanting to cause a scene, I complied, digging it out of my bag and handing it to him. As I watched his thumbs move over the screen, I couldn’t help but think how surreal this was, how strange and completely bizarre.

  Loch Powers was standing here nine years after he’d humiliated me and he had no idea who I was.

  When his phone rang, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed mine back. “Now I’ve got your number and you’ve got mine.” And, lord, that smile of his was so dazzling it made me want to sigh. My brow then came down as I reminded myself I was not going to be sucked into his sexy wiles. Ever.

  His phone now chimed and I saw his brow come down too as he read a text message. “Fuck. I’ve gotta go.” He looked up at me and gave me his grin again. “How about you text me so we can make arrangements, okay?” I nodded then drew in a sharp breath when he ran the backs of his knuckles down my cheek, his eyes warm on mine. “Later,” he mumbled giving me another wink then he left.

  I walked out of class stunned. How in the world had that just happened? As I strode to my next class, all I could do was shake my head at the events that had just transpired. Then my phone buzzed that I’d received a text. I blinked a couple times as I glanced at it because things had just gotten real.

  Text Message—Wed, Aug. 13, 11:17 a.m.

  Loch Powers: Hey again. Guess I was so blown away by your beauty I forgot to get your name. I’m Loch, by the way. Very nice meeting you. Hope to hear from you soon, gorgeous…

  Frippity fracking frap! This was just all kinds of crazy. I glared at my phone for a couple more seconds then stomped the rest of the way to my next class probably looking like a goof as I did but whatever. Once inside the classroom and being seated, I pulled my notebook and pencil out of my bag then threw my phone inside it not wanting to look at again. Oh, he’d be hearing from me soon, all right.

  And, boy, was I going to give him an earful.

  Confession Number Three

  “This is perfect!” Marcy said after I accosted her the minute she walked in the door that night and told her what had happened at class.

  “How? How is this perfect?” I countered, freaking out a bit at her lackadaisical attitude.

  “Let me change first and we’ll talk. Is the lasagna ready yet?” she asked as she walked toward her room.

  “Five more minutes for the bread. Hurry!” I heard her chuckle. Ugh. I wanted to talk now but whatever. I could give her time to change. I guessed. In the kitchen I put the bread in the oven and paced a bit wondering how my running into my biggest adversary was perfect. I’d just gotten the bread out and was brushing it with butter when she finally came in.

  “Smells great!” she announced as she pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge. “Yeah?” she asked and I nodded. While she poured the wine and set our glasses on the table she told me about her classes that morning then we both prepared our plates and sat. “What’s this salad dressing?” she inquired as she chewed, stabbing to get another forkful of lettuce.

  “Tristan and Sky brought it back from Italy last month. She called earlier so I ran over and got it. It’s good, isn’t it?” My brother and his girlfriend Skylar, yes, the same girlfriend he’d had in high school, now lived together in a gorgeous house in a pretty swanky part of Seattle. He and I were both following in Dad’s footsteps by going the computer route which thrilled Dad to no end. Tris was a software engineer (which was what I was wanting to do) for a large company and making bank, well on his way to becoming a manager, and Sky worked at an interior design firm and was quickly building a clientele with her amazing skills. With the salaries they were pulling in, they were doing quite well and since they both loved traveling, they were taking advantage of it.

  “It’s awesome,” Marcy garbled, mouth full.

  “Nice, Marce.” I took a drink, felt I’d waited the necessary amount of time to keep from appearing crazed to hear what she had to say, then attacked the elephant in the room. “Okay, so how is it perfect that I ran into Loch?”

  She grinned, her azure eyes dancing with mischief. “Wondered how long you’d hold out.” She smiled at my eyebrow raise. “Okay, running into him isn’t the perfect part. The perfect part is you’re gonna go out with him.” When I started to protest she held up her hand. “Let me finish.”

  “Doesn’t sound so perfect to me…” I muttered.

  “It will, though!”

  “You’re way too excited. Does this involve some kind of psychological experiment or something?”

  She laughed. “Hm. Hadn’t thought of that. I could use it as my thesis for Dr. Stone’s class. The Enigmatic Psychology of Revenge by Marcy Belton. I like the sound of that.”

  “Quit stalling. What do you have up your sleeve, Marce?”

  “All right, here’s what you’re gonna do, you’ll go out with him. And you’ll have a good time.”

  “But—”

  “You’ll wow him with your gorgeous self and your dry sense of humor.”

  “But—”

  “I’m sure he’ll ask your name, so you’ll tell him it’s Celeste, you know, your middle name—”

  “Yeah, I know my middle name. But—”

  “Just don’t add St. John because he might make the connection.”

  “But—”

  “Then when the evening’s over and you’ve dazzled him, totally made him enamored with you, he’ll bring you home, probably make a move for a goodnight kiss then BOOM! You tell him who you really are. Tell him what an asshole jerk he was and probably still is, then come inside and slam the door in his face.”

  I sat and stared at her because that was a very evil plan. And I hate to say it, but a part of me, a kind of very big part of me, liked it.

  “Or, you can do it in front of people like he did to you. That would even be better.” She raised her eyebrows as she added this last part letting me know public humiliation was her preference.

  “Um, you do realize you’re twenty-one and I’ll be twenty-one in a month?”

  “So?” She looked genuinely confused.

  I snorted. “Well, this is something a middle school kid would do, isn’t it? It’s also pretty mean, don’t you think?”

  “No.”

  We sat staring at each other as I flipped her little scheme over and over in my mind and wondered why she was so gung-ho on getting him back.

  “Look, he was a dick—” she began.

  “We were sixth graders!” I answered, still not getting her. I mean, I had a reason to hate him. And I appreciated that she was looking out for me but I didn’t get her enthusiasm over it.

  “When you were in sixth grade didn’t you know that what he did was wrong? C’mon, Simone. He should’ve known better but he went ahead and hurt you really bad anyway. He deserves to finally be put in
his place.”

  “I’ve got three classes with him! If I do this, I’ll have to see him every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!”

  “Even better!” Marcy exclaimed practically jumping up and down in her chair as she did baby claps.

  “I don’t know…” And I didn’t. First of all, I didn’t like being deceptive. Second, if I went through with it, I’d have to spend an entire evening with him and that didn’t sound like a good plan at all. Third, did I really want revenge so much that I’d knowingly hurt him? And fourth… “What’s in it for you?”

  “I have my reasons,” she shared cryptically with a frown then took a drink. “Plus, if you do this, it’ll probably stop the nightmares. You know you hate the nightmares,” she goaded.

  “Yeah.” I nodded then let out a sigh. “So how am I supposed to pull this off?”

  “Call him. Text him. Doesn’t matter. I know! Invite him to the Kappa Sigs’ back-to-school party this Friday night. It’s a pool party so we need to dig our bikinis out for a last hurrah! Adam’s supposed to pick me up at eight, so you need to have Loch get you after so he doesn’t see me. The couple times I’ve seen him around, he knew who I was because, well, we graduated high school together. So what do you think?”

  I shrugged grudgingly.

  “Look, I know you’re a nice girl, Sim. I get it. But this dillweed needs to pay for what he did to… to you. I mean, I remember talking to you the first couple years after you moved and you didn’t even sound like yourself. That wasn’t right. And it’s all on him.” She took a bite of bread. “I don’t think it’s right that he got away with what he did. I’m your best friend and I just wanna see your nightmares stop, okay?”