With a slow and delicate touch, they remove the envelope from my hand, and he takes a step back to look at it.
"Silver Falls University," he reads calmly.
Feeling slightly dizzy from his proximity, I shake my head as I realize what’s happening.
"Don't take that," I panic, almost breathless. "It's personal."
He takes another step back. "Like a family argument? That kind of personal?"
"I said I was sorry," I repeat, following him as he casually walks backward while he opens my letter. "Give it back."
"You listened to my secrets, so at least share this with me. Oh, admissions? Are you trying to get in? Aren't you from around here?"
That horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach comes back tenfold. Iamfrom around here, and I hate it.
"Seriously, please, give it back. This is important to me."
He shrugs. "Private conversations with my mother are important to me."
Pulling out the letter, he drops the envelope, and I hurry to pick it up. When my eyes snap back to him, he's got his back to his car, reading my admission letter.
"Oh my God," I gasp, my heart kicking as I rush to him. "Don't!"
I go to grab it, but he lifts it high above his head, and there's no way I'm getting it now. His steel eyes land on my wide-open ones. My heavy breathing is the only thing that can be heard between us.
"Did you read it?"
He nods, tilting his head to the side as he observes me. "Do you want to know if you got in?"
"Give it back," I repeat on a defeated sigh, avoiding answering his question at all costs.
"Look at you." He chuckles. "So desperate to join our side of town. It’s not that great, you know?"
"Anywhere else is better than here," I rasp. "A scholarship to SFU is my way out."
He can sense the hope in my voice because his mouth twists.
"What?" My hand shoots to my mouth. "What is it? Did I not get in?"
"Your desperation is so sad." But there's no sadness in his voice. In fact, he sounds like he feeds off of it. And his next words bring a chill to my spine. "One could make you do anything in exchange for a spot at SFU."
I instinctively step back. I've been surrounded by dangerous men my whole life, but none have the kind of power Achilles Duval does. Lena is right. He could do anything and get away with it. He certainly sounds like he wants to.
"Just give me my letter."
He bites his lower lip for a few seconds, like he can't wait to eat me whole.
"You didn't even say please this time," he says with a fake pout.
I gulp, feeling the back of my neck starting to sweat.
"Please." There's no real pleading in it, but I'm not above giving him what he wants to finally have an answer.
He drops his arm, but he doesn't give it back. Instead, he shakes his head. "I'm sorry. Maybe next year."
I snatch the letter from his hand, barely holding back a sob. He doesn’t stay to console me as my entire world falls apart. I hear his door open and close, his car starting at the same time as I scan through the letter with tears blurring my vision.
And then I see it. That I've been accepted. That I got awarded theVirtuoso Scholarship. All the air leaves my lungs.
