A smile tugged at my lips before Alba’s sharp look cut it off. No smiling at her. Got it.
What a day. I couldn’t wait to tell Asher about this place. Discreetly, I patted my pocket and pulled out my phone. A new message glowed on the screen.
Ash:Te echo de menos. Text me once you’ve settled at the dorm.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard when heavy footsteps thudded in the hall. A second later, Dad rolled my suitcases inside.
“Is this your dad?” Teagan asked.
I nodded, gripping my phone tighter.
“Kaia,” my father boomed, ignoring her completely. “I handled the paperwork. Here are your things.” He dropped the suitcases by the bed. I’d been so absorbed in Asher’s text, I’d almost forgotten Dad, Sharon and Sarah stood there watching me.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“Well.” Sarah clasped her hands. “Only one thing left. Kaia, give me your phone.”
I pressed it to the mattress, covering it with my palm. “Excuse me?”
Her smile held, but the warmth behind it cooled. “I suppose nobody told you. We have a strict no-cell policy here. I’ll keep it safe. You’re welcome to use the landline in my office to call your parents.”
A joke, surely—but no one laughed. Not Sarah. Not Teagan. Not even Alba, who eyed me with that strange mix of interest and contempt.
“We studied so much better without distractions back in my day,” Sharon chimed in. “Kaia will learn to appreciate it.”
A lump rose in my throat. This wasn’t about distractions. It was about freedom. Safety. The chance to call someone if things went wrong. What if Sarah wasn’t in her office? What if I needed help? This was bullshit.
Sarah stepped closer, hand extended. Everyone stared, leaving me no choice.
Slowly, I lifted my phone and placed it in her palm. It buzzed the moment she closed her fingers around it.
A new text from Asher lit the screen, and I bit down on my lip to keep from crying as Sarah slid the phone into her pocket.
“Well, you’re all set now.” She grinned at my father. “Welcome to Willowbrook, Kaia.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Asher
Winning used to make me happy. Today’s win tasted bitter, even with Ethan crawling in at eleventh. The asshole had spun some bullshit about being sick to excuse skipping races and played the pity card to justify his weak performance. Funny thing—it wasn’t much different from his usual results.
I stepped out of the motorhome in Venburn, clutching my phone that refused to ring no matter how many times I checked it. Kaia should’ve been at her new school by now, but my texts went unanswered. The knot in my chest tightened with every silent minute.
“Mi niño.” Ale strolled over. “I was going to grab a drink. Want to come?”
Sounded like code forwe need to talk. I nodded, turned the volume on my phone all the way up, and followed him to his car.
“Great race today,” he said five minutes later as his Lexus merged into the dense evening traffic.
“Thanks.” I glanced at my phone again. Nothing.Fuck.
“Someone mentioned a cool lounge downtown.” Ale flicked a look my way before refocusing on the lane. “We can have a drink and talk. I’ve barely seen you lately.”
“How’s the office search going?” He’d been hunting for space in Emerport for months with no luck.
Ale groaned. “Don’t remind me. The last few ‘move-in ready’ places were too fucking scary to set foot in.”
“So—working from home it is.”
