“What is?” Another girl hovered nearby, and I hoped she was going to board the train as well.
“Your interview with the police was earlier, and now you’re leaving college.” In my peripheral vision, he tilted his head to the side to scrutinize my knife. “It kinda looks like you’re leaving because of something that you said to the police.”
“Don’t worry, Lev, I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t mention what I saw between Ezrah and the dead man,” I breathed as several guys in jock gear turned up to board the train, and again, I relaxed a little more.
So close. So close to escaping.
“The Warwicks won’t be happy,” he said quietly, carefully watching the jocks who were carrying hockey sticks, but not ice hockey, the other sort.
“Fuck the Warwicks. And who was that guy anyway?” For the first time since he appeared, I looked at his handsome face, and immediately my body quivered in desire, and I hated myself for it.
Lev shrugged as the sunlight lit up his eyelashes, and I didn’t realize they were so long. He was so pretty, and if he wasn’t so rude and antisocial toward students who got in his way, he’d have half of the girls on campus after him. “Dunno.”
“Dunno?Don’t you mean you do know, but you won’t tell me,” I hit, my tone full of anger, but I wasn’t angry at him. I was angry at my mother dying, my father remarrying so soon, the Warwicks…
“Why are you leaving, then?” his voice cracked as a flicker of pain on his face, and I wondered what haunted him so much. He composed himself quickly, adjusted his posture, and added, “If it’s not the police, then why?”
“Family emergency,” I told him, then found my father’s voicemails. “You can listen if you don’t believe me.”
He flicked his hand dismissively, “Nah. It’s okay. I believe you.”
“Really?” I asked to see if he was being truthful.
“Yeah, I’ll think of something to tell the boys.” He stood to leave, and I felt a tug on my heart that surprised me.
“Are you leaving?” The words dropped from my mouth without thinking. “I mean, you can stay and talk until…”
His finger pointed toward the carriages. “Time to board.”
I stood up and met his gaze as he grabbed my bag to carry it for me. “When you return,” he started as we walked toward the platform. “I wanna take you somewhere special I like to go.”
My breath hitched, and my heart raced, my head spun, conflicted that I was yearning for more of Lev Ashthorn, but I might never return. But he seemed sure that I would. “Okay.”
“If we had more time, I could show you…” He cupped my cheek with his hand and pressed his lips against mine as my heart exploded into a thousand pieces.
“I don’t hate you like I hate the Warwicks.” It was supposed to be a compliment, but he snorted in laughter.
“I’ll bear that in mind,” then smacked me lightly on my backside as the heat of desire cast across his eyes.
As I started to walk away from him, mixed emotions ran rampant, making my body quiver and writhe against the confusion.
“The world,” I heard his voice call after me.
I turned back. “Huh?” Under the sound of the conductor’s whistle and the jostling jocks.
“The world,” he said, slipping his hands into his black jeans’ pockets. “When you return.” His Adam’s apple bobbled when he swallowed. “I’ll show you the world.”
I smiled and waved goodbye as my heart was breaking in two, yet it seemed too soon to feel this way about anyone, particularlyLev Ashthorn, great-great-great-grandson of the recluse who built this weird place in the mountains. “Okay. That’s a deal.”
As I suspected, the passengers filled only one and a half carriages, so I sat in a carriage on my own by the window. It took me a few moments to find Lev as I thought he’d wait for me to board, but he was walking away as my heart sank.
What the hell was I doing lusting over a man like him? Imagine taking him home to meet Dad, who’d be most displeased. He was wrong in every way, but so right in an unexplainable way. But who would trust a broken heart to lead a girl to a good man?
As the train began to move, he was striding along, hands in his front pockets, hunched over, staring at the ground. He looked up as I passed, and I waved out, and he stopped, raised his hand discreetly.
Maybe I was mistaken, but I was sure I saw grief on his face.
34
