One name comes to mind. A person that makes me not only feel safe but heard. Someone I feel in the deepest parts of my soul that I can trust.
TWENTY ONE
RUELLA
My phone buzzes on the mahogany desktop as I type out the closing paragraph of my assignment. It’s Monday night and after a marathon study session and a lunch spent in the library, I feel like I finally understand what I was meant to do the first time around.
My phone buzzes again but I fight to stay in the zone. I have worked too hard to be distracted now.
My fingers flow over the keyboard filling the room with clicking and clacking, placing me into a sort of meditative state which lasts until I finish the monster assignment with a final full stop.
I sit back in my chair and groan with the tightness in my lower back and closing my exhausted eyes while I bask in this feeling.
I did it. I finished it all by myself.
Well, not completely. This morning after class, Asher caught up to me asking if he could join me for lunch. Obviously when I said no he thought I was avoiding him again, so huffed at me before opening his delicious mouth to protest. I quickly shut that down with a hand across his lips. Even though Mr. Chapman told me to keep the second chance on the assignment a secret, I told Asher everything like I usually do. I thought he would leave me to it, but instead, the heir to the Vander empire ran to grab us some sandwiches and met me in the library where he talked me through how to structure the whole thing. He gave mesome great pointers and suggested a few quotes to add that really made a difference. He sat close while I worked and inputted when needed while taking care of his own things at the same time. It was comfortable and felt weirdly normal. Like we had done this a million times before.
As the bell for the start of the next class rang, we stood by the doorway to the library and I was hit with an overwhelming urge to kiss him, have his strong arms wrap around me and his large hands grip my thighs tight as I climb him like a tree. His smirk at my nervous tapping on my thigh told me he knew exactly what I was thinking about. Then his tongue sweeping out along his bottom lip and the widening of his pupils told me felt the exact same way.
My phone buzzes for a third time, pulling me from my daydreaming.
I groan at the growing headache from all the screen time and concentrating I have been forced into over the past few days. I lift my head and rub my gritty eyes before grabbing my phone.
Three text messages.
One from Corden.
One from an unknown number.
I sigh in defeat.
One from my father.
I open that one first as its always best to rip the band aid off.
Ergh. I ignore him for now.
I grin and immediately reply.
I dance victoriously in my chair; I finally have the chance to get closer to Piper. Not only will I be able to question her, but I can also keep an eye out for anyone suspicious, inspect who is watching. Maybe the one who put her name in that desk drawer will be in attendance. And if I find them, then maybe I find Marlowe. I open the final text and can’t believe my luck. Today has really turned into a great day.
My phone buzzes with yet another text message from an unknown number.
“WOW aren’t I popular tonight,” I say aloud.
My stomach bursts into a million tiny butterflies trying to get out via both my belly button and my arsehole, while my pulse pounds in my throat. Yet my reply is as calm as a cucumber.
I ask but know fine well who it is. No one else knows about my second chance. Well, there’s Mr. Chapman too, but I doubt he cares enough to check if I am doing it or not.
I smile at the pet name he has decided on from day one. One that he probably used as an insult but never came across that way.
My brows hit my hairline. Come over. God, if he was to come over, I woulddefinitely not want to be going through homework that I don’t even care about.
My brows furrow.
I scoff and shake my head, before I send it through the academies emailing system.
I sit nervously tapping away on my thigh for what feels like forever, my chest constricting in case he thinks I am as dumb as I look.
