I continue to run my fingertips along his jaw. “I have to go to campus today to have a meeting with one of my professors.”
Kieran frowns. “But school is out for the summer.”
“It is, for the students. But I need to talk to him about the internship, seeing as he’s the one who put my name forward for it.”
“What do you need to talk to him about? I thought you were turning it down?”
“I am, but I want to talk through some options, that’s all.”
“And this can’t be done over email?”
I know I’m pushing my luck, considering I visited with Lucy only yesterday, but I have to at least try. “I’d rather talk to him in person. But the campus will be basically empty, and I’ll take Jace with me too.”
Kieran taps his fingers on the desk as his frown deepens. “Jace is already assigned to something today.”
“Oh…”
“Take Allister,” he says after a beat. “I trust him to keep an eye on you.”
“So, I can go?”
Kieran reaches out to cup the back of my neck and pulls me forward until my lips brush against his. “You can go.”
The Columbia campusfeels like a ghost town. Usually, the place is buzzing with students, but this morning, it’s eerily still.
My chest tightens with something that feels a lot like grief. The fall semester doesn’t start for weeks, and the realization that I might not be here makes my stomach sink.
I’ve loved every second of college, and to walk away when I’m so close to the end feels like I’m doing myself a disservice.
But what I want no longer matters.
Allister, my guard for the morning, kills the engine and glances at me in the rearview mirror. “You sure you don’t want me to come in with you?”
I pull my bag closer to my chest. “I’m fine. It’s just one meeting.”
He doesn’t look convinced, which is understandable.
Kieran’s men are all cut from the same cloth. They’re overly cautious, hyper-vigilant, and loyal to a fault.
“There’s only one way in and out of the building. Clear it, then wait outside. You’ll have eyes on me the whole time.”
He nods. “Fine. But don’t take too long.”
Once Allister has declared it safe, I head inside the business building and take the stairs to the second floor where Professor Hughes’s office is situated.
The air smells faintly of floor polish, and the notice boards have been stripped bare, ready for the new school year to start.
Professor Hughes’s office door is ajar, and I knock lightly.
“Come in!”
I slip inside, closing the door behind me. “Professor Hughes.”
“Riley,” he says warmly, standing to shake my hand. Even in the height of summer, he’s wearing his signature brown tweedjacket that has a button missing. He looks at me over the top of his wire-rimmed glasses that are perched low on his nose. “It’s good to see you. Now, what did you want to talk to me about? Your email was very vague.”
I’ve barely sat down in one of the wooden chairs in front of the desk before the words come tumbling out of my mouth. “I’m pregnant.”
Professor Hughes’s eyebrows shoot up, but to his credit, he quickly schools his expression into something more neutral.
