She shook her head. “I need another minute, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, take all the time you need.” As I walked away, she stopped me.
“Saint.” I glanced at her over my shoulder. “Thank you for coming after me and listening.”
I took a moment to study her face still flushed from crying and realized I would do anything for this girl even going as far as to threaten those two fuckers in my class. “Anything for you, Snow.” I left before I gave into my need to hold her and not let her go.
Back in the classroom, I entered to find the two boys still facing the board and the rest of the class either reading or writing. I inched my way between them. “If either of you, so much as look at Levana sideways, the threats I left with you earlier, will become a daily occurrence. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” they both mumbled.
“Remember, boys, I’m a true Winthrop, I own this school. Fuck with Levana and you’ll fuck with me. Understood?” I had no qualms about using my power but only if the need necessitated it and right now, Levana was a need that ranked above all else.
“Yes, sir,” again they mumbled, this time, it sounded like they’d just pissed their pants.
“Good. Take your seats.”
Chapter 34 - Levana
Following that weekendwith Saint, he never touched me again. In fact, he hadn’t even come home for a week, more than that, I think. Not like I was counting—well, nine days to be precise. At first, I assumed what I’d told him in the library made him stay away. Then I found out he was traveling and why he wasn’t in school for almost a week.
When he returned, the glances we shared in class, said a thousand words. I believed we were on a different road than when we’d started but he didn’t invite me back to his place or speak to me after class, either, which I found strange. Was I acting like an obnoxious kid? Yeah, I was.
Aunt Trina warned me not to push a man, not to run after him but to make him come to me. Unfortunately, it was hard for my teenage mind to maintain. The learnings from my previous behaviour and sort of pushing myself onto Saint however, made it easier to manage my expectations this time. I wasn’t going to run after him. This time I’d wait for him to take it further.
Now, another few days later, well, four since he came back, I stood in the reception of his building with my father, who’d come by to drop off some documents. A thrill raced through me as I remembered what Saint had done to me on my last visit. I was like an eager beaver, pun intended, shifting from one foot to the other and willing the elevator to hurry up and come down.
With his hand raised, Dad was about to knock on the door when it opened by a woman. In the five seconds it took to register her blue-eyed face, short blonde hair, red-lipped smile and Saint’s mid-thigh t-shirt she wore, I’d already decided I was out of there before she said, “hi,” to my father then turned to look behind her. “You’re such a loser, Sebastian, I won that fair and square.” She opened the door wider to allow us entrance.
“Nothing’s fair in love and war, darling,” Saint called out from inside.
My heart rate went from hundred to zero in one soul-crunching second. Biting back the tears, I grabbed dad’s arm as he was about to enter. “I just remembered Cian and I need to prepare an essay for Monday and I promised her I’d drop by now. You go on in, I’ll take a cab to Cian, okay.” I was already kissing his cheek and hurrying to the emergency stairwell before he could stop me.
I heard his confused, “okay, sweetheart,” as I slipped through the doorway.
Once the door closed behind me, I stood on the dimly lit stairway hugging my chest, the tears blinding my vision. One by one the lights flicked on from the top down and by the time it reached me like a beacon of hope, I forced my legs to carry me down the stairs. When I finally got to the bottom, I was breathless, my lungs burned, legs wobbled, and heart cried.
