AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her gaze scans my modest room that probably looks like a cell compared to the rest. A narrow twin bed is pushed against the wall with a weird-looking veneer desk and an upright plastic teal chair beside it. My bed in a bag came from a big-box store, and all my stuff is packed in cardboard boxes. It’s hardly my LV luggage, which I had to sell for almost nothing. It wasn’t my greatest loss, but I feel it now under my former best friend’s scrutiny.
Wren laughs, running her finger along the desk’s scratched surface. “Remember that ridiculous purple couch you used to have in your dorm room? Where is it?”
I don’t crack a smile. “It’s in storage.”
A complete lie. I also sold it months ago to pay for textbooks. I didn’t want to ask Astrid to pay for everything. If Howland finds out that she even bought me a dollar-store pencil, he’ll disown her too. I’m still getting income for my side gig—hence the single—but I’m trying to give it up.
“Do you have much to unpack?” Wren looks eager to leave and explore.
I glance at the shut door at the end of the hallway. I don’t want to wait and see.
“I can do it later.” My designer clothes are on someone else’s back now. My new wardrobe is off the sales rack. The bedazzled back pockets on my jeans would rock at Monarch, but maybe not Ivymore. I smooth my sweatshirt down over my butt.
“Let’s walk around campus.” She smiles. “I want to see if we find anyone else from Stonehaven.”
We walk to the stairwell at the far end of the hallway and pass his door again. I can’t help staring at the name, and suddenly, I shiver as if my skin has been covered with a thick layer of frost. Casually chatting, Wren leads the way down the concrete stairs as a guy passes us, climbing up. He’s attractive in his tight flannel shirt, the beginnings of a beard, and piercings on his ears and nose. He’s not the clean-cut type that populates Stonehaven. He looks more like a hipper version of a Monarch guy. An absolutely attractive man with muscular arms that stretch his shirt, tattoos covering the skin I can see, and a tight ass in his worn jeans. He grins at me, and instinctively, I look down at my shoes. We keep moving, and when I step outside, I take a deep breath.
No one here is going to be offended if I make eye contact. No one’s going to corner me and threaten to beat me stupid because I looked at them for too long. I look back at the building. The outer walls of the stairwells are enclosed in glass, so you can see the people on the stairs. The guy is still there with his hand on the door leading to the fourth floor. I look at him while he checks me out.
Wren leans close and speaks softly. “He’s different from what we’re used to.”
I nod blankly. Tattoos and piercings are nothing new to me after Monarch. I’m slowly slipping into the minority without any. I thought about getting a tat like my sister to declare my independence, but a part of me isn’t ready. A part of me is scared, and a tiny voice keeps telling me that we might be able to get it all back.
The small-town campus of Ivymore is sprawling, and we start wandering down the brick path that weaves around the mansion-like buildings. Parents with SUVs and a few with U-Hauls park close to the doors flung open, unloading boxes and furniture from their vehicles and into their kids’ dorms.
“My parents couldn’t come this week, but they’ll be here for parents’ weekend.” Wren checks the map in her folder. “Our dorm is Wingate. And the main gate toward town is in that direction.” She puts the paper away, and I continue to follow her down the path. I’m barely listening to her monologue as I check out every boy with shaggy black hair.
“What happened to you last semester? You disappeared so abruptly,” Wren asks suddenly. “I was surprised when I saw your empty room after winter break.”
I tilt my head down and watch my feet. Carefully, I choose each word I say. “Everything happening was too much to deal with all at once.”
Wren places her hand gently on my shoulder. Sympathy doesn’t suit her personality. And it would help if she lost the fake smile. “You don’t have to explain, Charlotte,” she says, “How is your dad doing, by the way?”
“Howland… Daddy is stable and cared for.” I mimic the words Astrid told me after her last visit to his private hospital room. I’ll never tell Wren the truth that I’m the product of my late mother’s affair with an unknown man.
I haven’t seen Howland since the day he disowned me and don’t plan to, either. He could go home and die quietly. But Howland is stubborn and remains hooked up to machines at the hospital he built. It’s a cold thought, wishing him dead, but he cut me loose too easily. Loving care, comfort, and loyalty sound good in a hospital brochure, but he doesn’t grasp their true meaning in real life.
Wren smiles brightly, as if every syringe is filled with rainbows. “My dad always said that if he’s ever sick, take him to Rockingham General.” Wren admires the quaint streets of College Hill as I zone out again and think about that party.
It was a dare to give Asher a blow job that night. But I wanted to kneel between his legs and take him into my mouth. I had blown boys before, so what did it matter, except I wanted Asher. I wanted him to feel the way I did whenever he came near me. I wanted Asher to feel the chills that raced over my body and through me until I ached to be fucked.
Again, I imagine my lips stretched around his thickness in the boiler room. I was dripping wet as he hammered his hard dick into my aching mouth. I’d never been handled like that before. He couldn’t resist me as he grabbed for my hair, my head, and my breasts. He gripped me savagely, as if he wouldn’t ever let go.
When our eyes locked, it was more intense than the act. More revealing, the way his throat bobbed and his eyes softened, as if he really wanted me despite the insults he spoke under his breath to keep me down. His hands eased in my hair as he stroked his thumb along my cheek, and on each ragged breath, he whispered my name.
Asher watched me on my knees, hungry for him and willing to do more. Desperate for him to like me, and like a dumb, naïve fool, I was eager to prove my worth to him. I’d have given him so much more, but instead, he stole my trust. I hated him after that party, but not for long. Not when he kept watching me with desire.
He never touched another girl that semester. I know because I passed him a note in class, and he told me. I wasn’t ashamed Asher knew I wanted him again. But I was ashamed that he did nothing about it.
I part my lips and swallow, wondering if he’s still on his own.I pray it’s not him.
“Charlotte?”
I snap my mouth shut, and my attention is back on Wren.
“I said, do you want to get something to eat?”
“Sure,” I answer quickly, “I could eat.”
