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I realize I haven’t checked my phone in a while. I’ve been too distracted. “Sorry, Mom.”
She places her hands on my shoulders and looks into my face. “You look tired, Mackenzie. Your eyes are bloodshot, and you’re pale. You know you need to take care of yourself.”
“I know, Mom. I’m sorry. I guess I got a little carried away last night.”
She gives me a half-smile. “I want you to have fun with your new friends, but you need to take it easy.” Her expression grows troubled again. “You haven’t said anything to anyone, have you?”
“Jesus, of course not!”
Right now, I’m just trying to convince myself that nothing happened.
I’m tempted to tell her to let Nataniele know he should take it easy on me, too, after the lesson this morning, but I don’t want to put her in the middle. She’s already sacrificing so much for me. If I’d never been born, we wouldn’t be in this mess now. Mom might still have lost Dad, but she’d be free. She wouldn’t have been saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of medical bills, and she wouldn’t have had to sacrifice her hand for my freedom. She could be living her life, traveling, or meeting a man she actually wanted to be with.
Everything is all my fault.
Chapter 15
Mackenzie
The rest of the day passes without incident. Everyone is planning to party again tonight, but I’ve bowed out. I learned my lesson yesterday. Instead, I walk some of the grounds, learning a little more about the area the university stands on.
It’s lush and green and surrounded by tall oaks—the same trees which created the tunnel of branches on our approach to the university. I can hardly believe it’s only been a couple of days since everything happened. I’m still on edge, terrified that the police will catch up with me, but it’s starting to feel a little like it was all some terrible nightmare.
There’s a cooler nip to the air tonight, as though fall is finally upon us. I’m looking forward to watching the leaves turn red and burnt orange, and to have the excuse to curl up under a blanket with a good book and hot cocoa.
“Evening, Duchess.”
I spin at the use of my nickname to find Valentino standing behind me.
“Valentino. What are you doing out here?” Has he been following me? I have a sneaky suspicion he has.
He gestures at his sneakers. “Just out for a run.”
“Oh, I see.” Now he mentions it, he’s clearly been running. His dark hair is damp with sweat, his tanned skin glowing. Why was I being so distrustful? Paranoid much?
“What are you up to?”
“Walking,” I tell him. “I wanted to see some more of the university.”
He gives a cheeky grin and glances from side to side, checking we’re alone. “Let me show you a part you haven’t seen before.”
“What part?” I ask.
He hooks his arm around my neck, in that slightly possessive way he had in the corridor the previous day. “I’m going to show you my room.”
Maybe I should be grossed out at being this close to his armpit, but he smells of clean sweat, with pheromones pouring off him in waves. I have to resist the urge to lick the side of his muscular neck.
“Your room? Is that allowed?”
“Who the hell is going to say I’m not allowed to have you visit my room?”
For some reason, it’s Domenic’s intense stare that jumps into my head, but I shake it off.
I give a small laugh. “No one, I guess.”
I feel like I’ve lost control of my feet, anyway. Tino propels me forward, across the grounds, until we’re back inside. We walk a long, narrow, stone-walled corridor and then take a curved back staircase I haven’t come across before.
“Here we are,” he says.
