Page 3 of Indebted

Not if you can’t finish school.

Fuck.

My fingers itched to check my phone, but it hadn’t buzzed since Zoe and I parted ways. I had to trust that she’d let me know as soon as she heard anything.

I could try and sneak away to call the financial office, but if the benefactor wanted to remain anonymous, I doubted anything I had to say would convince the school employees to disclose that information. I needed backup plans in place. Now. Screw this benefactor. I hated them on principal—first because they’d snuck into my life without giving me any say, and now they couldn’t even hold up their end of the bargain. Figures. I’d catered enough charity events to know the rich and bored tended to make snap decisions. Like say, financially backing an abandoned, emotionally jilted, poor computer science major. The faster I could figure out a way to cut them out completely, the better. There had to be more financial aid I could apply for. Maybe a scholarship or two. My final project had a lot of promise, perhaps I could market it sooner than expected.

Clapping sounded from outside, pulling me from my erratic thoughts. Looked like the speeches were already starting.

“Katie!”

My fingers tightened around the bottles in my hand, my bosses voice grating against my skin.

I had no idea where she’d come from, but judging by the lack of sweat anywhere on her skin, I’d say she’d been enjoying the AC the entire event. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”

Um, not true.

The bottles were wrenched from my hands, a fresh tray with filled flutes offered up instead.

“Get out there, now.”

“I needed to use the bathroom.”

“Use the one outside.”

“It was full.”

“Then wait like everyone else.” She stared pointedly in the direction of the kitchen, back to the sweltering heat.

“I needed a water break.” I knew I was standing on thin ice, pushing when I should relent, but today wasn’t my day and the heat was only putting me in a shittier mood.

My boss made a show of glancing at her watch. “You’re not scheduled for a break for another few hours, water for the staff is outside, but if you’d rather stay inside and relax, I’m more than happy to dock your pay.” She reached for the tray in my hands.

Clenching my jaw, I spun on my heel and headed toward the sound of voices. The kitchen doors opened for me like magic and the booming voice of the speaker at the podium greeted me.

“…now, it is my pleasure to introduce the man behind the dream. Please give a warm welcome to Dr. Justin Kingston.”

Lead replaced my shoes, bringing me to a screeching halt, the flutes on my tray tilting ominously. I hardly noticed, my eyes were too busy zeroing in on the man behind the podium.

“No.”

Chapter 2

His suit was tailored to every hard line of his body, the dark blue design making his eyes shine like the sea. His cheekbones were clean shaven and cut from glass. His coiffed hair the color of melted chocolate. There was a healthy tan to his skin, making his eyes that much more piercing. I couldn’t look away no matter how much I wanted to.

A sharp surge of something hot and liquid shot through me, keeping me rooted to the spot.

He was speaking, but I couldn’t hear him over the blood in my ears.

Murphy’s Law was a real pain in the ass sometimes.

Like I needed another shitty thing dumped on my plate right now.

Justin Kingston was not someone I wanted to deal with. Not now. Not ever.

I got to cut him from my life when my mom passed away. Not that he or my mom were really in my life when they were married, and mom was alive.

The age-old bitterness crept up my throat. I swallowed it down.