Page 43 of The Fixer

“Please, Nathan.” Tears threatened to fall from my eyes, and I couldn’t let them go. I refused to cry in front of all these people, to show his family how pathetic I was. “Please, I need to use the restroom.”

His hand snaked over my butt, pressing between my cheeks with his threat. “You get your ass back here the minute you’re done, or I’ll give you a taste of what my boys will do. You hear me?”

I nodded as much as his hand on my neck would allow, then stumbled and almost fell as he pushed me away. Tom and Caleb eyed me with distaste as I righted myself, then walked around them to get to the restrooms on the other side of the house. I kept my head down, peeking up just enough to watch where I was going, not enough to make eye contact with anyone who might try to stop me to talk. I was locked in the bathroom in under a minute, thankful there was no wait.

Using a clean washcloth from the basket by the sink, I dabbed water on my face and the back of my neck. There were no cups in the room, but I was too desperate to care. I lowered my head into the basin and sucked water straight from the tap. I wished it were colder. I wished I wasn’t there.

I wished, more than anything, for some relief from my pain.

There was no make-up on my face to ruin, nothing to check. After I’d drank my fill, I opened the door, ready to rush back to Nathan’s side.

Surely, he had to be joking.

Surely, he wouldn’t allow his friends to do those horrid things to me.

But the looks in their eyes as I rushed away from them told me they’d be more than happy to do whatever Nathan told them to do.

He was Nathan Devereux, heir to the throne they all happily bowed down to. No matter that his father was healthy and young, Nathan might as well have already been crowned king.

And his minions were always there at his beck and call.

I crashed into someone as I hurriedly stepped from the bathroom, and my arm jolted like lightning sparked through it. I couldn’t contain my cry. Couldn’t keep the tear from slipping from my eye. And the worst kind of fear lanced my heart as I raised my face and found my professor standing there.

“Dr. Goode!”

“Eliza? What’s wrong?”

My attention darted to the room behind her, as if they could cut through the crowd and see where Nathan stood. I needed to get back to him. I didn’t have time for this.

“Nothing,” I tried to assure her, but her gaze raked my face, then trickled down to where I cradled my hand against my chest. I gave her a pained smile. “I was just startled, that’s all. My mind was a million miles away.”

Or at least across the house.

Dr. Goode’s left eye glinted at me in the overhead light, the product of an injury caused by her ex-husband’s belt across her face. My stomach lurched at the reminder. At the knowledge of the abuse the poor woman had gone through. She reached for my arm, then stopped when I pulled back.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” she told me, voice quiet yet stern, the way she was in class. “About your grade.”

Her hand settled on my shoulder, then her gaze traced my face before darting off into the crowd.

“My grade?” I questioned. “Is everything okay?”

I had been suffering. There just wasn’t enough time in the day. Between my classes, cooking and cleaning for Nathan, and going to these parties he insisted I go to, I hadn’t found as much time to study as I needed to. But I insisted, despite his repeated complaints and prodding to drop out, that college was one thing I had to see through.

Her eyes narrowed, the black of her left eye shining as if it emitted its own light. “Actually, there is a problem.”

My throat tightened and my chest ached. Surely my day couldn’t get any worse.

But then it did.

Nathan’s hulking form came shoving through the crowd, his broad shoulders parting friends and family alike. The king, come to claim his trophy.

“Although, perhaps now isn’t the best time.”

I shook my head, though it had nothing to do with her words. It was the leering smile on Nathan’s face that had me wanting to run away.

Dr. Goode’s hand left my arm, and she took a step to the right. “Come to my office tomorrow morning, Eliza. Your grade depends on it.”

The woman disappeared into the crowd as Nathan reached my side. His cruel hand gripped the arm Dr. Goode had just grasped, but the bite of his fingers was nothing like the soothing touch of my professor.