AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It seems the only rational response when my bladder is aching and I’m seconds away from breaking down into tears.
When he faces me again, a hank of black hair hanging over his eye, I realize it was a big mistake.
Like, massive.
But he doesn’t try to grab me when I slip into the bathroom. Thankfully, although there isn’t a lock on this door, there is one on the inside of the stall I rush into.
I lock it, and back up, staring at the door like I expect it to burst open anyway.
Seconds tick by.
Nothing.
Eventually my bladder starts throbbing, so I have to pee. But through the stop-start flood-trickle that goes on for the next few minutes, I’m straining to hear if Owen’s going to hold me accountable for laying a hand on him again… or if he’s going to walk away.
I flush, my fingers shaking when I have to unlock the stall to get out. I wash my hands, muttering to myself. But thankfully, the girls’ bathroom is as empty now as when I came inside a few minutes ago.
“Fuck!” I swallow down a scream when I step into the hallway and see Owen leaning against the wall right outside the bathroom door with his arms crossed over his chest. “Thefuck?”
I note the faint red mark on his face before reluctantly meeting his eyes.
He seems unperturbed by what just happened. Perhaps I was in there long enough that he’d had enough time to cool down?
Owen straightens, cocks his head. “Follow me.”
“Um, no.” There’s a hint of a laugh in my voice at the ludicrous suggestion.
He turns back to give me a long-suffering stare. I’ve become quite used to that in my almost two decades on this earth. “You want to know where you’re going? Let me show you.”
“You’ll take me to my class?” I start following as he walks away, but I’m keeping my distance.
“Even better.”
My mind spins. I don’t know what the hell he could possibly mean. But there’s a part of me that wants to find out. I feel strangely calm now. I don’t know if it’s that I’ve reached the eye of the storm, or if slapping Owen was as cathartic as a few months’ therapy sessions.
Only one way to find out.
But Owen doesn’t take me to my class. We walk down a long hallway, exiting the building a few minutes later, then follow a cobbled path running parallel to the outside of the campus. It ends at an ornate gate barring entry to one of the four towers positioned at the corners of the main campus building.
There’s a keypad beside the gate’s lock, and Owen swipes a gold-and-black card over it. I hear the faintsnickof the electronic lock opening, and then Owen pushes open the gate and beckons me inside.
“Um…”
He cocks an eyebrow at me. “Are you scared of heights?”
Tower. Heights. Oh…
“This a clock tower or something?”
Owen says nothing, just gestures for me to go ahead of him.
My heartbeat picks up pace at the thought of walking through that gate. I’m not scared of heights. Hitting the ground is what scares me. There’s no coming back from that shit.
But I’ve also never been inside a clock tower before, and I can just imagine how magnificent the view must be from up there, looking out over the forest.
Goddammit, why him? Why couldn’t it be Kat inviting me up there, or some nice, cute guy I met during orientation?
I draw a quick, steeling breath, and rush through the gate before I can change my mind.
