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Chris checked her as I held her draped over my lap, where she was safe, secure. Texas and Preston arrived and glanced at her with worry in their eyes.
“Just a bad sprain, but we need to get some ice on it,” Chris said calmly, checking her over. Even Dean—Milla’s dad—sighed in relief. I held onto her tightly, not wanting her away from me. The adults turned to each other with a look I couldn’t understand as they stood up. I tried to move her off, but her unharmed hand scrunched up within my top.
“Carry me,” she muttered, looking at me with those violet-blue eyes full of tears that kept running down her beautiful little face. Looking at me like I could make anything better.
“Always,” I vowed as I picked her up in my arms and headed towards the kitchen for an ice pack.
I snapped myself from that memory, pushing it back to the depths of my mind where it belonged. In the past.
Chapter3
Milla
The welcoming entrance of Coldharbour University greeted me in the late afternoon. I sat in the back seat of my driver’s car and glanced out the tinted windows to admire the scenery on display.
Movement in my eye line caught my interest. A large, mixed group of men and women congregated around a dozen or so cars. I dismissed it, turning away to look out the window on the opposite side, trying to calm my apprehension. East Bay had the most beautiful views at any time of the year. It was a photographer’s idea of heaven.
This would be my beautiful prison for the next few years until I graduated. I’d chosen to take a dorm room on the campus, similar to the school I’d just left. I was home, yet not. I needed more than ever to keep those close to me unaware of everything going on in my life.
The campus was enormous, with the main learning building at the front as you first approached. The University was an old Georgian building, yet constantly remodelled and updated using funds from rich families, including mine. It had a few miles of a driveway with beautifully coloured trees spanning the sides, with leaves already turning red and falling due to the season change. Mesmerising. A horseshoe-shaped drop off area wrapped around a large, rounded foundation full of stone animals, water trickling at an even speed into the pool at its base.
I’d been here before, not for years though, the best education for the respected children born within the high society world. Of course, that didn’t mean we didn’t have students on scholarships here, or others who came from outside our small little world. We were technically the minority, yet we were the coveted, the known. The rulers with our surnames, I guess you could say, meaning that once I stepped foot onto the grounds, I’d be recognisable. Having appearances to keep up with was exhausting, however I was very lucky in that my parents were nowhere near as bad as others within our circles. Sometimes my mom was over the top, but dad reined her back most of the time. I had to keep myself out of problems that couldn’t be swept away easily, but I had a lot of room to play with. From my family’s point of view anyway.
Outside the boardroom, my dad was the kindest and most supportive man, always there for me in person, messages or phone calls. Was he blindsided when I asked to leave, to go to another school a few hours away? Yes. Did he let his eldest daughter go, even when he was unsure? Also, yes, and he persuaded mom on my behalf. She didn’t want me to go and couldn’t understand my thought process. Regardless, we chatted every couple of days, and he made sure he had time for me whenever I called. Yet I never let him visit.
They will be here. I shook off that thought. I couldn’t afford to dive straight back into my close friendship with the boys who were once my best friends. They all failed me.I failed myself. From what I’d heard, they were not the boys I once knew. At least my girl, Lizzie, would be here.
I truly believed there were certain people who shaped a better place in this world by just existing, and she was my person for that. She and I were more than friends, more like sister soulmates. She may not know the depths of my tortured soul—I never wanted to burden her with that—but she ‘got’ me. Without that knowledge, she was safe and kept unharmed and unaware. I would give my life to protect hers within a heartbeat. No questions asked.
I grabbed my keys and from the accommodations desk as I made my way to my dorm, checking the map to locate where I’d be: North Wing.Should have known. In the devil’s lair, literally.
Huffing to myself, I signalled for the small golf cart which drove within the campus grounds. Since the grounds covered so much acreage, we couldn’t simply walk.Rich people problems. Too much money, too little sense.
Placing my handbag next to me, I said, “North Wing dorms, please.” I pulled out my phone and swiped through my social media, double clicking to like the latest photo of Lizzie and her sister smiling happily. I slid it back into my bag as the cart came to a stop.
“Your luggage will be delivered to your door shortly,” the porter informed me with a friendly smile that didn’t seem natural to him, yet lit up his entire face.
“Thank you.” I smiled back. Manners cost nothing, and those lacking who couldn’t even thank somebody for helping irked me.
Taking a moment, I gave him a once over. He was young... andholy fuck,heavily built, hench. Unexpected. He noticed my added interest and winked at me before hopping back onto the cart and driving away.
Sincehehappened, I made sure to stay away from any men who weren’t blood related, so that just left my dad as the only male in my life. It wasn’t a well thought out choice, but it made my life a whole lot easier. A few times where I’d shown interest in another man, I received punishment for that. Unfortunately I also took punishments when they’d noticed me. It was unfair but I lived in a world where fairness wasn’t part of any equation.
Wandering into the main foyer of the North Wing, it was as I expected. Pretentious and overrated, which made sense seeing as it washisfamily’s money that designed and had jurisdiction over these particular dorms. Again, no surprise why I was placed inthisaccommodation.
My pink hi-top Chucks squeaked on the pure white, shiny polished flooring. Walking to the already opened elevator, I pressed the level four to take me to my room.Top level, of course.
Exiting the elevator, I noticed only five doors on this level, with one being an emergency exit. Stepping into the room, I mentally cursed. Of course, it had to be a luxury penthouse, nothing like a normal university dorm room. I gathered that the higher up the levels in the building, the bigger the rooms. I could guarantee that not all the other dorm buildings on campus matched this. I briefly wondered who my neighbours were and when I’d bump into them, then set aside that thought. Didn’t make a difference to me, anyway.
The dorm room selected for me had an open plan living area. Three couches were scattered to the left, lining up with the large flat screen TV hanging on the wall which seemed to take up a ridiculous amount of space. The kitchen was to the right of the area with white gloss cupboards on the wall near to where the entrance to the front door was. The dark black granite worktops stretched the expanse. A large rectangular island with four gloss black bar stools sat underneath the overhang, housing an array of fridges, including a drinks one where I could see a wide selection of different alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks held and ready for consumption.
I sighed aloud, I had this big dorm room all to myself. Private facilities, once again. It was my previous school, but ‘take two,’ withhisinput placing me where it suited him. I was unsure why I expected it to be different; perhaps because it was so close to home, I hoped things would simmer down.
That was just my imagination, it hoped for the best. My mind tortured itself trying to find happiness within an impossible situation, trying to grab a chance at hope. I should tamp that tiny piece of myself down, because there was none to be found. Never was.Build those defences back up, Milla. I couldn’t let them slip, not under any circumstances. I needed to protect myself, no matter what. Brick by brick, over time. I built my mental walls high to protect what sanity was left lurking. With every chip that tried to penetrate, I doubled the effort and cemented the cracks that would surface.
I was once happy, carefree, and pure. Now each infraction he delivered chipped a part away. He had changed the original makeup of me. Where I was once soft, I became hardened. Where I used to be an open book, letting my eyes give a glimpse of life from my soul, I became closed. In some ways, he made me become a stronger, fiercer version of myself. Yet he also made me vulnerable, weak and easily manipulated by him. Only him. He was once one of the closest people to me and I would have given him anything. Instead, he took without permission.
A knock on the door shook me from my thoughts before I could investigate the rest of the room. Checking through the peephole, I opened the door with a friendly smile at a new porter and moved to the side so he could bring in my luggage. Three large suitcases were brought with me from my school a few hours away across the country. I left nothing of daily use or interest at home when I originally left two years ago, so everything came straight with me. It made it so much easier seeing as I hadn’t even been back to my family home yet.
