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“Do you miss it?” Violet asks as we drag the luggage through the lobby.
“Yeah, sometimes,” I admit.
The shelter was home, and I felt safe there.Henever sought me out when I was in public.
I had good friends at the shelter, and the owner was so sweet to me, basically taking me in without asking any questions, like she understood I felt trapped and needed an out.
“I want to become a vet, and volunteer at a place like that,”I find myself telling her.
It’s not a dream I speak of out loud much. It feels like if I say it, it could wither away, like a wish.
But even if I manage to achieve my goal, I wouldn’t return to Lone Pine.
I don’t specify that, knowing it would only invite a series of questions I don’t want to answer. If she smells a story, Violet is too curious to let it lie.
“So, we need to find you a rich husband,” she concludes with a teasing grin.“That way, you can run a rescue and never worry about finances.”
I roll my eyes. Of course, she’d think that way. She’s been raised to. And at nineteen, she’s married to one of the hottest, richest man in this ridiculously wealthy town.That’s not in the cards for me, given my lack of trust fund and my common surname. The only people who do that kind of thing are old-fashioned blue bloods. And girls who get knocked up by their college boyfriends. Pass on option two.
“Yeah, I don’t see that in my future,” I say with an eye roll as we reach her car.
It’s strangely normal, which only serves to sprinkle a dusting of mystery on this heiress. Instead of a ridiculously expensive ride, she drives a Beetle. It’s a perfectly good car, and brand-new no less; I couldn’t afford it. Still, it stands out from the Maseratis, Lamborginis and Ferraris in the lot.
My cases don’t both fit in the booth, so I throw the largest one on the back seat, and we’re on our way. It’s a short drive to her place; when she has a party, I walk there. The few private properties are technically part of the campus.
Their house is one of the cutest on the block, surrounded by a large garden, complete with a gorgeous pool. Violet said she could house ten people, but by my calculations, at least twenty could live here comfortably. But the house only belongs to three men: Rhys Voss, Camden Hunt, and Roman Green. As Camden and his wife Morgan are in Boston for school, Rhys, Violet, and Roman are the only residents of this modern five-story mansion.
And I suppose, for the next couple of days, I will be too.
I need to figure out my next step; I can’t rely on their charity forever. It was one thing to accept a school scholarship—though I know it mostly came from Violet’s mother, Melissa Cornwell, who definitely took pity on me. And her daughter is housing me.I feel like such a leech. If it wasn’t for the bone-chilling fear Brandon’s shadow casts over my sanity, I would never have accepted. But I can’t sleep in that room, knowing that he has access to it—that he came in and installed cameras. He could come in for other things anytime he’d like.
God, I’m not any different from those stray dogs I used to care for, am I? Homeless, at the mercy of others. Traumatized.
As she puts it in, Violet tells me the code to get into the house. I’m too lost into my thoughts to memorize it.
“Sorry, I didn’t get that.”
She chuckles. “Overly long, right? 1231853211,” she recites, and I force my mind to focus this time.
I’m glad it’s long. It’ll be hard to crack. No one is getting into this house without being invited in.
As soon as we’re in, we’re greeted by a series of happy barks. I grin as the blue-gray softie bounds towards us as fast as her little legs can carry her.
I’ve been in this house at least twenty times in the last five months, but with all of my belongings here, it feels different.
“Hey, Blue!” I coo, bending to scratch the dog’s ear.
“She was delighted when we told her you were coming to live here,” her owner says, walking out of the open-plan lounge towards us.
He approaches and smoothly grabs my luggage, tilting his chin toward Vi. “Leave that here. I’ll take it up.”
“You’re the best!” she beams. “We set her up on Cam’s floor, in Morgan’s old room, as they so rarely come by.”
“Got it.”I glance up the stairs. I’ve been in Violet and Rhys’s room a couple of times, but nowhere else.
He lifts my suitcase like it weighs nothing, and grabs the one Vi carried, too. His muscles flex under his gray tank.
“Isn’t that heavy?”
