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To everyone in the country, I was just a joke. A drunken fool. A nutjob. An evil little witch hellbent on destroying an innocent young man who had his whole life ahead of him.
I swallowed hard and kept glowering at Paxton. “Fuck you,” I hissed. “I know you did it. All of it.”
He moved closer, pinning me with his gaze. His lips were barely an inch from mine. “Can you prove it?”
I sucked in a deep breath, heart racing. “Not yet. But I’ll find a way.”
He let out a low, mirthless bark of laughter. “Good luck with that,” he said. There was a hard steel beneath his words. “We both know you can’t go to the cops and mention my name with no proof. Otherwise you’ll be the girl who cried wolf about me twice. Imagine how fucking crazy you’ll seem then.”
“Fuck you,” I said through gritted teeth.
Paxton shifted his feet, slowly moving closer to me. I started to back away, hoping he’d stop, but he kept stepping closer and closer until I was backed right up against the wall. One hand shot out, resting on the bricks above my head. With that, I was essentially trapped in front of him, unable to leave unless he pulled away or took a step back.
I gulped, trying to ignore how good he smelled. His head dipped, and his mouth moved closer to mine, barely a whisper away. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the vaping couple in the alley looking at us, but they didn’t make any moves toward us. Clearly, they assumed from our positioning that we were about to kiss each other, not kill each other.
I swallowed hard again and inhaled deeply. “I know what you’re doing,” I said, doing my best to stop my voice from quavering. “You’re trying to intimidate me. But you should know… I’m not afraid of you anymore.”
“Really?” Paxton’s eyes hardened, and he leaned even closer, lips ghosting over the shell of my ear. “You should be.”
Sienna
Dean Higgins tapped the end of his pen against his desk, regarding me with pursed lips and a furrowed brow. “Thank you for coming in today, Ms. McConville,” he said. “You know what this is about, I presume?”
I gulped and nodded. A kernel of dread was unfurling deep in my guts. I had no idea how this meeting was going to go, but judging by the look on Higgins’ face, I could assume I was almost definitely facing a suspension. Maybe even expulsion, which I was utterly terrified of happening.
The only thing that had scared me more in recent memory was the other night outside the nightclub, when Paxton leaned in and muttered that vague threat in my ear. I plucked up the courage to push him away and then fled the scene before he could do anything, but holy shit… my heart had never pounded so fast.
The worst—and most twisted—part of the whole thing was how turned on I felt at the same time. As I ran from him, throat choked with fear, dangerous thoughts floated unbidden into my mind, making my skin tingle. I pictured Paxton’s hands running all over me, his hips grinding against mine, the wicked look in his eyes as he sank to his knees before his tongue darted between my legs like an electric current. God, I could almost feel it.
It didn’t make any sense. Just because Paxton was undeniably gorgeous didn’t mean I should have any sort of response to him beyond terror. But, just like the night he broke into my dorm and handcuffed me to the bed, my body responded to him like his mere presence was magic.
I kept trying to tell myself that it was a basic fear response—blood pumping faster, heat rising, skin tingling. I was just confusing it with desire and arousal. But no… deep down, I knew the truth. I felt the swooping sensation low in my belly and the wetness between my legs as I throbbed, shivered, and melted at every thought of Paxton that floated into my mind.
I was sick in the head.
“I won’t waste your time or mine by mincing words,” Dean Higgins said, snapping me out of my reverie. “Our university holds its students to a high standard of integrity and conduct. Your recent actions at the Observer have breached that.”
I took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter. “Dean Higgins, if you could just let me explain wha—”
He lifted a hand to cut me off. “I’m sorry, Ms. McConville, but I don’t want to hear it. There isn’t any explanation that would satisfy me in this matter.”
“But—”
He interrupted me again. “Upon careful consideration, and taking into account your father’s donations to the university, I have decided to expel you from Worthington. However, the expulsion won’t take effect until the end of this semester, which we will allow you to finish. That way, you can obtain the credits for those classes and possibly transfer them over to another course at another university. Then you won’t be starting from the very beginning.”
I stared at him with bulging eyes. My heart felt like it had leapt right up into my mouth. “Please don’t do this,” I said in a tremulous tone. “I’ll do anything. Please.”
“The decision is final.” Dean Higgins stared back at me, face arranged in a stern expression. “Remember, it could’ve been worse. I could’ve asked you to leave immediately. But, as I explained, I am allowing you to finish the semester before you go because of your father’s past generosity. So it won’t be a complete waste.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn’t believe how fast this was happening. I wasn’t even allowed to explain myself.
Higgins showed me out of his office a moment later. I walked down the hallway in a daze, my mind swirling with a mix of emotions. The weight of the expulsion was already crushing me, and the shock and humiliation was leaving me raw and numb. I couldn’t even bring myself to text Michaela and Tate and let them know what had happened, even though they were probably sitting in their classes on tenterhooks, waiting to hear from me.
As I made my way back to my dorm, I felt as if I were floating, my steps disconnected from the world around me. I still couldn't believe it. I’d lost nearly everything over the last week. Not just my place at Worthington. My reputation, the new sense of anonymity I’d carefully crafted for myself, my relationship with my father, my security, and my self-respect. All I had now was my friends, and I was too ashamed to face them right now.
I entered the residence hall and trudged into the elevator, still wrapped in a cocoon of numbness. When I finally twisted the key in the lock and stepped inside my dorm, I saw Paxton standing there, looking through the window behind my desk.
I didn’t scream. Didn’t speak or move. Didn’t react in any way. I was just too exhausted. Too depressed. Too close to giving up.
