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CHAPTER TWO
SYLVIE
Ispent the last thirteenhours after I agreed to go to the ball or gala or whatever the hell it was with Beau Bennett wishing I hadn't.
"Stop fidgeting," my roommate, Raleigh, muttered, her hands drumming at my side. "The whole table’s vibrating."
"I'm not vibrating," I snapped back, resting my head in my hands. My fingers trembled at my temples and I let out a sigh. "Fuck. I am vibrating."
"We have pre-event drinks for this, you know," she quipped. "Also, you're twitching."
I leaned my head back on the sofa. "God, I wish I never agreed to go. A whole night in his company? This was a really bad decision."
Raleigh nodded wisely. "Probably not your best." She and her boyfriend Nate were the only other people in the room when I got shot, when Beau busted in and left me owing him a lot.
Like my life.
And they were there when he took another life right before all without a single word of remorse or apology like killing meant nothing. That’s the level of power and wealth Beau Bennett had, and it terrified me. The man played by a set of rules I didn’t understand and I wasbornin his world, even if my family could barely afford to feed themselves.
"I am so far out of my depths," I whispered, closing my eyes like a toddler trying to block out the world.
Raleigh leaned forward to pat me and coffee slopped over the side of her mug on our small table when she slid in to sit alongside me. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders, and she pulled me into the best hug I had in an age. "It's okay." She perched her chin on top of my head. "If you weren’t worried about spending time with him I'd be worried aboutyou.”
I manage to smile. "I can keep worrying if it helps."
"Good girl.” She patted my head as I rolled my eyes.
"What class have you got first?" I grabbed my bag and flipped through my diary. Everybody else in the world kept their schedule on a device, but I preferred the handwritten sort of note keeping. It helped me remember all the damn things.
Raleigh made a face. “Stats."
I grimaced. “That sucks.” I flicked through mine.
The only class I had in my entire schedule was this morning and it was an easy music class where we were starting to rehearse for the end of year performance.
I sipped my coffee and tried to quell my trembling hands. Raleigh and I insisted on using the small second hand table in lieu of the larger monstrosity Rippton U’s ostentatious dorm rooms came fully furnished with. The giant ten seater in the living area seemed so out of place. Raleigh was on a scholarship, and my family was broke. But after the incident, my fees were paid, though the dean's office wouldn't tell me who did it.
I had a damn good idea who was responsible for my own personal tithe of several million to the college, but even so they refused to answer me when I pushed.
Nor would Beau answer my questions in the weeks after my surgery when I returned to campus, despite tracking him down. After the tender kisses we shared and a mutual orgasm or two, he wouldn't even look at me.
Until yesterday, when I barged into his practice session where Raleigh waited for Nate, and demanded he and his teammates treat each other fairly. I snorted to myself. Clearly, I lost my mind and this was my penance.
"He said blue. Should I go with blue eyeshadow and a matching onesie?" I laughed at the visual.
Raleigh tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I've got some navy eyeliner. You’ll look hot with that. Are you sure you don’t want to call this off?"
I raised one shoulder. "Why not on the eyeliner? Let's go all out. I did ask for a limo."
"Go, girl. He probably has a fleet of those things."
“Probably." I flicked through the rest of my schedule, relieved I could finish at three in the afternoon in time to get ready for Beau’s eight o'clock pick up. "I should eat before, just in case?"
"Definitely." Raleigh shot me a sideways look. "If you can."
