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Over a year had passed since the last time I’d seen Michael Li, yet he casually sprawled on the stoop of my dorm like he had every right to be there. I stared at him from my apartment window, watching as he drank a soda out of a glass container. The way his tongue moved over the bottle fascinated me. My nipples hardened watching him, and I caught my breath. I closed my eyes briefly, knowing I’d remember the moment later, when I could touch myself and think of him.
He was still out there when I opened my eyes.
Oh my gosh, Bridget. Heat flooded my cheeks, but I kept staring out the window, refusing to turn away from the view while it lasted. I couldn’t believe how completely turned on just watching him drink could make me. It didn’t make sense. Why was he even there?
My roommate came inside the apartment and shut the door behind her with a loud thunk. Bethany and I didn’t have a lot in common, besides an address. She seemed nice enough, and although I was sure we wouldn’t live together again after the semester, we got along just fine.
“Ooh, look,” she said, joining me by the window. She pointed and bounced on her toes. “You noticed the hottie outside. I tried to smile at him when I came in, but he wasn’t into me. Shot me down.” She shrugged, her blonde hair bouncing off her shoulders. “Maybe he’ll like you?”
I turned to look at her, dropping the curtain. “I know him, actually. I’m sure…never mind. I’ll go see him now.”
She darted forward, catching my arms while she grinned at me. “Bridget Radford, are you keeping secrets? Older men? Tell me more!”
“No.” I tried to smile and laugh it off, but it was harder after he turned me on by doing little more than existing. “Nothing like that. He just works for my father.”Sort of. Close enough, anyway.“I’ll be right back.”
My chest felt tight as I made my way downstairs. It had been a weird week, which had to be the explanation. I took my last final earlier, but I didn’t want to go home just yet. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see my sisters, because I really did. It was the rest of it. Justin was definitely on his way to having a problem with substances, and my father…something was up with him beyond his usual morose behavior.
Also, I just loved being at school. These people…they made me feel like I wasn’t so weird. They were the same kind ofoffas me.
I took the elevator because the stairways always smelled sort of bad and I didn’t want to see Michael out of breath and carrying a lingering stair-stench. By the time I stepped back outside, my usual mask sat carefully in place.
“Michael?”
His smile broadened. “Bridget. Look at you! Feels like it’s been forever.”
It had been a year, but I didn’t intend to admit I remembered. Instead, I simply smiled. “What are you doing on the stoop? You didn’t call or text first. You could have come inside. You literally have access to keys.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know if you’d be sleeping. I was going to call in an hour, but I figured if you came home from somewhere else in the meantime, I’d catch you here.”
“I happened to look out the window and noticed you. What’s going on?” My father hadn’t assigned security to me in six months. Layla still needed it, because the crazies were obsessed with her, but Hope and I had been released. Since I no longer posed for any blogs or anything, I was free to be my own person. Much as I preferred it, I did miss occasionally seeing him. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head fast.Too fast?“No. I’m sorry. Your father asked me to come get you since I was nearby. He wants me to bring you to the boat he has docked in New Jersey. He’s rather insistent that you come now, but if you have a final or something, I can tell him it’s not happening and stall for time.”
“You would do that?” I was shocked. My father paid Michael, so technically he owed loyalty to my father, not me.
“He can’t just summon you. You’re a grown woman with a life, I’m sure. So are you? Busy?”
I sighed. “I’m not, but I need to pack up my stuff. I’m done with finals as of earlier. I was just…putting off coming home. Um, yes, it’ll take me two hours to pack, if you wanted to send someone back to get me.”
Michael wasn’t going to sit on my stoop for the next two hours.
“Do you want help?” He looked upward, toward the dorm.
I smirked at him. “No offense, Michael, but I don’t think I want you packing up my undergarments.”
He ran a hand through his hair, stretching afterward, but I saw his smile.
“Maybe not. Yeah…okay. I’ll be back in two hours.”
“You’re coming back yourself? You’re not sending someone else?” I cocked a brow, surprised.
He pointed at his chest and grinned at me, a wide, unassuming mirth that seemed almost boyish for the serious, steady Michael. He replied, “You’re stuck with me, I’m afraid. See you in a bit, Bridget.”
Stuck with him?As if.
My hands were sweaty, and I needed to check on my deodorant. I would be alone in a car with Michael and just looking at him made me hot. I’d always admired his physical form—who wouldn’t?—but this was something quite different. I had no choice, though, and I knew it. My father had called me to him, so I had to go. He paid for my tuition. I didn’t want to lose my life, not when I was just starting to build it.
Michael liked different music than me. I was a pop music person, and he definitely preferred harder rock. Still, he was fun and kept the conversation light most of the ride to Jersey. He told me stories about when he was in the Army and about some of the places he’d seen in the world.
