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“Can’t deny what’s true. And you need to know what you’ve walked into by being part of East Harbor. Emory has destroyed the lives of many female students in the past. He likes to play the part of a hunter.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “How is he getting away with it? Like, how has he not been fired?”
“Well. Two reasons. One, his aunt is the president of the Board. And she’s evil enough to make him seem like the purest saint. The word on the street is that she has her own army of students and teachers in the college. Uses them to peddle drugs.”
Her mouth fell open. “No! But these people must be so rich already! What would they gain from this?”
I cocked my head at her and smiled sadly. “The thing about evil, Rory, is that it is most sensible when it makes no sense. People who are this far gone? They do it for the thrill of power.”
But she couldn’t understand this. Not when her basic nature was honey and kindness.
“The point here is that you have to keep an eye out. At all times. I know you’re safe because you’re not staying at the dorms. That’s a fucking relief. But together, Abbot and his aunt have been operating the school like it’s their personal fiefdom.”
“What’s the other reason he’s still here?”
“His money.” I spoke simply. “His father and his grandfather before him were both senators. He comes from old money, the kind that is so deep-rooted it has no beginning or end.”
My voice became bitter.
“The last time he almost got caught, he paid a huge amount of hush money to the biggest news imprint in New York. I’m not naming any names, but you can take a guess.”
“I don’t think I want to.” Rory sounded like she was going to be sick.
And at that moment, I decided I couldn’t tell her everything. Did it make me guilty?
Yes. Guilt tore at my heart. Because the words had been on the tip of my tongue.
Emory Abbot destroyed the girl I was supposed to marry five years ago.
I couldn’t do it. Not when I finally had another shot. Not when she was so new to this entire thing. I didn’t want her to run.
Emma... a part of me would always love her. But that part was a memory. She belonged to my past. The only present related to her was tied to one clear motive.
Revenge.
But Rory? Rory was the joy of the moment, everything that was warm and glowing and wholesome about it.
I closed my eyes for a second. Did she deserve to know about Em?
No,I told myself. I couldn’t do it. She’d freak out, think I was coming with past baggage, the guy who got dumped four days before his wedding because his fiancée could not recover from her trauma.
And I understood why. I knew what Emma had gone through. And when she told me she was letting me go because I deserved better, my heart broke—not because she let me go, but because she thought I couldn’t heal her or make things work.
I did try, though. But there's only so much I could do when the door was already closed.
Love had stayed like a mirage in my head after that. It was just an improbability. A gross miscalculation.
Not anymore. I didn’t want to ruin what Rory and I had.
She’d gone to the sink to wash our cups. I dropped down from the table and walked over to her. Gently, I fastened my hands around her waist.
A wry chuckle later, she relaxed in my arms. She turned her head to the side so I could have a taste of her lips, warm and sweet.
Thunder crashed outside. A rainstorm.
I turned her around. My hands around her waist were now tighter as I kissed her. Our tongues met and danced in harmony, and then, she was pulling me so I caged her against a wall.
Pushing her hands up, I held her wrists with my right hand and continued exploring her with my tongue. I kissed her mouth once more before tasting her lips.
