AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I squared my shoulders and marched over to the other side of the room where my cell had landed and scooped it off the floor. The screen had shattered, and I breathed a sigh of relief. If I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t read texts or see who was calling.
“Take that, motherfucker.” I placed the broken piece of junk on my windowsill and walked to my adjoining bathroom. Maybe it would be nice not to have a phone for a while. If I wanted to, I could access social media on my MacBook, but I stayed far away from it. Plus, I could FaceTime Dad or anyone else from there as well. The fact that my entire life was trapped in a five-by-three piece of tech was daunting. Sometimes, a girl had to check out for a while to heal . . . or try to.
I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror out of the corner of my eye and grimaced.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” I touched the bruise on my neck from the collar I was forced to wear last night. If those assholes wanted to keep their society secret, they shouldn’t have left marks where everyone could see them. There wasn’t enough foundation in the world to cover it. “Asshole.” My lips pursed together. Honestly, I loved rough sex. I was used to it, so returning to vanilla sounded boring. I doubted I would ever orgasm again if I tried a simpler sex life.
I used to not be this way—dead inside. After I lost the only guy I’d ever loved, I fell right into the hands of a . . .
I clenched and unclenched my fists, willing myself to snap out of it. I didn’t have time to rehash the past. Turning on the shower, I realized I would need a damn turtleneck for classes, but I didn’t own one. Teagan did, though. As far as I was concerned, wearing a turtleneck was illegal, but I did have a few scarves. With the weather having turned cooler the past few days, a scarf wouldn’t look too out of place, and it would hide the marks and keep me warm.
* * *
Seconds before the professor closed the door to his class, I hurried in.
“Welcome, Ms. Jenkins. Nice of you to join us.” Mr. Bowman’s dark brow rose to his hairline as he shot me a disapproving look.
“Sorry.” I flashed him the best smile I could muster up without appearing to flirt. Hell, he was too damn old anyway.
I settled into a seat near the aisle and slid my backpack from my shoulders. Teagan and I were supposed to meet up after biology. At the rate my day was going, I would need a stiff drink by noon. Although I’d tried to brush off the texts from earlier, dread twisted me into a fucking pretzel. The only time I was okay with being a pretzel was if a guy was balls deep inside me. Goose bumps peppered my skin, thoughts of the skull-masked stranger dancing through my mind again. Focus or flunk, girl.
Forcing myself to concentrate, I pulled out my iPad and took notes.
I caught a glance of a pencil from the corner of my eye before it tapped me on the shoulder from behind, and I took a tentative look.
A gorgeous blonde-haired guy flashed me a big smile. “I missed some notes, could you hang for a minute after class and share yours with me?”
Pink crawled up my neck and cheeks. I wasn’t sure where the Whitmore University guys came from, but there were a lot that were panty-dropping gorgeous.
“Sure.”
“Ms. Jenkins. Is there something that you’d like to tell the rest of us?”
Fuck.
“Sorry, Mr. Bowman. It was my fault. I was asking if we could share notes.”
Mr. Bowman eyed the guy behind me. “I’m glad you’re taking an interest in your grades, Anderson. After all, your team depends on you. If you need something, see me after we’re finished for today. Otherwise, I think Ms. Jenkins needs to pay attention.”
I bowed my head, my long blonde hair cloaking my embarrassed face. At one time, no one could humiliate me, but that was all before . . .
Clearing my throat, I returned to Mr. Bowman’s lecture. Maybe Anderson would hang around regardless of what Mr. Bowman had said.
Half an hour later, I shoved my iPad and bio book into my backpack.
“Sorry about that,” Anderson’s deep voice said from behind me.
I stood and hoisted my bag on my shoulder and turned to him.
“It’s fine. Mr. Bowman has it out for me. I was late twice and, apparently, that put me on his shit list.” I shrugged.
Anderson flashed me a big smile, and I nearly melted on the spot. I tried not to be obvious about checking him out, but he was a cherry-flavored popsicle on a hot summer day—broad shoulders, nice jawline, and white teeth. I bit my lip, my gaze taking a slow hike down his chest to his jeans that hung low on his hips but clung to every yummy muscle in his legs.
“Do you play sports?”
Anderson tilted his head, studying me. “I get that you’re new at Whitmore, but didn’t you see the jocks all over the website and on social media?”
“You realize that sounds pretty egotistical, right?” I folded my arms across my chest.
