Chapter 3
3
EVELYN
I swore that the world just stopped spinning for the few seconds our gazes clashed. In that time, I debated if I was going to panic or vomit, and in the end, when he finally removed his intense stare from my burning face to give the rest of the class his attention, I did neither.
“You okay?” Andrew whispered as he gently nudged me, and it took me forever to find my brain to answer.
“I—Yeah. Fuck.” Okay, so maybe I didn’t exactly find my brain.
The slightest of smiles tilted up his lips. “You’ve really painted a picture for me, Eve. I feel like I was there.”
For some unknown reason, that snapped me out of my state of shock, and I pulled what was left of myself together. My therapist might have given me a laundry list for what I was going through, but he’d never once said I was a complete basket case—no matter how fucked up I acted.
The last two days really had me second-guessing his qualifications.
Ethan moved toward a screen and started to set up the first slide, so I leaned closer and mumbled, “Sorry, it’s just been a lot. First day at a new college and all that.”
Andrew patted my hand, and I was surprised to find that the heated sweep of his fingers felt comforting, rather than weirdly invasive, even though we’d only just met. I couldn’t shake the familiarity he exuded, and I tried to place its origins.
In truth, it was nice to feel anything that wasn’t anxiety or terror. Between the kiss last night and meeting two new possible friends, I’d stepped way out of my comfort zone. Qualified or not, Dr. Graystone would be proud of me.
Realizing that I’d kind of checked out of the class already, I focused on the professor. Or at least on a spot just over the top of his head, so I wasn’t sucked into the depths of his eyes.
“—not going to be an easy course. If you don’t absolutely need this for your degree and you joined for an easy pass, you should walk out now and change to Professor Simmons. He’s here for the laughs.”
Economics of Crime was essential for my degree, but even so, there was a part of me tempted to walk out anyway. It’d save him failing me after my unintentional sexual assault in the library.
Was it still classified as assault when they kissed you back? Maybe more of an uninvited attack via the lips…which actually didn’t sound any better.
I doubted he’d tell anyone; he’d returned that kiss and surely he knew I was a student. We were both adults and legal, of course, but every college had rules about students and teachers fraternizing. Rules he didn’t appear to give a fuck about as he continued to let that enigmatic gaze of his rest on my face. If he didn’t stop soon, everyone in the class would be wondering what was going on.
Squirming in my seat, I sank behind my laptop to block his view, relieved when he spent the next forty minutes going over everything we’d cover in this course, without letting his attention rest on me. He outlined the four major assignments due throughout the year, along with a ton of reading that I already planned to get ahead on this weekend.
I was a straight-A student, which I got by working my ass off. This class, I’d be giving two hundred percent. No fucking way would I let Professor Ethan Sullivan screw my future because I made one terrible mistake.
Even if it meant I needed to apologize first and explain my breakdown, so he’d hopefully dismiss it.
When the hourlong class was over, I was impressed by Ethan’s intelligence. No matter what questions students asked, he had a detailed explanation that actually made sense . This could have been one of my favorite college classes of all time, but instead, it’d be spent in panic and silence.
After packing up quickly, I joined the mass exodus of students with the intention of avoiding a confrontation. I knew I had to apologize, but I wasn’t in the headspace for it today. I needed at least two or three weeks of sleepless nights and anxiety before I’d run over every possible scenario in my head. Only then would I be ready.
Andrew called my name as I hurried down the stairs, but I didn’t look back. No time for friendships when one had embarrassment to run from. There was another deep, familiar rumble of my name as I closed in on the exit, and I knew exactly who wanted my attention.
Acting as if I didn’t hear the professor, I made my way outside and breathed in the fresh air, sunshine warming my face. That was too fucking close. Pulling my bag to my chest, I decided to head for the dining hall and grab some food, all the while wondering how I kept getting myself into these sorts of messes.
I’d thought my greatest worry after my kiss-attack had been the possible wrath of an absolute ten of a girlfriend. Now, that didn’t even feel like a concern. Unless she was a professor of another one of my classes, leaving me at risk of two failures. Eeep.
“Girl, why do you look like you’re about to shit yourself?” I swung around to find Nina with a concerned look on her face as she took in my panting, sweating, panicking self. Her brows drew slowly together. “Did you confuse numbers again?”
I opened my mouth and then slammed it close. I couldn’t tell her about Ethan, not if I wanted to ensure my enrolment here remained valid. Forcing a laugh I said, “Oh, no. I met this guy named Andrew, and he was…intense.”
Poor Andrew didn’t deserve to cop the blame, but I’d blanked on any other excuse.
Nina’s expression cleared, like the sun peeking out of a stormy sky. Apparently, boy drama made perfect sense to her. “There are only three Andrews here worthy of that reaction.” She linked our arms together and leading me toward the counter to order food. “What does he look like?”
“He’s hot in a preppy, I-iron-my-boxer-briefs kind of way.”
She smirked. “Okay, that rules out one of them. What else did you notice?”
“Brown hair. Gorgeous hazel eyes with more brown than green. He was tall, with a sporty, muscular frame. Broad shoulders. Maybe a swimmer.”
I was surprised by how much I had noticed about him, especially while distracted by the hot professor I’d kissed.
Nina stared at me like I’d just spoken another language. “Are you fucking with me right now?”
We’d reached the cashier, and I pulled out my student ID. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Andrew Knightsbridge,” she rasped. “You sat next to Andrew freaking Knightsbridge.”
The moment I heard his last name, I gripped her arm tighter. “The president’s son? The president’s actual real-life son was in my economics class? ”
Had that been why he looked so familiar? But if so, why did he also feel familiar? As if that hadn’t been the first time I’d sat at his side and listened to his cultured voice.
“The one and only,” Nina confirmed. “He’s the eldest son of President Geraldine Knightsbridge, and she loves him more than life itself. You should see when she visits and brings the whole Secret Service. Andrew is the light of her life.”
“I had no idea,” I whispered, jolting when a student behind us yelled that we needed to move our asses. We were still standing at the cashier, and flustered, I ordered a chicken salad sandwich and grabbed a bottle of water. After swiping my student ID, I waited for Nina to follow me over to an unoccupied table.
“I shouldn’t be so surprised,” she said as she opened her fruit and poured in a tub of yogurt. “I forget that most people don’t know their faces. All of our zillionaire parents are out there ensuring no one knows of our existence. Either because we’re annoying gnats in their world or because they don’t want to keep paying ransoms while we lose our pinky fingers as proof the kidnappers are serious.”
I blanched and returned my sandwich to the plate. “Does that really happen?”
She shrugged. “Twice last year to people I know, but never from the school grounds. No one gets to us here.”
Excellent news.
She dug into her food like we hadn’t just been discussing severed body parts, and I picked at the edges of my sandwich and glanced around the dining hall. It was much fancier than my last school, with proper tables and chairs, white tablecloths, and real silverware. Even my sandwich was nicely presented on a plate with a side garnish.
As Nina finished chewing a bite of her sandwich, I asked, “Are your parents important out in the real world?”
While we’d been sitting here, she’d waved to a few other girls that passed by, but so far no one else had joined us. Maybe she was a loner like me. Or maybe her friends were unsure because I was here. Either way, I was curious.
“In comparison to everyone else in this school, not remotely. My grandparents were shrewd enough to buy into shares and property back when it wasn’t nearly impossible to make a return on your investments, and when they died, they left their fortune to Mom.” She laughed humorlessly. “That was the day my parents retired and decided that it wasn’t much fun having a kid around the house. I’ve been at some form of boarding school ever since, so it just seemed natural to continue into tertiary education in the same boarding school format. This one at least has more coed fun and alcohol.”
My backstory was screwed up too, and while I assumed my father had legit reasons for dropping me off for “a week” at the Lewis home, the fact that he hadn’t bothered to even contact me since left me with more than a few daddy issues. I was just lucky that Karolyn and Mitchell hadn’t kicked my freeloading ass out of their house.
They were good people. Really good.
Deciding I needed a subject change, since it wasn’t in my best mental-health interest to dwell on the past, I said, “Okay, give me the breakdown of the hierarchy here. Who should I watch out for? Who should I avoid? Who hates who?”
Her feet hit the ground as she straightened. “You flashed the Batman-gossip-girl signal, and I am just the woman to answer the call.”
A snort of laughter escaped me. “You’re a true superhero, my friend.”
She beamed in response. “Firstly, you’ve actually met two of the heavy hitters already. Connor Sullivan and Andrew Knightsbridge are absolute powerhouses at Meadowridge. The crèmedelacrème of men here. They’re huge rivals in both academics and popularity and hate each other with a passion. ”
I didn’t correct her about meeting Connor because I could not let her start trying to figure out who else it might have been that I kissed. Especially now that I had another piece of the puzzle. “Connor Sullivan, ” I murmured.
That explained how two devastatingly handsome men could share the same unusual, piercing eyes.
“Oh, yeah, Connor is sexy as hell, but he’s also scary as hell.” Nina dragged her tray closer, as if needing a shield. “I don’t know what his family does, but I would bet Gran’s fortune that they dabble in the darker side of life. Most of the school is scared of him, but Andrew never flinches. His clout is solid thanks to his mom running the whole damn country.”
Releasing the tray, she leaned closer again. “If I were you, I would not mess around between those two. It’s not worth getting caught in the middle of their fuckery since they’re practically sworn enemies at this stage.”
“I have no intention of going anywhere near either of them,” I said, because I couldn’t be about the drama here. “My priority is graduating early and getting out of college once and for all.”
Nina’s gaze remained shrewd. “Let’s hope both of them feel the same way. They’re used to getting what they want, so if I were you, new girl, I’d stay as far off their radars as possible.”
Annoyance whipped through me at her unsolicited advice, but I didn’t snap back. Just because it was unsolicited, didn’t mean it wasn’t valid. It was not in my best interest to get too close to either of them. Or…the other one. If Connor was bad news, then Ethan Sullivan was even worse.
Whatever it took, I needed to avoid all three men for the next two years.
Which would be no fucking problem when I already shared a class with two of them.
No problem at all.