Chapter Four—Blake
I glance at the door as I wait for her to arrive. It’s only going to be a matter of time. And when she gets here, I’m going to give her all the help she needs.
Even if I’ve been the one to cause all her troubles in the first place.
This last month has been fun, the kind of fun I haven’t had in a long time. Toying with Sophia, it’s lower stakes than the work I’m normally involved in with my father’s business. I know nobody is going to end up dead or destitute here. But my skills of manipulation, the control I have over this place, are muscles I’m always willing to flex, and I intend to do everything I can to get her to come begging me for all the help she can get.
Today will be the day, of course, that she loses her job at the bodega. I check my watch. It’s nearly midday, so she should have had the news broken to her by now. I’m waiting in the student support offices, though I don’t work here, ready to intercept her when she comes in looking for the financial aid she’s going to need to continue studying at Gregora University.
I’ve done a little research into her family, her history, and it’s clear that she’s not going to last long here if her work falls through. She’s already got a scholarship, but that has just covered the cost of her studies. She still needs to pay to actually live on campus and keep up with the other students, and with the lifestyles we lead, she can’t do that on a part-time barista salary.
Not to mention the fact that her scholarship is certainly in question right now, given the strings I’ve been pulling. Just a few words in the ear of the TA, encouraging them to lose her essays when they come in—nobody has the nerve to say no to me, and sure enough, it didn’t take long till she got the announcement that she’s on academic probation. One wrong move, and she’d lose her scholarship and have to leave.
Which puts her in a very difficult position. The exact kind of position she might have to come to me for help with. At least, that’s what I’m counting on.
I’ve been keeping an eye on her around campus, too, much to the chagrin of Damon, who can’t seem to figure out what I’m so obsessed with.
"Why don’t you just give the girl a break?" he asked me the other day after I returned from the Blackened Bean. Though the coffee wasn’t as good as the kind I make at home, it gave me a chance to check in on her. The dark rings under her eyes told me that my plan was coming together exactly as I had intended it to, and soon, I would pull the trigger on the bodega, too.
"I can’t let people see her speak to me the way she did at the event and get away with it," I replied calmly. It’s something my father has always drilled into me, not allowing disrespect to go unpunished. No matter how mild it might seem, you have to put the fear of God into anyone who stands against you. She might not have meant it, when she was so dismissive to me, but she’s going to learn that she can’t speak to me like that.
"Is that all it’s about?” Damon demanded, narrowing his eyes at me. He knew me too well for my own good. He could see through the lies I was spinning.
It’s about more than just disrespect. That disrespect sparked something in me, an attraction to her I haven’t felt in a long time. And I can’t deny it.
"What else would it be about?" I’d shot back, and he grinned.
"You know exactly what I’m talking about. And you could have any girl on this campus if you wanted. Hell, I’m sure you’ve been through most of them as it is. What’s the obsession with her, in particular?"
I shrugged.
"She’s interesting to me," I told him, simply. "She’s not part of our world. It’s been a long time since I encountered anyone like that..."
Damon has been doing his best to talk me out of my plans, but when I get something in mind, I don’t let anything throw me off my game. He’s right, I could have had any girl in this place I wanted, but that would be too easy. Something about the way she spoke to me sparked something in me, something dangerous. If she’s that defiant in a casual setting, I’m curious to know how much farther she would take it, given the chance.
I’ve followed her back from work a couple of times, keeping watch for any suitors who might be trying their luck with her, but I haven’t seen a single man approach her. She doesn’t seem that into going out or partying, so I doubt she’s got someone I don’t know about. In the scouring I did of her social media, I couldn’t find any pictures of her with a man, so it’s unlikely she’s dating someone from back home, some long-term boyfriend.
And even if she was... that wouldn’t mean anything to me.
I hear a noise at the entrance to the student support offices. It’s just me in here right now, since I told everyone else to take the day off. That’s the good part about having my reputation in this place. Nobody dares argue with me when I tell them how it’s going to be. I’m far from a student support officer myself—it’s too much like hard work, handling kids who are struggling one way or another—but there’s one student I’m happy to offer that help to.
I bite back a grin when I see her stumbling through the door, her eyes wide, those dark rings under her eyes even more pronounced than the last time I saw her. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees me. But as her shoulders sag downward, she shuffles toward the desk.
"Hi," she greets me. "I... I think I need help..."
"Oh, you do?" I reply, a tinge of amusement in my voice. It’s ironic, her coming to me like this after how dismissive she was of me the first time we met. Her chin drops to her chest.
"Yeah, I do."
I rise to my feet and gesture for her to come into the office.
"This way," I tell her. She hesitates for a moment.
"I’m sorry about what happened that night," she blurts out finally. "I... I shouldn’t have been so harsh with you."
I smile as benevolently as I can. It doesn’t come naturally to me.
"All forgiven and forgotten. Come into the office. Let's talk about what you need."
I hold the door for her, and she makes her way past me. I catch the scent of her in the air for a moment, strawberries wrapped up in cream, so delicious it’s nearly impossible to fight the urge to press my face into her neck and smell her properly.
But there will be plenty of time for that in the future. Right now, I need to push the next stage of my plan forward—and get her exactly where I want her. Glancing around to make sure nobody else is hanging around, I pull the door shut behind us and follow her in.