4. Thea
4
Thea
C hatter and laughter echoed off the stone-flagged floor and wood-paneled walls. At the far end of the hall, a raised dais with a long table and chairs sat in front of a fireplace large enough to roast a haunch of venison.
I stood surrounded by my fellow students. All of us waiting for the welcome assembly to start. My mind pictured what this room must have looked like back in the 18th century. I imagined a scene straight out of an historical bodice ripper, where brawny men sat around drinking and feasting while buxom wenches served ale.
There were very few buxom wenches and hot guys in kilts present today. Several groups of students stood huddled in nearby. They all appeared to know each other, judging from the lively chatter about parties I hadn’t attended, places and people I knew nothing about.
It made me feel like a duck out of water here, alone and friendless.
Unlike these skirt-wearing skinny girls with their pin-curled hair and perfect makeup, I wore a pair of jeans. It was cold this far north. And besides, I didn’t own any skirts.
Several members of the faculty filed in from a door at the end, each of them taking seats on the dais. A tall man with gray hair and thin-wired glasses stood at the front and clapped his hands. I presumed it was Dean Brown.
“Welcome to a new year at Abernethy College!” he boomed once the chatter died down. “For the freshman students among you, I hope you’ve had a chance to acquaint yourself with the student manual and perused the Code of Conduct. Any infractions will be frowned upon, with disciplinary measures enforced.” Wow, he wasn’t messing around. Straight for the jugular.
A couple of students nearby muttered to each other, clearly not liking the sound of that, while someone behind me snorted derisively.
“Stupid fuck,” scoffed a familiar voice. I swiveled around and caught my student guide winking at me.
He leaned forward into my personal space and whispered in my ear, “Are you going to be a bad girl, Thea?” His voice sent shivers down my spine. A forewarning of all the different ways he could get me into trouble.
It was on the tip of my tongue to snap he had no idea about how bad I could be, but I bit my lip and stayed silent. I felt rather than heard his huff of laughter when I turned away.
By the time the Dean finished waffling on, even the faculty looked like they wanted to lynch the old bastard. My feet ached, and I was ready for another nap. As the assembly wrapped up and students melted away, I turned and headed toward an exit, intending to pick up some food and then go back to my room.
Only Landon had other ideas.
He grasped my wrist as I passed him and his friend, a cute nerdy guy with glasses and shoulder-length dark hair.
“So, Thea, how about having a coffee with me in the cafeteria? I feel like we should get to know each other better.”
“No.” I tugged my arm away, not wanting to cause a scene this early in my college career. It was better for me if I stayed under the radar.
“No?” He frowned like his brain couldn’t compute the fact a female had turned him down.
Landon’s friend rolled his eyes. “Leave her alone, Lan. Besides, you promised to meet Cass in the gym.”
“He can wait,” Landon hissed.
Nerdy guy rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m out of here.” He strode away across the lawn, swerving out of the way whenever a student came too close. I guessed he was like me, fucktose intolerant.
Landon trailed after me when I turned my back on him, still attempting to make conversation. Honestly, it was cute, and part of me wondered what would happen if I reciprocated.
I pictured myself dating a hot guy like Landon. Meeting his parents. Snuggling on the sofa with a bottle of wine and Netflix. Then I remembered my family and the life I’d been born into, and the balloon burst.
We reached the cafeteria, along with every other student on campus. Or so it seemed. A group of female students caught sight of Landon and came hustling over.
“Lan!” one of them called. Her cut-glass accent designated her a high-society girl. No doubt she had a double-barreled surname, lived in a country pile somewhere, and would one day marry a guy like Landon Rothmore.
“Poppy,” Landon gritted out when the girl reached us. She cast an assessing look over my outfit before her lip curled, letting me know I didn’t pass muster. Oh well.
“Lan, I thought you were meeting me for coffee before the meeting?” With her blond ringlets, doe eyes, and pink cheeks, Poppy resembled a pretty little doll.
“Nope.” Ouch . What an asshole. I almost felt sorry for the girl.
I should have walked off - Poppy was the perfect distraction - but I remained rooted to the spot. Not having had the high school experience, I was kinda interested to see where this went.
“But you’re free now, darling? We can catch up. I’ve not seen you for weeks!” Poppy pouted before biting her pink lower lip.
Landon shifted his weight from one foot to the other, glancing at his watch as if he had somewhere to be. “You were in Lake Como all summer and I was with Cass,” he said in a bored voice.
“I’d have stayed with you guys if you’d bothered to invite me,” she whined, tapping her foot with annoyance.
Landon rolled his eyes. “We didn’t want you there, Poppy. Soz.” Then he turned his back on her and gave me another panty-dropping smile. The guy had charm in abundance when he cared enough to turn it on. “So, coffee?”
Poppy’s perfectly painted mouth gaped open in shock. It was obvious she couldn’t quite believe Landon would blow her off in favor of a nobody like me. I almost laughed.
“ Soz ,” I replied sarcastically. “Got shit to do.” Before he could argue, I shoved past him, straight into the middle of a large group of students standing nearby chatting. I half-expected him to chase me, but this time he didn’t bother.
Thank God. I did not need a stalker problem.
A day later, I sat outside Miss Markham’s office. All new students needed to meet with the college’s student welfare officer at the beginning of the semester. To make sure we were ‘coping’ with college life. Not that I’d been here five fucking minutes, so unless I was a complete snowflake, why wouldn’t I be coping?
But whatever. I had to be here. I felt sure she’d take one look at me and know I was not someone who needed any counseling. At least not from a do-gooder like her. The last thing I wanted was some nosy bitch poking around in my head. She’d probably have a coronary if she knew some of the shit I’d seen and done in my life.
Because I was ten minutes early, I pulled out my phone and scanned through the last message my father sent me.
Father: Watch and listen, Thea. Anything related to Lucian Forsyth, I want to hear about it.
He’d not really explained his interest in the Prime Minister’s Chief Security Strategist. but I guessed it had something to do with the government’s crackdown on organized crime.
My father ran all kinds of things into and out of this country, which meant Operation Willow was giving him a massive headache. Only last week, National Crime Agency officers seized a huge shipment of cocaine off the south coast.
Dad was fuming about that. It had cost him a ton of money.
But from what I’d gleaned in the news, Lucian Forsyth was on a roll. He wanted to make his name, and the best way to do that was to grab headlines for all the right reasons; i.e. not because his beloved son, Cassian, got photographed caught snorting coke off a hooker’s tits.
I chuckled to myself. It had been bad luck for poor Cassian. Cambridge revoked his place because of the publicity, which no doubt caused the family a lot of grief. He was lucky his father hadn’t shipped him off to a shady military academy overseas. There had been speculation in the press it might happen.
I tapped out a curt reply to Dad’s message.
Me: OK.
It amused me to make my father wait for replies to his messages. There were very few things I could control in my life, but this was one of them, and I knew how much it irritated him. He’d have been fuming when I didn’t respond the minute he sent his message at 5 fucking AM.
The door to Miss Markham’s office swung open. I jolted in my chair, expecting to see some old crone in a twinset and pearls, but to my surprise, Landon Rothmore stormed out, his shirt disheveled and a furious look on his handsome face. An attractive brunette who I assumed was Miss Markham rushed after him, looking like she desperately wanted to say something. When she saw me waiting on the hard plastic chair, she stopped.
“Oh, Miss Ricci, you’re early.” I stared at her as she collected herself and turned back to Landon, who was busy straightening his shirt.
It was a strange vibe. Definitely not a student-teacher one. Landon didn’t look at all happy. My gut told me that whatever had happened in her office had pissed him off.
“Landon, I’d like to see you again soon,” Miss Markham purred, but Landon was having none of it.
“There will be no more sessions, Veronica,” he snapped. From the heavy emphasis on the word ‘sessions’, something told me a lot more than talking went on in her office. Eww . That was so gross. She was what, like 40 or something? Way too old for a young dude like Landon. Not to mention Miss Markham was in a position of authority.
So many red flags.
The woman was undeniably attractive with her jet-black hair and curvy figure. The tight pencil skirt she wore hugged her hips and ass, and her cream blouse was so tight the lace pattern on her bra was visible.
When I looked a little closer, I saw her red lipstick was ever-so-slightly smeared and there were a few strands of hair out of place. The whole scene gave me the ick factor, making me want to take a very hot, cleansing shower.
Landon’s gaze passed over me for a moment with a hint of embarrassment, but I kept my expression blank.
“Please step into my office, Miss Ricci,” Miss Markham snapped when Landon strode off like his ass was on fire. I watched him leave, then crossed the threshold into the Black Widow’s lair.
By the time I left, I felt as if I’d been well and truly violated. The woman was relentless. Determined to poke around in my head. I had no idea what she was hoping to find, but eventually, after nothing but monosyllabic answers from me, she gave up, handed me some leaflets on student counseling services, and reminded me to call her if I had any problems.
Yeah. Like hell I would. It was obvious from the brief interaction she’d had with Landon that her professional boundaries needed a lot of work. If she thought I was going to off-load any of my twisted shit onto her, she was in for a long wait.
Still, I was curious about what I’d witnessed. Landon didn’t seem like the kind of guy who turned down free pussy. So why had he given the cougar bitch the brush-off?