26. Ivy
Chapter 26
Ivy
I spread polish over the wooden cupboard and buff the surface until it shines.
Tiffany wants the function room spotless. She’s hosting a luncheon tomorrow with the presidents of the other sorority houses.
I’m still on cleaning duty for another few weeks, so the job of preparing the place went to me and Isabelle.
Isabelle will be joining me in a little while. She had a late class.
The two of us will be the only students on campus tonight—Friday night—who’ll be doing the most boring job ever.
I’ll be seeing Thorne later, so I’m using the time to myself to think about how I might get access to the database on his computer.
Maybe I could hire a hacker to hack into Thorne’s computer.
How much would that cost?
A few hundred? A thousand dollars?
More.
What am I even thinking?
Anything I could ever come up with in that regard is crazy.
Thorne is a world-class tech god who got into MIT when he was sixteen and has the same IQ as Einstein.
It was a miracle that his computer was left on for me to peruse for the time I did. His password for something so important as the database is probably going to be some outlandish craziness with a thousand characters. It would cost me an arm and a leg to find someone with the skill level to hack it, and I don’t know if that someone would want to hack Thorne Ivanov’s computer.
Since I’ve been here, the only person bold enough to argue with him has been Aiden. And look how that turned out.
God, where is the Mission Impossible crew when you need them.
All things impossible aside… could I really do that to Thorne?
Pay someone to hack him?
Doing so is a different sort of betrayal. There were several times over the last few weeks when he could have betrayed me. But he didn’t.
He’s also changed. True to his word, he met me for lunch yesterday and sat with me and the girls. Everyone was staring at us. Even the staff who work in the café.
When I told Isabelle and Mackenzie that Thorne was joining us, they were intrigued. It was awkward when he first got there but they loosened up and we all had a great time. It was normal.
He was normal for me and I felt like the girlfriend again. The girl with a different sort of borrowed life. Not the dead one masking herself with the skin of the living.
If I did hire a hacker and he found out, I would be no different than my father in his eyes.
That doesn’t mean I can drop this idea.
I haven’t stopped thinking about my father rotting away in the Hallows. I’m never far from tears when I think of him.
I keep remembering the night of the attack on the palace. How he got me safely to Mom before he went back to try and save the others.
I keep thinking if only I’d tried to stop him. If only he’d just come with us, that might not have happened. But then, maybe they would have still found him guilty because there was evidence that linked him to the attack.
I’ve never known what that evidence was specifically but I heard there were links to the plot and the setup of the attack. Over the years I’ve tried not to think about those parts because none of that sounded like something my father would do.
I can only imagine what his life must have been like at the Hallows for the last nine years. It will be ten in January.
So I’ll have to find a way back into Thorne’s computer.
Me. I have to physically do it myself.
Maybe Thorne will leave the computer on again.
Maybe I can watch and wait for him to use the database and hope he’ll leave that open, too. People make mistakes like that all the time.
He did, just by leaving his computer on while I was there. So maybe I’ll get another opportunity.
The door opens and a flustered Isabelle walks through. She looks like she’s been crying, so I stop what I’m doing.
“What happened to you?” I look her over, realizing that I’m right when she gets closer and throws her bag down.
“I’m so mad, Ivy. I’m so fucking mad.” She grabs the duster and joins me.
“What the hell happened? Is it Tiffany?” She’s been busy with her entourage of stylists getting her ready for her date with Warner Sluskia, the president of the Zeta Kappas. I don’t think she had a run-in with Isabelle, but it’s not impossible.
“It’s Kade.”
“Oh no. What did he do now?”
“I just found out he’s been ruining all my dates on purpose and threatening anyone who wants to date me.”
My mouth drops and nearly hits the floor. “What the hell? Are you serious?”
“Yes. Remember Ryan? Remember how great everything was going then suddenly everything went to hell?”
“That was Kade’s doing?”
“Yes. What an asshole.”
“How the hell did you find out?”
“Morty, from Lapetus, told me. He asked me out and said he wasn’t afraid of Kade. I reckon Kade wouldn’t be bothered with him because Morty dresses like Dr. Seuss.”
I groan, feeling my stomach scrunch from the mean-spirited nature of Kade’s cruelty. Bad things have happened to me since coming here, but they don’t know me. I’m the new girl. New to their world and their school.
Isabelle is new to the school, but she’s so nice. And Kade knows her.
“He’s got to be doing this for a reason. And what is this, high school? We’re supposed to be adults in college.”
“He’s trying to ruin me. Maybe he’s even done other things I don’t know about.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him at this point. Isabelle, I don’t think this is to do with whatever happened with your mother. This feels like something else. Something more vindictive.”
She dips her head and nods slowly. “It was easier to have a reason to explain why he hates me. But he really just hates me.”
“What the hell is going on in here?” Tiffany’s voice fills the room. Her Valley Girl accent grates on my nerves but I school my expression when I look at her.
She walks in, her heels clicking against the floor.
Dressed in a black bodycon, studded Louboutins, and her hair in loose beach waves, Tiffany looks ready for the red carpet. But the scowl on her face makes her look like an old sea hag.
“You two are supposed to be cleaning not conferencing about shit. This place better be ready for tomorrow or I’m adding another month to your punishment.”
“Another couple of hours and the room will be done.” I glare at her, doing my best to keep my temper under control.
“I want it done within an hour!” she screams in my face. “So clean the fucking place, bitch. You think you’re above the rest of us because you’re with Thorne Ivanov?”
She looks like she’s been dying to ask me that question. Like someone who just got something off their chest which has been weighing them down for eons.
I’ve caught her giving me filthy, evil looks since the whispers about Thorne and I started spreading. I knew she was jealous. Mackenzie told me that Thorne has been turning Tiffany down since high school.
I’m about to answer her when the loud exaggerated sound of someone clearing their throat pierces through the heated tension between us.
When I see Thorne standing in the doorway looking like he’s about to incinerate Tiffany, my spirits lift. But guilt twists my heart when I remember my previous thoughts about hacking his computer.
This is the first time he’s been here with anyone around, least of all Tiffany.
“Thorne. What a pleasant surprise.” She sets her shoulders back and pastes on a phony-as-hell smile.
“Cut the shit, Tiffany. We both know it’s never pleasant to see me.” He walks in, right up to me.
His eyes lock on mine for a brief moment before he takes the cleaning cloth from me and walks over to Isabelle to take the duster from her.
Isabelle and I exchange surprised glances.
“What’s this business?” He holds up the cloth and the duster, staring at Tiffany.
“They’re cleaning.” Tiffany speaks in a firm tone but her eyes betray her fear and wariness of him.
“We have staff for that.”
“This is a punishment they both deserved.”
“Here.” Thorne hands her the cloth and duster. She takes them grudgingly and stares at him wide-eyed.
“You do it,” Thorne adds in a voice filled with venom.
“What?”
“You heard me. You fucking clean and have it done within the hour.”
Isabelle’s eyes nearly pop out of her head, while my back goes ramrod straight.
“I have a date with Warner.” Tiffany glares back at him, as if her answer is enough to excuse her from his demand.
“He can wait.”
“But he’s already been waiting for me.”
“Your lord just gave you an order.” Thorne lifts his chin and glares down at her. “You dare defy me?”
“No, my lord.”
I’m so shocked I feel like I fell asleep and dreamt this.
“Good, now get it done. And don’t you ever dare expect any of these girls to clean shit ever again. Is that understood?”
Tiffany’s face reddens and I can tell she wants to give him a mouthful but holds her tongue. “Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Ivy, Izzy, come on.” He looks at us and cocks his head toward the door for us to follow him.
Isabelle picks up her bag, and the two of us leave the room with Thorne. Leaving behind a furious-as-hell Tiffany.
We stop in the hallway and I smile at him. “Thank you so much.”
“Yes, thank you,” Isabelle says, hugging her bag to her chest.
“No worries.” Thorne looks from Isabelle to me. “How long has this been going on?”
“Pretty much since we started.” I bite the inside of my lip.
Thorne’s brows snap together. “Why the hell didn’t you say something?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t want to cause trouble.”
He looks at Isabelle, who shakes her head like me.
“I don’t have anyone like you to turn to,” she speaks in a lowly voice.
“That’s never been true, Lolita .” He looks at her little dress and gives her a kind smile. It’s strange seeing him be the hero.
It pulls on my heart when Isabelle looks like she’s about to burst into tears. I know that’s to do with the whole thing with Kade. Tiffany talking to us like we’re shit didn’t help. But this has.
“Thank you, Thorne.” She smiles at him, then looks at me.
“You’re welcome, Izzy.”
“I’ll leave you guys to enjoy your evening.”
She nods at us both then heads down the corridor.
Thorne’s already looking at me when I return my focus to him.
“Wrong move, Bambi. Wrong move. The last time Tiffany did shit to you, you got in trouble.”
“I know.”
“Make sure you tell me if she does anything else. You hear me?”
“Yes… my lord ,” I tease, giving him a playful smile. He smirks. “How come you’re here. I thought I was going to meet you.”
“Change of plan. I have a surprise for you.”
My hopes rise with excitement of what this surprise could be. “What is it?”
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?”
“Not so much.”
He grins and tugs on the hem of my shirt. “Pack a bag. You’re going to be away for two nights.”
“We’re going away?”
“We’re going away.”