17. Victoria
17
VICTORIA
Wednesday, September 11, 12:00 PM
Marrying my professor will never work.
I don’t care what Dante says. He’s demanding too much from me, plus, he’s a murderer. One who spoke without hesitation, remorse, or anything approaching a normal response when he confessed. And he thinks I’ll bring a child into this mess?
Absolutely not. It’s irresponsible as hell.
But it doesn’t really matter, because I’m about to save myself. I’m not sticking around and waiting for a man or my fucking mother to decide my fate for me.
It’s not happening.
I nearly skipped his class this morning, worried he’d see right through me and stop me from solving the problem my way. Then I realized that would only make him more suspicious of me.
So, instead, I found a flirty sundress in a cool mint green and braided my hair into a crown. A flick of black eyeliner at the corners and a swipe of shiny gloss, and prepared to make eyes at him all class. Anything to throw him off my scent.
I thought the resulting look was cute, but if his thunderous scowl is anything to go by, Dante disagrees. Still, I join Bailey a few rows back and we take turns rolling our eyes whenever our professor makes a dick-ish comment. Ignoring his asshole attitude isn’t too difficult, but it’s harder to ignore the butterflies that dance in my belly as I watch Dante gently cradle his instrument every time he feels the need to demonstrate the proper technique. I do my best to mimic him—I might just combust if he tries to touch me to correct my hand position.
After class, I make my excuses to ditch Bailey and head for the English building across campus. It’s time to find the one guy on campus known for being able to get anything for the right price. He got Ellie and I our fake IDs and got Liam the answers to his statistics exam. He’s even the one who helped Liam set up another student to take the fall when the honor council investigated the incident.
Chase Gladden is a dude of all trades. If anyone can make me disappear, it’s him.
“What are you doing?”
I jolt into mid-air, spinning toward Ellie’s voice. I swear, she’s as stealthy as a well-trained assassin and she loves nothing more than sneaking up on me.
“I’m seriously going to get you a bell. Like a cat collar.” I chide, scowling as I clutch my notebooks to my chest. “One day you’re going to give me a heart attack.”
“ Me-ow !” She draws out the sound, clawing the air playfully before smacking me lightly on the shoulder. “You’re just hard of hearing,” she teases. “All that chamber music must be catching up to you.”
“Bullshit. You should work for the CIA.”
“They’re too boring for me. Everyone knows modern espionage is nothing like James Bond.” She waves her hand through the air dismissively and stares me down.
“What?”
“You’ve been avoiding me like crazy! What’s going on? And what are you even doing here?” she asks. “You’re supposed to be at Graham. Don’t you have Sauce 101 or something today?”
“The instructor canceled,” I fib. “Now I’m resting, trying to bring my heartrate back down after?—”
“Shut up, Vee,” she scolds, narrowing her eyes. “You’re up to something. You’ve been acting weird and you’re keeping secrets.”
“I’m tired.”
“It’s more than that. Look, I totally get why you hid in the closet when Liam came knocking yesterday. I’ve been telling you to ditch him for ages. But you have your ‘I’m about to do something stupid’ face on.”
I scowl at her. “What the hell does that look like?”
“Like you shuffling your feet and snapping instead of hugging your best friend .” She makes a show of checking her watch and glancing up at the massive clock hanging at the end of the hall. “You’re waiting on someone.”
“I’m not.”
Ellie doesn’t give up, frowning at me and tapping the toe of her scuffed canvas sneakers.
That’s the problem with knowing someone too long.
They get you. They know your habits. You essentially become the same person split into two bodies.
“Victoria,” Ellie warns, lowering her voice. “I know something’s up. Time to spill.”
“I just told you?—”
“Ladies!” calls a bombastic voice that could only belong to life-of-the-party, wheeler-and-dealer Chase Gladden.
Any scrap of plausible deniability just flew out the window.
Ellie lifts a brow and crosses her arms, letting me know she has no plans to go anywhere. She’s caught me and she plans on getting the truth out of me one way or another.
“Victoria…” Chase trills my name in a sing-song tone as he crosses the length of the hall to join us. “Have to say, I was surprised to hear from you.”
“Why’s that?” I want to finish this transaction quickly. And I hope to God I can make him understand how critical it is that he keeps our business to himself when we’re done.
“Because you’re not part of the bad girl crowd .” He puts air quotes around that last bit and I bite back a grimace. “I thought you liked to follow the rules, do things by the book.”
“I got a fake ID, didn’t I?”
“That’s juvie shit,” he returns with a smirk. “Everyone has one. But your text message was intriguing, to say the least.”
“What’s so intriguing about a customer reaching out?” Ellie interrupts.
I ignore her. I can’t let her scare him off and ruin my shot at self-determination. “I appreciate you meeting me so soon, Chase. I need you to do this quick and stay quiet.”
Ellie leans into me and murmurs my name under her breath. “What kind of problem are we having?”
Chase glances at her with a worried expression, clearly not digging her questions or presence. My text warned him I had a big ask and he’s savvy enough to have figured out whatever I need is majorly illegal.
“I need a full set of papers. They have to be believable,” I tell him, reaching down to squeeze Ellie’s hand and silently begging her to shut up. “I’m talking a legit social security card and a passport that will get me out of the country.”
Chase jerks his attention back to me, his wide green eyes seeming to take up half his face. “Whoa, whoa…you need what now?”
I squeeze Ellie’s fingers as tight as I can, stopping whatever she was about to blurt out. I struggle to stay calm, to act like I know what the hell I’m doing. “Do you need me to write it down? I’m not interested in playing games.”
Chase’s brow lowers and his jaw clenches. “You’re serious?”
“Very.” I pull out my cell phone and unlock it. “How much?”
“It’s gonna be pricey, Victoria,” he tells me, sounding nervous. “This…this is some high-level shit. A fake driver’s license for bar-hopping is one thing—that’s easy—but a new identity with all the trimmings…” His voice trails off and he swallows hard. I gather every bit of bravado I can as I quirk a brow at him. If Chase has doubts about his ability to deliver on what I need, I’m going to have to find someone else. And I don’t have a clue how to do that.
“Can you do it? I’m not trying to be a bitch here, but I’m on a very tight timeline.”
Chase steals a glance at Ellie, clearly hoping she can bring me back to reality, but she tilts her chin and levels him with a look. It seems I can count on her support for now, but I know the moment we’re alone she’s going to demand answers.
“Does Liam know about this?”
“It’s none of his business,” I snap coldly. “Are you my guy or not?”
“I can get it done,” he finally says.
“You’re sure?”
He gives me a brief nod. “What’s the deadline?”
“Yesterday.”
“Is this going to come back on me? Because I actually like it here, walking free?—”
“Absolutely not,” I promise. “It’s not like that. This doesn’t have anything to do with the cops.”
Chase sighs in defeat and I try not to let the giddy rush of relief distract me. “I’ll text you ‘ bring beer to the party’ when it’s all done.”
“Awesome, thank?—”
“And bring a lot of money.” He points at me as he begins to turn away. “This won’t be cheap. Not with the hours and resources I have to put in for this job.”
“I will,” I assure him as he makes his exit.
“What the actual hell , Victoria!” Ellie snaps the second Chase is out of earshot. “What’s going on?”
I shake my head and press a finger to my lips. I’m not about to risk another top-secret conversation in this hallway. So I grip her wrist and pull her with me to our dorm. She doesn’t know what she’s in for.
Once we’re back in our room, I’ll reveal everything. Share every detail of the shit show that is currently my life.
She’s going to hate it.
But I’m going to need Ellie to get on board with my plan, and fast, because I know that if I lose her I’m going to be well and truly lost myself.