Page 36 of From Hell

“Did you get dressed in the dark?”

“No. I was in a hurry,” I snap back.

“You missed one.”

My face flames. The problem with buying second hand is sometimes buttons are missing. I haven’t had time to find a similar-looking one and replace it. “That’s just the way it is.” Once I finish tucking in my shirt, I sit back on the window seat.

But I’m so flustered that I knock my lunchbox onto the floor. It spills open, sandwiches flying everywhere. I scramble to pick it up, and to my surprise, Jaxon leans across and hands me a smushed-up cheese roll in cellophane wrap that looks like it was sat on.

My cheeks burn like they’re on fire.

He gives my lunch a look of disgust. “Are you really going to eat that?”

“Not all of us can afford the overpriced canteen.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret saying them. My parents might not have much money, but they work hard. It’s none of Jaxon’s business what we can afford.

He arches a brow. “You’re serious? The canteen is out of your range?”

I scowl at him, cramming my lunch into the box before shoving it into my bag. The last thing I need is for Jaxon Clémont to see me eating it.

He lets out a sigh and grabs his jacket. “Come on. I’ll buy you a real lunch.”

My head whips up. “You don’t need—” He grabs my book and slings my satchel over his shoulder, sauntering toward the staircase with my things before I can stop him.

I’ve never noticed the number of students visiting the library at lunchtime until Jack Clémont is escorting me out of it. Even though my head is down, everyone watches. The hush-murmur of students whispering to each other at desks and the rustling sound of pages flipping between stacks is gone. In its place, a deafening silence.

It’s no better outside, but there’s noise and somewhere to fix my eyeline. I focus on the location of the canteen, but Jaxon makes a beeline for his car, a sleek black vintage Ferarri convertible with silver racing lines and red bucket seats. He drops my book and bag into the back seat and opens the passenger side door.

I stare at it a little too long without moving.

“Well, are you getting in?”

“I thought we were having lunch?”

“That’s what we’re doing. Get in.”

As I slide onto the baby-soft leather, he leans down and across to buckle my seatbelt, his knuckle brushing my bare thighs as he skims over them to clip in the belt. My stomach flips, and goose bumps erupt over my skin where he touches me. Then he slams the door so hard that I jump.

What am I doing here? This is Jaxon. I’m letting him drive off campus somewhere like one of the girls he fucks and forgets—this is not me. But my body won’t move. It doesn’t want to leave the snugness of his car, even though there’s no roof and it’s about to rain. Excitement coils in the pit of my stomach, unwilling to say no.

“Where are we going?” I ask Jaxon as he climbs into the driver’s seat, folding his long legs behind the wheel.

“There’s a little place I know about thirty minutes from here.”

He dials someone that sounds like his PA. “I’m going to the field. Tell them to have her ready in ten minutes.”

Her. Who is she, and why does she need to be ready?

Ten minutes later, we pass through the gates of the local airfield, and I find outsheis a plane, and thirty minutes travel time would be by air.

“Where are we going?” I ask him as we park next to a two-seater plane being taxied onto the runway with Jaxon’s family pharmaceutical company logo, H.E.L. (Health Elixir Labs) in bright red letters on the side.

He doesn’t answer me, getting out to speak to his ground crew on the airfield. I unstrap myself from the seat and hurry over to where he’s standing, watching the plane turn on a dime.

The wind is blustery, making my hair fly in all directions. My nerves feel the same: exposed, blasted so the ends are frayed. I have to shield my eyes to look at Jaxon. “Please don’t tell me we’re getting in that thing?”

He glances over. “If you’re worried about needing a passport, you won’t need one.” A sigh of relief escapes my lips until he adds, “We’re only flying to Le Touquet.”

I stare at him with wide eyes. “You said you were taking me to lunch.” My voice raises over the wind, loud enough to make the Jaxon’s ground crew glance at me, too.