Tori—
The room is dark when I roll over and look at the clock, yawning.
My alarm isn’t set until two hours from now, so what woke me up?
I frown. I heard a noise. That’s what woke me, but what was it?
Then I hear it through my open bedroom window—that soft putt putt sound.
Sitting straight up, I know what it was.
A motorcycle.
I dash to the balcony. My heart racing at the sound of that motorcycle. His motorcycle. I can’t get him out of my mind.
The rider backs into a spot against the metal shed down at the mill and climbs from his bike. Even from this distance, I can tell it's him—Rafe, the man I first saw wearing handcuffs.
He removes his leather vest, one that has patches on the back, but I’m too far away to read. He squats and folds it, tucking it in his saddlebag.
As he walks across the gravel lot, his shoulders move in a sexy sway with his gait, rolling like a big cat stalking his prey.
He’s got the sexiest walk I’ve ever seen on a man.
His movements ooze confidence, and even the men who have been here probably for decades longer seem to give way to him, stepping out of his path and nodding as he passes, almost as if he’s the boss.
But that’s silly, because from what Father said, he’s been here less than a month.
The sun is barely peeking through the trees over the horizon, and everything is washed in a pale blue shadow.
He disappears through the shed door, and I lose interest, dropping the curtain and yawning. I return to my warm bed and drag the covers over my head.
Why must they start that damn mill at such an ungodly hour?
When my eyes pop open again, it’s been another hour and a half.
Flinging the covers off, I climb from my bed and get ready for my first day at Huntington.
At 9am, I’m in the auditorium where we’re all assembled and waiting to hear the dean’s welcome speech.
Nonchalantly, I check out those around me.
Everyone is required to attend this presentation, not just the freshman, so the place is filled with many upperclassmen who seem bored and are not above showing it.
One such boy catches my eye. He leans back in his chair and whispers to the guy next to him.
He points at a girl in the next row, and I know they’re talking about her looks.
The boy behind me drapes his arms over my chair and that of the girl sitting next to me. I turn to look at him, my brows raised.
“You two new here?”
The other girl grins and nods enthusiastically.
I recognize an upperclassman cruising for fresh meat and ignore him.
“Aw, sweetie, why you gotta be like that? I’m just bein’ friendly.” He turns from me to the other girl. “What’s your name, beautiful?”
“Marybeth.”
I keep facing forward and feel him lean closer to my ear.
“Now see, Marybeth knows how to be friendly. But that’s okay, honey. I love it when a girl plays hard to get.” With that, he nips at my earlobe.
I jolt away and slam my hand over my ear. “Oww. You jerk.”
He snickers, and the two boys a row over join in.
The guy behind me calls out to them. “She doesn’t like me, Ryan. Can you believe it?”
“Your favorite type, Connor.”
I glare back at him. “Are you even smart enough to go here, Connor ?”
He grabs his chest like I shot him with an arrow. “The only requirement to go here is money, sweetheart.”
I eye him up and down. “Guess in your case, Daddy wrote a really big check.”
“You’re a real comedian, huh?”
“Ooh. She told you off, huh?” one of the other two says, and they both collapse into hysterics.
“Quiet down, everyone,” a woman snaps from the podium. “I’d like to introduce Dean Whitmore.” She retreats and a middle-aged man steps up. The auditorium quiets.
“Class of 2029, congratulations on getting into Huntington College. You’ve each been given an amazing opportunity.
My advice to you is not to squander it. As a Huntington College alumnus, you’ll have many amazing opportunities.
A diploma from this fine institution opens any door you can imagine.
Work hard, and the future is bright with possibilities. Truly, anything is within your grasp.”
He drones on for another forty minutes. When it’s finally over, my ass is numb from sitting on this metal folding chair for so long.
The boy behind me tears off toward the other two students, and they all move to stand by the entrance.
I make my way out of the auditorium, filing along with all the others. The map on top of my notebooks shows the building for my first class is out the door and down to the left.
Skirting a pond with two white swans, I suddenly feel the three stooges fall in behind me.
“Tell us your name, blondie,” the one who sat behind me says, tauntingly.
“I bet it’s something like Misty or Bambi or Velvet,” his friend teases.
“Those are stripper names, dumbass,” the third replies.
“What’s your first class?” the guy who bit my ear asks, draping an arm around me. “We can show you where it is. Make sure you don’t lose your way.”
“Get lost.” I shove him off, but not before he grabs my class schedule out of my hand and reads it. “Astronomy? What a coincidence. I’m headed there, too.”
The other two chuckle, but he glares at them. “You heard her, get lost.”
They stop laughing and immediately walk away.
I cock a brow at the boy next to me.
He just grins. “Name’s Connor.”
“I heard.”
“Say it.”
“If I do, will you leave me alone?”
“That’s not what you really want, though, is it?” He turns us toward a big building that looks like the planetarium back home. “Come on, we’re late.”
We’re swept along with a stream of other students, and he ushers me through a set of double doors, and then we’re in a darkened, circular auditorium. He pulls me to a row in the back and sits next to me.
When I sit, the chair reclines with a cushion under the back of my head, and I find myself staring up at a night sky with a million stars.
The professor is already at the podium, speaking. He pushes a button, and we hear a click, and a constellation of stars illuminates.
“That’s Orion’s Belt.” There’s another click, and a different set of stars light up. “This one is Aquila. It’s a constellation on the celestial equator.”
“It looks like a stingray,” Connor whispers in my ear.
“Its name is Latin for eagle, and it represents the bird that carried Zeus or Jupiter's thunderbolts in Greek-Roman mythology. Its brightest star is called Altair.”
Connor grows bored with the presentation, and his hand lands on my thigh, squeezing.
I grab it and try to pull it off, but he’s much stronger than I am.
“Stop,” I hiss.
“Say please.”
I refuse because I’m stubborn that way. “I’m sure there are a dozen girls who’d die for your attention. Go bother them.”
“Only a dozen? Don’t insult me.” He continues to rub my thigh through my jeans, and I’m so thankful I didn’t wear a dress today. I swear to myself I never will if this is what I’ll have to deal with. Maybe if I’m lucky, some other girl will catch his eye, and he’ll tire of me.
I stomp on his foot, and he yelps, his face tightening. “That wasn’t nice.”
“Next time, it won’t be your foot. Next time, you won’t be able to walk out of here.” With that, I jerk free and scurry down the row to the distant aisle and find a seat up front.
He doesn’t follow, but when I dare a peek back at him, he’s glaring at me, and I’m sure he isn’t going to let this go.
When class is over, I mix in with a group of girls and get lost in the crowd, dashing into a restroom. The only problem is he’s seen my schedule, and I don’t know how much of it he memorized before I yanked it back.
When I moved three thousand miles to go here, this wasn’t what I was expecting.
I manage to avoid him the rest of the day and make it to the car my father gave me to drive. It’s a white Lexus. The minute I climb inside, I slam the locks and start it up.
I hit the accelerator. I can’t get off campus fast enough.
The screen door creaks and slams when I walk in off the front porch.
“Ruth? I’m home.”
She comes out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “Hello, child. How was your first day?”
I shrug. “Not great. Hopefully, it gets better.”
“I’m sure it will. Your father called. He had meetings in San Francisco. He’s bringing someone home for dinner. He wants you to dress up. It’s someone important, apparently. Someone he’s trying to work some deal with, I guess.”
“Great. Dinner with some stranger. The perfect ending to a bad day.”
“I know what will change your mood. I think you have time for a quick dip in the pool.”
“We have a pool?”
“Yes. It’s out back. Your father’s doctor recommended he get more low-impact exercise, so he had the pool put in last spring.”
“A dip in the pool sounds like just what I need. It’s not within sight of the mill, is it?”
“No, honey. You’ll have complete privacy behind the house.”
Fifteen minutes later, I’m relaxing in the warm water.
Everything that happened today fills my mind.
Connor and his little bully squad made my first day miserable.
If this continues, there’s no way I’ll stay at Huntington.
There’s no way I could take it. There’s no way I should have to take it.
No matter how much my father had to shell out for tuition.
Huntington was never my dream; it was always my parents.
Surely, they’d understand my reasons for wanting to withdraw and find another school.
Maybe I could even return home to where all my friends are.
I blow out a breath. I’ll give Huntington a shot, but if things don’t change in the next few weeks, I’m not going to put myself through more bullying.
I know it will break my father’s heart, but he’ll have to understand.
I feel better knowing I’ve made a decision on how to handle things, and I begin swimming laps.
When I come out at the concrete stairs on my third lap, I grab a towel and wipe my face. When I open my eyes, I gasp at the sight before me.