by Shel Stone
“Anyway, let’s not talk about it anymore. Way too much of my headspace has been invaded by that asshole in the past and I don’t want a second more.”
“Alright. How about dinner Friday night?”
“Seriously?” she asked. “That sounds almost like a proper date.”
“What do you mean almost? I think we can label it a proper date,” he said.
Warm feelings flowed through her. This was so exciting. A true to form date, where he asked—rather than Adrian calling saying he didn’t want to eat alone. Mont did stuff by the book.
For a moment, Cecily wondered if it might be worth staying in New York over Christmas. Maybe skiing around here would be just as good as skiing in the Alps. If she were to guess, Mont would be quite good on the slopes. “Are you into skiing?” she asked.
“More snowboarding,” he replied. “We tend to go to Aspen.”
“I haven’t actually been. It’s always been the Alps. Or up to Canada. Maybe we should go north one weekend?”
“Maybe we should.”
For not being all that sporty, she could do a bit of skiing. So that was a point where they converged.
The tea came and they talked endlessly about whatever topic came up. He asked about her life in Europe and she told him about her friends and where they had used to go. She told him about her plans for Christmas and how good it would be to see her friends again, after the tough semester she’d had. A tough time, she said, but she had uncovered a few gems. Hopefully he would be one of them.
“I have to go,” Cecily said, checking her watch. Her pilates class was later that evening. Not something she’d be crushed to miss, but it didn’t hurt to have commitments she stuck to, as she didn’t want to give the impression she desperately dumped everything just to hang. Besides, they had a date. Warm fuzzies.
“Yeah, me too,” he said, rising with her.
Pulling on his jacket, which had come off with the warmth inside the cafe, he waited by the door until she was ready.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.
“If not, then on Friday,” she replied.
Her nerves soared as he stepped closer. He was so tall compared to her. Carefully, he leaned down and kissed her. Cecily let the pleasure of being kissed suffuse her mind. Perfect kiss. The taste of him was alluring. Obviously, she wanted more, but she wasn’t going to rush. They had a date coming up. Hopefully there would be some making out involved, because she didn’t mind kissing him in the slightest.
“Hmmm,” she uttered as it broke and smile. “I think I like that.” Cecily had a favorite new candy. “See you tomorrow.” With a beaming smile, she walked away, turning back to see him watching her.
Chapter 35
“HEY, MORGAN,” Adrian said, finding her talking to some sophomore girl. With a look, he sent the younger girl scurrying. “What are you doing this weekend?”
“This and that. Why?”
“Just, you know, making plans for the weekend.”
Morgan snorted.
To some degree, he hated how Morgan had a real understanding of him. But it also made thing simple. “Just making nice.”
“Don’t bother. Cecily won’t be coming.”
“And why not?”
“She’s invited to the lacrosse match afterparty.”
“Ah, Mont. How sweet? How long do you think it will last?”
“Mont and the million other dudes she’d consider before you?”
“Ouch. That really hurts,” he said sarcastically. “Doesn’t change the fact that her and Mont aren’t ever going to work out. Like oranges and apples when it comes down to it. Did she tell you we fucked at the Vollich party?”
“She mentioned it,” Morgan said. “Why are you?”
It surprised him that she’d told Morgan about it. “Just pointing out that things are complicated.”
“I don’t know. She likes Mont, Mont likes her. You’re the only thing making things complicated. The question is why.”
“Maybe I enjoy complicated.”
“You enjoy being rejected?” Morgan asked with disbelief. “Maybe a guy like you would, you being used to all these girls falling at your feet. I can see how you would struggle with it.”
“As much as I appreciate your attempt at amateur psychoanalysis. Does it really strike you as true? Cecily being all innocent in this, and this all being driven by me? You know the relationship between me and Mont. Do you really think it’s an accident she’s bringing him into the equation?”
“What equation, Adrian? There is no equation.”
“Or maybe your loyalty makes you blind,” he said and walked away. The conversation was annoying him. Everything was annoying him. Cecily most of all. No one seemed to see Cecily’s plays in this, and that annoyed the fuck out of him. They only saw the surface of it, because the truth was that she had the control in this and he didn’t—and that meant she was winning.
She had placed herself out of his reach, had warned the people around her against him. If that wasn’t a skilled player, he didn’t know what was. She might have looked innocent the day she turned up here, but she was Jeffrey Chambers’ daughter. They’d played the game and she was winning.
*
As per usual, Cecily didn’t come into the cafeteria for lunch, stayed outside on her self-imposed ban, which was turning into a self-imposed separation.
“Just saw Cecily Chambers and Mont Gibson kissing out on the quad,” Tilly said as she arrived at the table.
Adrian chuckled bitterly.
“I think they make a cute couple,” Tilly continued as she sat down.
“I think she’s using him,” he added.
“Didn’t look like he minded.”
“Mr. Gibson can use me anytime he wants,” Sapphire said.
“Really? So when you were going out with Cook Sampson, you were lusting after Mont the whole time?” Tilly said.
“Just appreciating his physique,” Sapphire said defensively.
“After you put her talents on show, most of the guys in school are lusting after her,” Tilly continued.
The statement bothered him, and it didn’t even begin to tell the truth, because he knew, and they didn’t, that she burned hotter than that. For him, and she wouldn’t for fucking Monty.
“What’s up?” Abby said, sitting down at the table.
“Just talking about Cecily going after Mont now,” Tilly said. “Rather successfully too by the look of things.”
“Uh huh,” Sapphire took over. “Emma can’t be too happy about it. I’m pretty sure she was expecting them to get back together, but little Miss Chambers has swooped in and snatched him.”
“She does get around, doesn’t she?” Abby said guardedly.
“Adrian sees something nefarious in her interest in him,” Sapphire continued.
Abby was the only one here that knew what had happened between him and Cecily at the Vollich party. “The girl does seem to run hot and cold,” Abby said quietly. Abby saw Cecily for what she was and for that, Adrian was thankful. Not that she thought him a saint, or a victim, consider his part in all this, but she wasn’t blind to seeing Cecily’s part because the magnitude of his sins overshadowed hers.
Fuck, he didn’t think he could face the afternoon sitting in brain-dead classes listening to shit he didn’t care about. It was just too much to bear. Or standing around watching Mont slobber all over Cecily. The thought literally turned his stomach. Total nausea. Fuck, why hadn’t he thought of staying home sick?
“I’m leaving,” he said and abruptly stood up, not bothering explaining, or caring about the shocked looks. Right now, he didn’t give a fuck about them.
“Mrs. Turner,” he said as he walked into the nurse’s office and the woman looked up from her desk, quickly putting away her salad. “My stomach is heaving and I feel weak.”
“Come lie down.”
“No, I’m going to go home to sleep. I just can’t make it through the afternoon.”
&nb
sp; “Oh, okay. I probably need to call your parents.”
“Neither will be around. Why don’t you call dad’s PA if you have to call someone? Your best bet. I’ll grab a cab.”
“Should I just check your temperature?”
“It’s my stomach, Mrs. Turner.”
Not waiting for her reply, he left her office and walked straight out the main doors. It took under a minute to wave down a cab. It stunk. Cabs shouldn’t be allowed to stink.
As he sat there, crawling with the traffic, he swore as he realized that Cecily had actually chased him away. It wasn’t the first time he ditched, and it was because she was there and he wanted to be away from her, from all the bullshit. His objective was coming back to bite him in the ass. If anyone had doubts she was a consummate player at this, there was the fucking proof.
Giving over a twenty, he got out and made it upstairs into his apartment. Exactly like he said he would, he went to lie down on his bed, mostly because he couldn’t think of anything else he wanted to do. Maybe get drunk, but he would wait for tonight and not make himself a total sad-sack by drinking alone in his apartment.
Cecily was there, she spoke, but he didn’t hear her words, and then the stark but distant buzzer of the desk downstairs calling broke into his dreams. For a moment, he was completely disorientated. Where the fuck was he? It was dark. Oh, at home.
Dragging himself up, he walked to the intercom. “Yeah.”
“Miss Abby is here to see you,” the doorman said. For a moment, Adrian considered refusing to let her in.
“Fine,” he said and let go of the button. Making his way to the lounge, he walked to the bar. It wasn’t too early to start drinking now. After this, he’d find out what Seb was doing tonight. “What do you want?” he asked as he heard her come in the door.
“You left school.”
“I wasn’t feeling well.”
“You still have your uniform on. Did you sleep in those?”
“Like I said, I wasn’t feeling well.”
“That’s a mighty whiskey there.”
“What do you want, Abby?”
“I want to know you’re alright.”
“Why do you fucking care?”
“Because you’re not yourself and you haven’t been since that girl turned up.”
“What? Because she bugs the shit out of me and I can’t seem to extricate her?”
“Extricate so much you ended up fucking her? That’s normally how I banish people out of my life,” Abby said sarcastically.
“What’s your point?”
“I think you’re in love with this girl.”
Adrian snorted. “Fuck off.” It literally was the most ludicrous thing he’d ever heard.
“Look at you. You’re a mess. You’re not eating. You’re not sleeping.”
“I just slept.”
“On a school day afternoon.”
“Look, Abby. You’re full of shit. I know you’re well meaning, but your full of it. I hate her, always have, and she hates me. That’s all there’s to it.”
“Except she’s making out with another dude and you’re literally falling to pieces.”
“Fuck off,” he said again, close to really losing his temper. He was absolutely not falling to pieces. Okay, maybe his life wasn’t going from strength to strength just at the moment. “I’m just bored.”
“Yeah, you’re totally flat. But as soon as her name is mentioned, it breaths life in you.”
“Don’t be stupid. I just want to win. That’s all there’s to it.”
“Really?” Abby accused. “So if I say that the only thing you really want to do right now is fuck Cecily, you would tell me that isn’t true?”
Adrian rolled his eyes at the ridiculous statement.
“So if she was in the other room right now waiting for you, you would be here with me?”
“I’m a guy. I’d fuck anything.”
“And the point is that you haven’t been.”
Fuck, she had him. “So you want me to sleep with some random chick to prove that you’re wrong?”
“No, you dumbass. How about you just admit to yourself what’s actually going on here?”
“No. Wrong. This is bullshit.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Abby said, throwing up her hands. “You know what? I hope she tortures you. You are dumb enough to deserve it. In fact, I already know she is. You’re too stupid to see it, and it’s all your own doing. I’m out of here.” Abby marched to the door and slammed it on her way out.
Adrian swigged the rest of the whiskey. He needed another.
Chapter 36
“YOU FUCKED ADRIAN?” Morgan demanded, standing over her as she walked into their shared yoga class.
Cecily cringed. “Could you keep it down?”
“What in all hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t. It just happened,” Cecily beseeched. “It was just one minute we were fighting and then we were making out.” Morgan stared at her disbelievingly. This was what Cecily had feared would happen. “I didn’t know how to tell you. I knew it looked bad. I can’t explain it. It just happened.”
“You know that guy is totally obsessed with you, and you go along and fuel the fire.”
Biting her lip, Cecily tried to work out what to say. It had been cowardly of her not broaching the subject with Morgan. When it had come down to it, she just couldn’t bring herself to. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I’m not proud of myself. I take it he told you.”
“Yeah, he mentioned it. What are you going to tell Mont?”
“I told him things were complicated. Besides, Adrian isn’t obsessed with me.”
“For fuck’s sake, Cecily.”
The yoga teacher was hushing them. So many things were racing through Cecily’s mind, the last thing she could focus on right now was yoga positions. So Adrian had chosen to use his ammunition with Morgan. What exactly had he hoped to achieve? That Morgan would turn her back? Was she turning her back? “Should we go talk?” Cecily whispered.
With a look and a snort, Morgan pressed herself off the mattress. They gave apologetic nods and smiles to the teacher as they quickly bundled up their mats.
It was quiet and cold out in the hallway and Cecily put on her jacket and shoes.
“Let’s get a smoothie,” Morgan said. It was usually their after class treat, but they were cheating today. Maybe potential friendship meltdown went better with a smoothie.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know how.”
“Except we have Adrian being a complete nutcase, and he’s destructive at the best of times.”
“There’s nothing left for him to destroy. He’s done it all.”
“Oh, he’ll find a way,” Morgan said dismissively.
“If so, it is either with you or Mont. Mont won’t listen to anything he says, and you… Well, I hope you won’t either.”
“Except some of the things he says are true.”
Renewed mortification washed over her. How long was she going to be punished for this?
Morgan was quiet while they stood waiting for their smoothies. “What a fucking mess,” she finally said. “What are we going to do about him?”
“Adrian? Not a damned thing. He can go to hell. I’m out.”
Morgan chewed her lip.
*
As much as Cecily liked to think she was completely blasé about Adrian and whatever he did, those nerves didn’t quite relent whenever she walked into English Lit in the mornings. Even now, she refused to concede space by taking another desk. It was an issue she refused to back down on.
Especially now that some time had passed and she was a little embarrassed about how despondent she’d felt after the bullshit had all happened. That was the term she used to refer to it now—the bullshit. It had felt like the world was ending—the worst possible thing that could have happened, but it hadn’t ended. It had been a blip.
That’s not to say she wasn’t still angry about
it.
Power wasn’t something other people could take from you. It was something you gave and for a while, she had given. Well, she wasn’t giving anymore.
“Morning, Miss Sunshine,” Adrian said. It was likely she’d just been frowning.
“It is a nice day, actually,” she said.
“Oh?”
“Mont’s taking me on a date tonight. Proper dress up, pick-me-up-at-my-door date. I literally can’t wait. Bought a new dress and everything. Oh and whatever happens after, he’s not the kind of guy to film it.”
The look on Adrian’s face was close to murderous. He really didn’t like hearing it. Him ripping into this date now would sound childish. “Well, that’s what you’re signing up for—everything by the book. I’m sure Mont will have all the milestones planned out with an appropriate schedule. You’ll always know what to expect. And you’ll always know what’s expected of you.” An exaggerated yawn spread across his mouth. “Thrilling.”
“As opposed to what? Get with you so you can play your demented power games? No thank you. I’ll pass.”
“Who said it was on offer?”
“Well you, and the fact that you seem inordinately obsessed with my relationship with Mont.”
“Like hell,” he said and looked away. And that was how she would get him to leave her alone. “I guess I am just curious to see how low you will go.”
“Oh, it’s low to date someone who treats you well?”
“It’s low to date someone just because it bothers me.”
“There is seriously no end to your arrogance.”
Mr. Anderson cleared his throat. “And if everyone would stop talking,” he said, looking pointedly at them. “We could all get on with the reason we are actually here today. Chaucer.”
The class groaned. The hour stretched on, talking about stuff no one could get interested in. Listening to this, Cecily decided that English Lit wasn’t her thing. How could anyone get excited about this?
Finally it ended and Cecily didn’t stick around. Unfortunately she couldn’t utterly claim she’d won that round with Adrian. It hadn’t gone exactly as expected and she hated that he’d planted seeds of doubt in her head. That’s what he did, and she refused to let him succeed. Mont was hot and kind, and every kind of awesome. Adrian was slinging mud because he just couldn’t compete, being that he was a nasty troll.