Page 52 of Bound in Debt
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.
