Page 248 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

Tommy beamed. “I know. Thank you for being honest.” He leaned in and kissed her.

Anna kissed him back, clinging to him in desperation. She didn’t want to leave him either. He had been the one constant source of kindness the entire weekend, and she was reluctant to let that go. Though, she reminded herself, she had plenty to look forward to back home. Friends, her lovely apartment, and, of course, dancing. She would see Tommy again in April.

“Anna, let’s go.” Devin stood nearby, frowning at her.

Tommy straightened and offered a warm smile as he opened the car door for her. She gave Tyler a nod of respect, then turned her gaze back to Tommy, hoping he understood how much she cared for him.

“Take care of yourself. If not before, I’ll see you in April.”

He kissed her one last time, then closed the door. He said goodbye to his dad, then he and Tyler waved as the car pulled away from the curb.

Chapter 118

Anna called Jenna when she got home and invited her friend over after she’d finished rehearsal. She spent the afternoon unpacking and thinking about the previous weekend.

Devin had been happy when he dropped her off at her apartment, thanking her for helping him. Her heart warmed at his words. Yes, it had been a very hard weekend, but that’s what she’d been trained for. To help Devin. And she had.

She pushed aside the details of the weekend. Concentrate on the good, forget the bad.

As evening approached, a knock sounded at the door. Jenna stood there with a big grin on her face. “Oh my gosh, have you seen your neighbors?”

Anna glanced toward Greg’s apartment and shrugged.

Jenna shook her head and motioned for Anna to follow her into the hallway. She pointed to the far end of the hall where the two men she’d seen in the elevator weeks ago were standing. They were dressed in suits and looked rather handsome. They glanced back at the two girls, grinned, and then went into their apartment.

Anna shrugged. “I saw them a few weeks ago, but haven’t met them. Did you?”

“I rode up in the elevator with them. Ben and Matt. We should go say hello.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Jenna...” She had no interest in meeting anyone. “Come inside.”

Jenna looked around as she did. “I still love this place. You’re so lucky.”

“You do remember what I have to do to live here, right?”

“Have sex?” Jenna shrugged. “I wish I could get a nice place in exchange for sex.”

Anna sighed. Alex paid for her apartment. She supposed she wasn’t really giving anyone sex for it, now that he was gone. But Devin still used it for his purposes. But maybe, now that he’d achieved his goal of becoming Chairman—whatever that meant—he wouldn’t need to send over men anymore. Especially Zach.

She bit her lip. If only she could be so lucky.

She plopped down on the couch and Jenna sat next to her and asked about her trip. She left all the horrendous details, but told her about sightseeing in Washington, D.C. and meeting Tommy. As she was telling Jenna about Harvard, there was a knock at the door.

Sucking in a deep breath as her heart pounded for fear of who was visiting, she walked to the door and opened it. Relief spread like summer rain at the sight of her neighbor Greg. Behind him were the two guys from down the hall.

Greg smiled. “Hey, Anna. How was your trip?”

“Good, thank you.” She glanced behind him. “Did you need something?”

Greg grinned. “Ben and Matt live down the hall. We were going to go grab some dinner and wanted to know if you and your friend wanted to come along.”

“Yes!” Jenna yelled from the other room.

Anna chewed her lip for a moment. “I just got home?—‍”

Jenna appeared behind her. “Yes, we’ll come.” She pushed Anna out of the way and held out her hand to the guys. “Hi, I’m Jenna.”

Greg shook her hand. “I’m Greg. This is Ben and Matt.”

---