Page 42 of Cruel Riches

I spied a small note taped to the other side. When I read it, my erratic heartbeat calmed right down.

Hey,

Hope this isn’t too weird – I got your dorm number from the admin office downstairs. Just thought you might need a little something to make your day better.

Harry

Inside the box was a brand-new phone, along with a note explaining that it was attached to a new SIM card with a two-year prepaid plan which included unlimited data, calls and texts. It was also pre-loaded with the most popular apps. All I needed to do was turn it on and log in to the cloud to download all my old photos, messages, and other information.

“Holy shit,” I whispered as I switched it on. What an amazing gift. It was almost enough to make me forget why I needed a new phone in the first place.

Almost.

There was a contact already saved in the phone—Harry—along with a message from him.

You’re welcome :)

My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I hesitated, biting my bottom lip. I wanted to message Harry back and ask him out to thank him, but I was worried about what Nate might do if he saw me openly dating someone, seeing as he’d made it clear that he wanted to make my life a living hell from now on.

Would he tell Harry about the blowjob I gave him in the gazebo on the same night we met, just to make me look bad? Or worse, would he tell him my secret?

I took a deep, cleansing breath. No. I wasn’t going to let Nate break me. I wasn’t going to let him stop me from having fun and hanging out with a guy who actually deserved my company, either.

Fuck you, Nate.

My fingers flew over the phone keyboard, typing out a grateful message to Harry. Then I hit send before I could change my mind. There. Done. Harry and I would be seeing each other again soon.

It was just too bad that I was still thinking of Nate…

---