Page 51 of Take My Place

I look around the room and spot an empty table at the back.

“I’ll go grab a couple of seats,” I tell Lucas, taking the muffins and going over to the table. Sitting down, I pick a blueberry off the muffin and eat it while I gaze idly around the room. I frown when I spot Declan on the other side of the coffee shop. I’m sure he has an art class at this time. He looks up from the book he is reading and I wave at him, but he ignores me.

Strange.

Lucas comes over with the drinks and sits opposite me. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I take the hot chocolate from Lucas and scoop off a bit of cries with a marshmallow, popping the whole thing in my mouth. “What I want to know is how come someone who couldn’t afford to enter a race suddenly rocks on up at one of the most expensive schools in the country?”

“Would you believe I left my wallet at home?” Lucas smiles winningly.

“No. I wouldn’t.”

“Okay. I was undercover. I wanted to check you all out, you especially, before I started at the Academy. I figured that if I pretended to be poor, I’d get a feel for what you were really like, who were the spoilt brats and who were the halfway decent people worth hanging out with once I started school.”

“So I guess that Declan’s your new best buddy then?”

“Not quite.” Lucas chuckles. “He’s a decent guy and I appreciated him paying for me to ride, but he’s too caught up with his music to be interested in making new friends. He seems to really like you though. Whenever I’ve spoken to him, he’s always mentioned you and how cool you are. Is there something going on there Romy needs to know about?”

“No. Of course not. Declan’s just my song writing partner. Why would there be something going on? We have to spend time together to work on our music, but that’s as far as it goes.”

Lucas gives me a knowing smile and I realise I’d given myself away by babbling too much.

“The lady doth protest too much,” he says. “But don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“I don’t have a secret,” I lie. “Romy knows everything about me and Declan and he’s fine about it because he’s secure in our relationship. Romy trusts me because he knows I’ll always come home to him.”

“Is that right?” Lucas sips his coffee. “I have a feeling that might not be the case for much longer.”

“Look, are we here to talk about my love life which, quite frankly, is none of your business, or are we going to discuss what we came here to talk about? Because if you don’t want to know about what we’ve been doing in business politics, I’ve got homework. I’d rather be home, working, than have you insult me.”

I get up to go but Lucas puts a hand out to stop me.

“Sorry. Of course we’re here to talk about class. You make me nervous, which is strange. Girls don’t usually have that effect on me.”

“What have you got to be nervous about?”

“I’m having coffee with Ivy Archaic. That’s enough to make any man nervous.”

“Are you serious?” My eyebrows shoot up so high they must have gotten lost in my hairline.

“Completely. Who do you think the guys talk about when we think no one’s listening? Your name is on everyone’s lips. Everyone wants to be the one to have you ride pillion. There’s a sweepstake going on about how long your engagement to Romy is going to last.”

“No way.”

“Yes, way. Word on the street is that the two of you are never going to walk down the aisle together, so they’re all biding their time for an opportunity to get inside your knickers.”

“Is that right?” I murmur.

“Yep. Declan, Archer, Matt, Tyler, everyone. They’re all talking about how they’re going to be there to pick up the pieces when Romy moves on to his next conquest.”

As Lucas continues to tell me all about what people were really saying about me behind my back, I forget all about trying to find out more about his background. I feel sick to my stomach. Did Archer seduce me this afternoon just so he could boast about it to the lads? How would Romy feel if he heard about what happened?

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

“Ivy? Is it something I said? Ivy!”

I get up and practically ran out of the coffee shop, tears blinding me. I hear Lucas coming after me, but I am not going to stop so he can apologise. I’ve had enough.

---