Page 21 of Twisted Promise

“I’m Alessio,” he said.

She wiped the dust off her pants as she stood. “Didn’t ask.”

“You know now.”

They weren’t remotely on the same wavelength.

* * *

EIGHTEEN

The world was small, way too small to fit that abominable snowman.

She was stuck on the icy floor after falling, and every part of her body screamed in pain. Her backpack took the majority of the impact, but the laptop—

Teary eyes glared at the sky, silently cursing the school for not salting that part of the ground, and she sighed in defeat. She needed a moment of silence to grieve for the broken laptop after she heard a distinctive crack, which was not a bag of chips.

Then he showed up like a fairy prince. His hair was dusted white with snowflakes, and his black coat was chic. Snow fell from his head onto her face as he leaned down. The coat he wore undoubtedly cost more than her laptop.

“You can’t be here,” she mumbled, her eyes closing as the snow slowly melted and slithered down her cheeks.

“I go here,” he refuted.

“Don’t you have Ivy League admissions?”

She researched him after the staircase incident, and it seemed safe to say he was over ten times the tax bracket from herlifestyle. He wasn’t crazily dubbed as an academic or athletic genius, but talent came naturally to him.

Probably to experience commoner life, she thought.

He extended his hand just as she opened her eyes, and her heart fluttered at the princely gesture. Alessio ruined that by grabbing a fistful of her front coat and hauling her to her feet like a mop.

“Do you even know how to be normal?” Anya questioned, genuinely concerned about his moral character.

“Date me.”

There it was again, talking past each other. It was impossible to say when it all went off course, but somehow, she had ended up on a track that was bound for trouble.

“You don’t know me,” she explained slowly.

“But I like you.”

“Do you?”

He nodded. “Probably.”

Anya bit back a groan. She’d lose her sanity before their signals ever connected.

Alessio’s communication skills were abysmal, and she couldn’t afford to be tricked into some honeypot scheme.

“I will spend money on you,” he interrupted promptly, likely seeing the deadpan madness on her face.

Well, he couldn’t bethatbad.

“Okay, boyfriend.”

He nodded and took out his phone to order a new laptop in front of her. He was an action-orientated young man, and Anya greatly approved of it.

“How do you know what I use?”

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