Page 4 of Deceit

I startle at his question, fastening my eyes to the floor as I respond.

“I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment before he begins circling me, much like a predator does to his prey.

“So, you’re the Parris princess.”

I frown at that, my eyes tracking him as he continues to slowly circle me.

“What? I’m not a princess. I’m—”

“You are on this campus, Princess, and I’m the king.”

Tilting my head to the side, my face pinches in confusion.

“So, on this campus, I’m your daughter?”

He pauses for a moment before his face is slashed with irritation.

“Fucking smartass. My father told me you were a good girl. Quiet, obedient. Guess he was wrong.”

His father? So this must be—

“Asher?” I question.

“Is that a question?” He asks with a lifted eyebrow.

My eyes roam over him, his wide shoulders and lean muscles a stark contrast from who I expected. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t…him. His smug attitude is really starting to irritate me though, and before I can stop myself, I speak.

“Disappointed more so. What can you do? Life is full of them,” I shrug.

Fire rages in his chocolate brown eyes before he reaches into his pocket, throwing a jewelry box at my chest. I make no move to catch it, allowing it to fall to the ground as he sneers.

“Put it on and don’t take it off,” before he’s storming out of my room, slamming the door shut with a shake that rattles the walls around me.

Irritation rises inside of me, before I close my eyes and let out a ragged breath. And that is the guy that I’m supposed to be marrying in less than nine months? What an asshole.

After my bags are brought up to me and my things are unpacked, I get a call from the nurse’s office.

“Can you please come down this evening so we can go over your medical records?” a soft voice asks through the phone.

“Oh, of course. How do I get there from the Parris dormitory?” I ask, internally cringing that my father felt it necessary tohave an entire dorm named after himself. Then again, it could be my grandfather’s doing, or maybe my great-grandfather. Supposedly, Parris’s have been attending Gallows Hill since the college first opened back in the early seventeenth-century.

“Just head through the main courtyard and it’s the building straight ahead. You can’t miss it.”

I nod to myself as I speak.

“I’ll head there now.”

“See you soon.”

I hang up and grab my purse and key card, making sure to throw my phone in for good measure as I trek across campus. The sun hasn’t quite set yet and it’s actually fairly quiet. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and according to my father, move-in day was officially last week so everyone is undoubtedly turned in for the night.

When I get to the main building, I see a sign saying ‘nurse’ with an arrow on it. I follow the hallway all the way to the end before stopping at a full on ER, at least that’s what it looks like. Dozens of beds, several nursing staff and medical supplies as far as the eye can see.

One guy is sitting on a bed, football uniform caked with mud and his bloodied nose stuffed with gauze. His eyes track me curiously, as if I was a newly discovered species. A cherubic looking nurse smiles at me as she makes her way over.

“Miss Parris?” she questions.

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