Page 688 of Filthy Elites

Please remove your things by tonight.

The cowards hadn’t even signedthe letter. They typed it so he wouldn’t be able to figure out who wrote it. He had a good idea who was behind the venom, but it didn’t matter. They were right. He wasn’t on the team anymore and he no longer fit in with them. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t felt at ease with them for a long time. He had been existing and coasting through his life.

Shoving the letter into his backpack, he pushed the door, but it only opened a few inches. His eyes narrowed, wondering what was up. Something stopped it, so he shoved against the unknown deterrent, making enough room for him to slip inside, only to stop dead.

His room was completely trashed. It looked like a scene from a movie where someone walks into their house after the bad guys had been looking for something and were as destructive as possible.Did my former teammates destroy my room? Who else would have done it? Do they hate me that much?

Clothes were pulled out of his drawers and were dumped onto the floor. The bookcase that had been next to his bed was toppled over and its contents thrown all over. His mattress no longer sat on the bed frame and his desk was on its side. Nothing remained in his closet except for a couple of hangers.

Adrian rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the colossal mess, stunned. “Fuck.” The mess was overwhelming, and he had no idea where to begin. Adrian didn’t know how long he stood at the edge of the mess and simply gaped at it, trying to comprehend if what he was seeing was really there. He must have stood still for several minutes trying to make sense of the destruction around him but was unable to do so.

Sighing, he closed the door behind him and knelt in front of the largest pile. He had to collect his most important belongings and find a place to stay. He would get the rest of his stuff another time.

Technically, they had no right to kick him out. His tuition and room and board were all paid in full for the year. He was thankful his father had done that, or he would not have been able to stay in college. With his parents’ assets frozen, he would not be able to get any more money from them. That was going to be problematic in finding somewhere else to stay. He had a little money in his account, but it wouldn’t last long.

He dropped his backpack onto a pile of clothes and unzipped it. He was glad he had his laptop with him, or it would have probably been damaged. He hoped his tablet had made it through the devastation.

Adrian sifted through the clothes and other items on the floor. Most of the books he found were novels he had read or planned to. His love for reading had helped him through many lonely nights when all he needed was to escape his life for a while.

He pulled out his textbooks and shoved them inside the bag with the ones from his classes that day. He found a wrinkled notebook and a couple of folders with the papers sticking out at odd angles. He needed those for his classes too, so they were stuffed inside. He couldn’t close the bag, but it would have to do for now.

Clothes were everywhere, making him realize he had too many. Adrian spotted two duffle bags among the debris, so he waded through the mess to grab them. The first one he filled with socks, boxers, T-shirts, and shorts. He shoved jeans, shirts, and various other items in the second one along with his jacket.

Pulling his tablet from under the desk, he was shocked to find it not cracked. He slid that inside his overstuffed backpack. Adrian turned in a circle to survey his room. There was so much stuff all over that he would not be able to take with him and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

Stepping over another pile, he made his way to the adjoining bathroom. Shaking his head in disgust, he noticed that his shampoo and toothbrush and paste had all been tossed onto the floor. They had even taken the lid off the toilet tank.

He grabbed his toiletry bag and what he could salvage from the floor and shoved it into the duffle. He let out the strap on the one duffle and slung it over his shoulder, along with his backpack, and picked up the last bag. He would stop back and grab a few more things once he found a place to stay.

He wondered if he should bother locking the door. It hadn’t stopped them from trashing his room. More out of habit than anything else, he pulled the door closed behind him and locked it. Why make it too easy for them?

* * *

Kelsey slippedthe bright purple animal rescue polo shirt over her T-shirt and smoothed down the front. The veterinarian, Dr. Katherine Hogan, who owned the clinic and animal rescue wanted all her staff and volunteers to wear a uniform shirt when working with the animals or helping clients. They also had to pin on a name tag with paw prints on it. The red nameplates clashed with the purple shirts, but Dr. Hogan didn’t seem to mind.

The whole place was decorated in bright bold colors, unlike most other shelters and animal hospitals around. Kelsey liked the warm, friendly atmosphere.

“Good afternoon, Kelsey.” Marie, the receptionist, greeted. “It’s going to be a busy evening. Dr. Hogan has a packed schedule and we just got in two new strays. The one dog won’t let anyone near it and hasn’t been checked out yet. Oh, and Mr. Young is here again with his cat.”

Kelsey sighed. She liked Mr. Young, but he was sometimes difficult to deal with. He was a little bit of a hypochondriac when it came to his cat. “And there’s probably not a single thing wrong with the cat. That’s the third time this month. What’s the problem this time?”

Marie giggled. “Miss Kitty has been moody for the last two days.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?” For some reason, Mr. Young loved Kelsey and she was the only person who could reason with him.

“He’s in with Dr. Hogan now.”

“I’ll be in the back with my fur buddies. I could use a little loving after the day I had.” Kelsey adored the residents of the shelter and looked forward to spending time with them. Her feelings were torn when one of them was adopted. Although she was happy for the animal, she would miss them like crazy. She bonded with some more than others so for a few of them, she cried when they left the shelter.

Stopping at the first pen, she let herself inside and closed the gate behind her. Kelsey knelt on the ground and a curly-haired mutt bounded up to her, nearly knocking her over in his excitement. His greeting was a long, wet swipe of his tongue down her cheek. Kelsey laughed as she hugged the dog. “Hello, Bongo. It’s so good to see you, boy!”

Kelsey rubbed the dog’s fur and scratched behind his ears.

“There you are,” Dr. Hogan called out as she reached the pen.

“Hey, Doc. How’d it go with Mr. Young?”

“I told him he needed to give Miss Kitty some space when she got moody, and she would come back to him when she got over it. There wasn’t a thing I could find wrong except that she was a little overweight from Mr. Young feeding her every time she begged for it. I told him he needed to go back to the recommendations we had set for him before.”

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