Page 692 of Filthy Elites

Kelsey hesitated, but finally placed her hand on his arm. “Okay. Thanks.” It was only a ride. She didn’t have to talk to him again after that.

TEN

Unforeseen Complications

Adrian slept like crap,his back hurt, and he didn’t think the kink in his neck would ever go away. Staying in the car was not as easy as it looked in the movies. Car seats were not meant to recline back for sleeping. It was also way too bright. He had wanted to get up early and shower in the field house locker rooms before students started coming to class, but he ended up waking with the dawn. He needed a sunshade in the front window and something to cover the others if he was ever going to sleep in the car again.

He hoped that wasn’t going to be the case, but Adrian feared he wasn’t going to have any other choice. He needed to find someplace to stay while he figured out what he was going to do long-term. Even after his suspension was over, he couldn’t and wouldn’t go back to the rowing team.

Grabbing a change of clothes and his toiletry bag, he attempted to stretch out his back and neck when he stepped out of the car. It was going to be a long day.

The athletic building opened super early so students could work out before classes. Normally, not many students used the facilities that early. The locker room had been blissfully empty, and no one was in the showers, so he was able to let the hot water work out some of the knots in his muscles.

Adrian turned off the water and slung a towel around his waist, heading back to his locker to get dressed. He rounded the corner and was slammed into the wall, his face smashing into the tiles. A heavy arm pressed against the back of his neck and a cold metal gun barrel dug into his temple.

“Where the fuck is it?”

The voice was raspy, and it was obvious to Adrian his attacker was trying to disguise it. He thrashed, but the guy behind him was surprisingly strong and the gun was pushed harder into his head.

“Don’t fuckin’ move or I’ll blow your head off.”

“Get off me! I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Adrian tried to calculate his odds of getting this asshole off him without getting himself killed. It wasn’t looking good, so he would have to play along for a little bit until he could come up with a plan.

“Tell me where it is!”

“You got the wrong guy. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The door to the lockers slammed, signaling someone was entering the room.

The man pulled the gun back, smashing it across the back of Adrian’s head. The blow knocked him off balance and onto the floor.

Adrian jumped up and turned around to see someone dressed in all black with a ski mask over his head sprinting through the lockers to the rear exit. He thought about following, but he couldn’t run through campus in a towel.

Passing a hand over his wet hair, Adrian sighed. “What the fuck is going on with my life?”

He hurried to his locker and threw on his clothes. He was going to have to be extra careful from then on. The attacker probably had mistaken him for someone else or he had to have been strung out on drugs. Adrian didn’t have anything that wasn’t his. He barely had any belongings left.

* * *

Kelsey was late for work,which was fitting for the day she was having. It started off with calling her automotive club service to see if they could fix her flat tires. The man who had arrived at the animal shelter hadn’t even tried to fill her tires with air. He had simply loaded her car onto the flatbed and towed it to the dealership, which happened to be a half hour from campus.

No car meant she and Janie had walked from the apartment they shared to their classes. The five blocks they had to travel felt as if they were five miles instead of less than one. Her bookbag strap broke halfway to campus and she wasn’t paying attention to where she was stepping and tripped over a raised piece of concrete, scraping her palms and spilling her books over the walkway.

Janie hadn’t said a word about her mishaps, but Kelsey knew her friend had been dying to comment about Kelsey being accident prone. Kelsey couldn’t help if things were always happening to her. Her father used to call her a klutz when she was growing up and Kelsey began to wonder if maybe he’d been right.

The dealer had called and told her that there was nothing wrong with her tires and all she needed was air. The technician thought it was probably a prank and some neighborhood kids had most likely been out looking for mischief.

So not only did she have to pay for the car to be towed, she also had to pay the dealer for labor to diagnose the problem. They could have cut her a break, but they didn’t. There went a sizable chunk of the money she had been stockpiling. It seemed like every time she was able to save a little money, something happened that required her to spend it.

The only nice thing to occur was Gwen driving her to get her car back, but even that turned out badly. They had gotten stuck in horrific traffic on the way back so now she was late for work.

Kelsey turned into the driveway of the animal shelter and made her way around the back of the building but slammed on the brakes when she noticed a Porsche in her normal spot. No one had assigned parking spaces, but she had been using the same one since she was a freshman. A Jeep was next to it.

The volunteers and community service students were probably there before her. She had wanted to arrive first to get things ready for them, but that didn’t happen. Hopefully, Dr. Hogan had gotten them started on the paperwork and waivers they needed to complete.

She backed into the spot next to the dark green Jeep and checked her appearance in the mirror on the visor. Her hair was a mess and she had smudges under her eyes. Not having the time to make herself presentable, she wiped the mascara off as best she could and smoothed down her hair. It wasn’t the best, but it would have to do.

The back door was unlocked, making her a little irritated. There was a sign on the door in huge block letters reminding everyone to keep the door locked. It was for safety reasons and also because the door didn’t latch correctly. The wind tended to blow it open even when it was not that strong.

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