Page 34 of Arden and the Girl Downstairs

His response throws me off. Over the years, I’ve become the white knight everyone loves, and I want to continue to be that person for my friends. Because they save me just as much as I save them. But Ella. Ella is different.

“Ella doesn’t need someone to save her. She just needs someone tobetherewhen she needs a little extra support. She’s been doing things on her own for years, and she’s made it work. But she doesn’t need to struggle with all of that now. She may not like the idea at the start, but I’ll wear her down.”

Lucas shakes his head at me disapprovingly. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“It’s a fantastic idea. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

“It doesn’t seem like she is the type of girl you can just ‘buy.’”

“I’m not going to buy her. She already has access to all my money. I want an equal in life. I want her to treat what’s mine as hers. That will be my biggest struggle. Once I have her on board, though, I believe we can make this work.”

“Have you told her anything about this plan?”

“Not yet, but I will.”

Lucas doesn’t say much after that. He pats me on the back and tells me he’ll see me next month. One condition of my release is that I need to check in with him monthly. You know, just to make sure my crazy isn’t showing.

I’m giddy on the way back to my room.

Tomorrow, I’m going to win over my wife, and I cannot freaking wait.

Arden

Every time the door to the lecture hall opens, I glance at it, waiting for Ella. She has been not only haunting me during the day, but also of a night-time now. Every night this week I’ve dreamed of her.

Halfway through the lesson, she still hasn’t shown up. She wasn’t in our earlier class either. I start to worry—this isn’t like her. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling something’s wrong. We were messaging last night, and she promised she’d meet me here. It’s the only reason I came straight from the rehab facility to uni without stopping at home.

I do the first thing I can think of, pulling my phone out of my pocket to message Ralph.

Arden: Do you know where Ella is?

I’m not sure why Ralph is the first person I think of asking. He isn’t even in New Hope at the moment, and he definitely isn’t Ella’s keeper. But the niggling feeling won’t go away. I should have messaged Shamus or someone else that may be at the house.

The minutes tick by and I stare at my phone, waiting for a response. I’m not expecting Ralph to know where she is, but he’ll definitely reply, and once he does, I’ll check with Chad. Maybe something happened at Grumpy’s and she had to work? I don’t understand why she hasn’t messaged me to tell me, though.

My phone vibrates with an incoming text.

Ralph: She’s on her way to the hospital. Shamus is with her.

The world shifts. My head is spinning. Why is she on her way to the hospital? What the hell is going on?

I grab my stuff and leave the lecture hall in a hurry. The teacher calls out, and I ignore her. I can’t explain why, but I need to get to the hospital. As much as that unicorn-clad tornado irritates the shit out of me, I can’t deny that I’m drawn to her. I’ve never met anyone quite like her. She isn’t interested in my money, or me. But that seems to only encourage me to push her just that little bit more each time. She challenges me. Not to mention, she is thesolereason I just did a month in rehab.

Hurrying across the car park, I dig my keys out of my pocket and unlock my SUV, thankful that I asked Shamus to drop it off for me this morning. I break into a jog the last few metres, then fling open the car door, chuck my bag on the passenger’s seat, and climb in.

As soon as the engine kicks over, I hit call on Ralph’s name on the dash screen and reverse out, heading towards the campus exit nearest the direction of the hospital.

“What happened?” I ask the minute the call connects. Ralph knows me well enough to not bullshit me.

“I had Shamus check on her because no one else was home, and last I heard she was meeting you at school, so we figured she didn’t need a chaperone. She didn’t answer her door, but her car was in the garage, so I told Shamus to go in there. He found her barely conscious on the bathroom floor. She was doubled over in pain, couldn’t move, and had vomited. He called an ambulance and Caleb. They should all be arriving at the hospital any minute,” Ralph explains while I speed through the streets of New Hope, not caring about the speed limits.

I need to get to the hospital.

Why does everyone insist on driving so damn slowly?

“Where are you?” Ralph’s voice sounds a bit distant—or maybe that’s just me.

“On my way to the hospital. I need to be there. Are you coming back?” I ask Ralph as I pull into the hospital parking lot.

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