Page 4 of Chasing Temptation
Chapter Two
My body’s vibrating with nervous energy and the need to hurt someone as I wait for Eddie to give my usual class something to keep them entertained. He rushes through his instructions, but I’m not sure how much that’s due to his concern or the fact that I’m staring at him with my muscles pulled tight and my fists clenched, ready to fight.
He’s made no secret of the fact he doesn’t like me, or at least the image I portray. I don’t fit into his perfect world of designer suits, pocket squares, and tie pins.
After what feels like a fucking year, he’s walking towards me and gestures for me to follow him to his office.
“Where’s he taken her, Eddie?” I demand the second he has the door shut.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Cut the act. I might only know the very basics, but I know that you know everything. She’s been terrified for weeks that he’s going to find her, and now she’s fucking gone. Where has he taken her?”
“How the fuck should I know? She’s been the only one I’ve had contact with since I left that place.”
“But you know wherethat placeis. Tell me that. It’s got to be a good start.”
“Earlington Manor. It’s a private school.” The name sounds vaguely familiar, but the only private school I know is the hellhole my parents sent me to, and that’s not it. “Her father was the head and her husband the head of humanities.”
“And why would they want her back?” I need him to fill in a few of my blanks if I have any chance of understanding what the fuck is going on right now.
“Have you not seen the news recently?”
I cast my mind back to the image of Quinn freaking out in our hotel room while I was watching the news.
“Earlington Manor,” I say out loud, more to myself than Eddie. “Sex scandal, child abuse, massive enquiry—”
“The one and only. She exposed them. Managed to get evidence that her dad covered up one of her husband's most recent indiscretions and went to the police with it. Then she ran.”
“Fuck.”
I fall down onto the chair behind me as the information sinks in.
It makes so much sense.It’s why she was so against us. She thought that by being with me, she was becoming them.
“Fuck,” I repeat, not quite believing what I’m hearing but knowing full well that it’s true.
“That place was hell on earth. A place full of wealth where money can buy anything and any wrongdoing can be covered up without a second thought.”
“Where is it? We need to go there. We need to find her.”
“We?”
“Yes, motherfucker.We. Don’t you care about her? She told me you were her only friend. Don’t you want to know she’s safe as much as I do?”
“Yes but—”
“But what? Please don’t tell me that you’re too much of a stuck-up, pocket square wearing prick to get your hands dirty to save her.”
“Uh…”
“Fuck this. I’ll Google it. I’ll get to her with or without your help.”
Turning away from him, I wrench the door open with enough force that it could well come off its hinges before running out of the building and towards where I abandoned my van on the double yellow lines out the front of the college.
By some fucking miracle I’ve not got a ticket—not that it’s my biggest concern right now.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I type in the school name Eddie just gave me and immediately news headlines light up my screen.
