Page 8 of Bad Boy Billionaire Protector

Helena pulled me into another hug. I went reluctantly as the unlucky recipient of the hard rubs that she was giving my back. She was always overzealous with her hugs and rubs. It was quite uncomfortable.

I pulled away and smiled weakly at her. “I’m sorry. I’m just so emotional all the time. I think I might have come back too early. Being here just brings everything back to me.”

Helena smiled sympathetically. She rubbed my arm again. “I know. It must be so difficult. You’re being so brave by coming back at all. I don’t know that I could have done it if it were my boyfriend.”

“How is Foxy?”

Fredrick ‘Foxy’ Falstaff had been Helena’s boyfriend since high school. They had applied to Stanford together and were both studying Classical Studies. It was the kind of degree you pursued if you didn’t really need to one. It was for the trust fund babies that likely wouldn’t have to work at all. Both Helena and Foxy came from ridiculously wealthy families, and sailed through college going to parties and being part of stupid secret societies. But while Adam had the same background as them and did the same things, he just seemed so much more down to earth and serious about his studies. He wanted to be in academia.

“Foxy is just fine. Tell you what, I’m glad I bumped into you. Foxy is going to be performing tonight at a Spoken Word event in town. Nathan and I are going along to support him. Why don’t you come along and meet up with us?”

Nathan Wellbourne III was another of Adam’s old friends. He was also a trust fund baby, his family lineage possibly even more high society than Helena and Foxy put together. He was another Classics student. He had always been nice to me and had a great sense of humor.

I looked down at my feet, not really wanting to go out anywhere on the cold September evening. “Oh, I’m not too sure about that. I have so much studying to do.”

“Forget about studying, Amber. You look like you could do with a decent night out. Come on. Foxy and Nathan would love to see you, and I would love a chance to catch up with you more.”

“I don’t know…”

“Oh, say you’ll come!”

Her enthusiasm was so overwhelming that I felt like I couldn’t say no.

“All right, I’ll come.”

“Great. I’ll text you the details. You still have the same number, right?”

“Yeah. Sorry I never got back to you before…”

“Don’t worry about it. You were going through a tough time. But you’re back now. It’s time to throw yourself back into student life.”

“If you say so,” I shrugged.

“I do say so,” she smiled and hugged me again.

“Okay, well, what time should I meet you there?”

“How about seven? The event starts at seven thirty so that will give us a chance to chat and stuff before the performers begin.”

“All right. I’ll see you at seven tonight then.”

“Great. See you later!”

With that, she bounced off and headed down the street. I checked my watch and noticed that I was late for my yoga class.Oh well, that was that.I trudged back to my dorm room, lost in thought.

Sitting in my room, I thought about that damn ring that they all wore like a badge of honor. I thumbed the chain around my neck and touched the ring attached to it. The metal was warm after having been sitting against my skin under my sweater. I took the chain off and studied the ring for a while. It was black with a large red ruby in the middle. Around the band there were various strange characters, like hieroglyphs but different. I wondered what the significance was.

Opening a notepad, I grabbed a pencil and drew the characters. That way I could take the notepad to the library when I had the chance and look them up. Of course, it would help if I knew the language. Maybe Christos could help me. Then I felt guilty about thinking about him. Perhaps one of the Classics professors would be able to help me out instead. It made me feel better that I was doing something proactive to try and find out more about this secret society. Up until this point, I’d spent most of my time crying in my bed or staring at the wall. Now that I had something to go on, it sparked something inside me.

I slid the ring back on to the chain and clasped it around my neck. Touching it for a moment, I held back the tears and silently told myself that I had to get a grip. Pretty soon I was able to calm down.

Now I just had to get myself something for dinner and then get ready to go out to meet up with Helena, Foxy, and Nathan. Oh, joy of joys. I would have to sit and listen to them talking about their over-privileged lives. I mean, I wasn’t poor by any means, but these guys all came from such wealth that I just didn’t really have much in common with them, apart from loving Adam.

Maybe they would all get drunk and I would be able to pry answers from them. After all, they were Adam’s closest friends. I didn’t believe that none of them knew what was going on with him. Especially as they all seemed to be in that damn secret society together.

I grimaced and opened my closet to find something a bit fancier to wear for the evening’s entertainment.

I heard my cell phone ringing on the kitchen table. Walking over to see who was calling, I recognized the last 4 digits of the number. I’m pretty sure it was Christos. It had been four days since that magical night and I was still overwhelmed by our instant connection and the desire he generated inside of me. I even dreamed of him last night and found myself thrusting against my hand this morning as I moaned his name.

---