Page 57 of The Professor's Possession (Crystal River Billionaire Brothers)

She smiles at me. “Is there any way I can drag you out of that bed and those old emotionally repressed miserable English people in that book and get you to come out with me tonight?”

I shrug. “What exactly is happeningtonight?”

“A rave,” my roommate replies.

I scoff. “A rave?”

Ava nods. “Yeah, it’s going to be kind of like a rave. It’s in some warehouse on the edge of town.”

“I’ve never been to a rave,” I admit. “And to be honest, I’ve never intended to.”

“And that’s why you should come,” she says.

“Can you imagine me at a rave?” I ask her.

Ava giggles. “Come along. College is all about having new experiences.”

“You sure?”

“You’ll have a great time,” Ava replies.

I laugh at my roommate’s insistence. “Okay,” I say. “I’ll come. I wasn’t planning on doing anything else tonight. My old emotionally repressed miserable English people can wait.”

Ava lets out a very excited squeal.

“We’re going to have a great time,” she says.

* * *

The ravereally is taking place in a run-down warehouse just outside Crystal River. Our taxi rolls up alongside the abandoned building and I try to peek inside its dark windows. There is a whole array of different colored lights going on inside there. I can hear music throbbing. A few college-age people are mulling around outside, drinking and smoking.

It looks illegal.Veryillegal.

But it could be fun. And it’s good to have my roommate guiding me through this. I would never dare come to a place like this on my own.

“You excited?” Ava asks me as we step out of the taxi.

“Yeah, I’m super curious.”

Ava speaks to someone on the door. Some guy in a dirty hoodie who quickly nods us inside.

Yeah, I definitely have a strong feeling that this whole thing isn’t exactly the most legal of businesses. It probably breaks a dozen health and safety laws for starters.

Ava smiles at me as we step into the warehouse. Laser lights are spinning around, briefly illuminating the crowd of bodies as they dance to the beat of the pumping music flowing through the place. It’s a whole blinding array of noise and lights that dazzle the senses. I can see why people love these things; being part of some big anonymous rabble. Freedom to dance and justexist.

And the drugs that people are taking probably don’t hurt.

It may not be my scene, exactly, but Mom did encourage me to broach my horizons here at CRU, and this is definitely doing that.

Almost as soon as we step inside, I lose Ava in the crowd, but it’s not a big deal for me; I have her number saved on my phone. We’ll meet up again at some point. I simply just try to enjoy myself and dance to the beat.

After a while, my throat becomes parched, and I know I need a drink. I squeeze my way out of the crowd.

So. Many. People.

I pass by a couple kissing. I think it might be the same two I saw in the dorm hallways the first day I arrived at CRU.

I find the bar. I opt for a bottle of beer. Much easier to keep it from getting spiked or something. Yeah, I’ve seen the scary PSAs about letting some random near your opened drink. Call me a scaredy-cat.

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