tment without even remembering to take off his white shirt.
Chapter 17
Audrey
“She’s right through here.”
The nurse pulled aside the curtain and let Tina and I through. Exchanging glances, we stepped into Avis’s small hospital room–the scent of antiseptic mixed with fresh flowers from a vase on the side table overwhelming us.
“You guys came.” Avis grinned at us from the hospital bed, her blonde head sporting a clean white bandage where she had hit it.
Tina and I surged forward, each of us hugging Avis from one side. When we pulled away, I practically had tears in my eyes. Tina pushed her red hair out of her face and beamed down at Avis,
“Tina told me you were okay,” I said,
id, “but I had to see fo
see for myself”
Avis giggled and tucked a stray blonde curl behind her ear. “The doctor said it was just a mild concussion,” she said, reaching up to touch the bandage covering her temple.
“Did you h
have to get stitches?” Tina asked as she leaned closer to get a better look.
Avis nodded and let out a huff. “Yeah. They said it might leave a bit of a scar on my eyebrow.”
Tima and I exchanged angry glances, and I felt my chest clench. Reaching out to give Avis’s hand a squeeze, I said, “I’m sorry that happened. It’s my
“Your fault” Avis narrowed her eyes at me. “How!”
I swallowed and shrugged. “I was useless. I should have tried harder to get away from them, to=”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Avis waved her hand dismissively. “I haven’t regretted biting Linda for even a moment; she deserved it.”
There was no containing the laugh that escaped me at those words. Without thinking, I leaned forward again and threw my arms around Avis, squeezing her so tight I thought her small frame might shatter beneath my grip. When we pulled apart, though, we were both grinning from ear to
ear.
“Speaking of Linda” Tina said, waving her phone at us, “I just got word that her parents found out about her behavior.”
“And?” Avis and I asked almost in unison.
Tina chuckled. “Apparently they cut off her credit card. Looks like the princess is poor now, just like the rest of us.” She paused then, her eyes widening slightly as she scrolled through the text on her phone “And., Oh, Goddess. Read this
Without an explanation, Tina shoved her phone into my hands. 1 furrowed my brow and took it, reading out loud- “Linda and her team are facing disbandment.” My eyes turned into saucers as I slowly lifted my gaze to look at my friends. “Does this mean
My friends and I stared at each other in shock as we took in the implication: Linda might not be in the running for the fashion show after all. Perhaps she truly had become the exact embodiment of the type of person who she had accused us of being
Someone who couldn’t produce a worthwhile garment to save
her life.
Suddenly Avis let out an abrasive laugh that was so loud it caused both me and Tina to whip our heads around–such a loud sound for such a small girl. Her face was beet red from holding it in, rears streaming down her cheeks,
“Oh, how the mighty fall,” she said, wiping at her tears with the back of her hand. “This has been coming for a long, long
time
I strode down the hallway with a bag in hand–a bag containing the freshly–washed shirt that belonged to Edwin. I had accidentally worn it out of his apartment earlier that morning, but had taken the liberty of cleaning it to return to him.
Secretly. I hoped that he wasn’t there, although I doubted that was the case. I didn’t want to see him, not after spending the night in his apartment, and especially not after having a wet dream about him. Hopefully, though, he would be too busy to talk and I could just drop the shirt off and leave.
That would be ideal.
As I stepped up to his door and reached for the handle, a sudden voice caught my attention.
“Excuse me,”
I turned, my hand still hovering in front of the doorknob, to see a woman walking toward me. She was tall and curvaceous, with dark brunette hair and warm brown eyes. She wore a pencil skirt into which was tucked a crisp white button–down, dark pantyhose and black pumps, and narrow
0
4:36 PM
Chapter 17
“You’re going into Professor Brooke’s office?” she asked.
I nodded and dropped my hand back to my side. “I was. Is he not here?”
The woman shrugged. “I think he is. Here.” She fished into her pocket and withdrew a small white envelope. “Can y
you deliver this for me?”
“Of course,” I said, taking the envelope–but I didn’t have a chance to ask who I should say it was from, since there was no name on it, before she was scurrying away. She seemed to be in a hurry, so I didn’t bother to go after her. Edwin would likely know who had sent it, I figured.
Knocking softly, I cracked Edwin’s door open and poked my head in when there was no answer. Scanning the room, I finally saw him. There, on his desk, was his head of dark hair nestled into his arms.
He was.. sleeping.
Frowning, I stepped into the room. I opened my mouth to call out to him and wake him up, cautiously fingering the envelope in my hands, but then stopped myself when my gaze landed on a washable marker by his head.
I couldn’t help myself. I quietly tiptoed across the room, picking up the marker. Edwin didn’t stir in the slightest, his jaw simply working a bit in sleep. His breathing was slow and steady, his broad back rising and falling with each peaceful inhale and exhale.
If I could just…
Slowly and carefully, I leaned down until I was level with his face. Then, practically holding my breath so as not to wake him, I smirked to myself and began to doodle a small drawing on his check.
There. That would be sufficient revenge for the way he had touched my nose while I slept in the library.
Suddenly, a knock on the door caused me to jump. Before I could pull away and hide the evidence, the door was cracking open. “Edwin?” a familiar male voice called out. “You in there!”
I wasn’t sure why I did what I did next–blame it on panic, I suppose.
As the door opened, knowing that I couldn’t crase the drawing in time and that I would be caught red–handed, I leaned closer to Edwin and angled my body so that whoever walked in couldn’t see. From there, I knew it would look like I was kissing him.
“Edwi–Oh. I’m so sorry,” the male voice, who I now placed as Charles, said, followed by immediately leaving.
Once he was gone, I let out the breath I had been holding and straightened. But before I could, I felt an arm yip as Edwin yanked me close, abruptly sitting upright to fix me with that steely gaze of his.
“What do you think you’re doing, young lady!” he growled, his voice low and husky in my ear.
wrap
