MasukI slammed the door shut, locked it, and dropped my bag right on the floor. I couldn't even make it to my bed properly. I just collapsed right onto the mattress, burying my face into my pillow and crying my eyes out. It was embarrassing, but I couldn't stop it. Allie dropped her bag of chips on her desk and ran over to me immediately. “Clara? What happened? Did Chloe leak the picture?” “No,” I choked out, my voice sounding totally muffled against the pillow. “It’s Justin... I saw him, Allie.” Allie frowned, sitting on the edge of my bed. “Where? What did he do?” “On the third floor of the library!” I sat up, wiping my face with my sleeve. “I went up there to think, and he was there. Pinned against a bookshelf with some blonde girl! She was literally pulling his trousers down, Allie! Right there in the open! They were about to have sex in the fiction section!” Allie’s jaw hit the floor. “Wait... in the library?” “Yes! And he saw me! A book cart tipped over and made a loud noise,
The second Professor Watkins dismissed us, I grabbed my bag and practically ran out of the lecture hall. I didn't even bother zipping my backpack all the way. I just wanted to get out of there before someone stopped me to ask what had happened. My heart was still pounding in my throat, and my hands were shaking so badly I could barely keep hold of my bag strap. Standing up to Chloe in front of everyone had felt really good for about two seconds. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, though, I was starting to panic. My stomach felt like it had dropped somewhere down to my feet, and all I could think about was that picture still sitting on Chloe's phone. Chloe was pissed. She wasn’t the type to just take an embarrassing moment like that and move on. She was going to try to ruin me, and she had the exact photo to do it sitting right on her phone. I walked out of the building and into the cold air, wrapping my arms around myself as I headed down the pavement. I pulled my phone ou
I just stared at her, completely frozen, my hands hovering over the open notebook as my mind went blank. “Excuse me?” I squeaked out, my voice betraying every single ounce of panic running through my blood. Chloe didn't blink. She just tilted her head, tapping her long acrylic nails against the wooden desk with a slow, agonizing rhythm. Tap, tap, tap. “You heard me, Clara,” she whispered, leaning so close I could smell the sickly sweet mint on her breath. “Everyone saw the spectacle last night. Carter pulling you out of there like you're some damsel in distress. But I know the truth. You’re just a cheap little gold-digger pretending to like Carter for his money, playing two guys at once.” My stomach churned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about...” “Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes, pulling her phone out of her leather bag and laying it flat on the desk between us. She tapped the screen once. It was the exact picture I’d seen her take the night before in the hallway of my apa
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Carter said, keeping his voice dead low, though his jaw was so tight I thought his teeth might crack. “You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Viktor shot right back. He didn't even yell. He just leaned in, using that creepy, quiet authority that probably made his board members wet their pants. “You come in here with your little actress of a girlfriend and try to talk down my attitude in front of my friends and business partners?” My face burned. Actress of a girlfriend. Ouch. I mean, he wasn't wrong about the fake part, but hearing it tossed out like trash made my stomach do a nasty flip. Justin, who had been standing on the edge of the stage just watching the whole circus with a stupid smirk, decided that was his cue to jump in. He rested a hand on the mic stand, tossing his dark hair back. “Mr. Graham,” Justin drawled, his voice echoing through the speaker setup. “This right here is a family drama I don’t think anyone in this room is
The hostess led us past the main dining floor toward the back, where the dimly lit VIP alcoves were hidden behind dark velvet curtains. My stomach was twisting into absolute knots. Between Chloe’s midnight deadline, the bra hidden in my bag, and Carter’s possessive brooding, I felt like a walking bomb about to go off lol... We turned the corner into the back hallway near the restrooms, and Carter suddenly stopped, his eyes going wide. Sitting at a round corner booth, casually sipping a glass of bourbon like he owned the entire building, was Justin. And standing right next to him, shaking his hand with a booming laugh, was Viktor Graham. "What the hell is he doing here?" Carter muttered under his breath, his whole body going rigid. I stood dead in my tracks, my eyes bulging out of my head. Justin looked up, caught me staring in my tight blue silk dress, and slowly raised his glass in a silent, arrogant toast. I was so incredibly doomed. I practically hid behind Carter’s should
I practically sprinted down the concrete steps of the dorm building, clutching my handbag so tight to my ribs I could feel the hard wire of Justin’s cheap bra digging right into my side through the leather. Outside, Carter’s massive black truck was idling by the curb like a idling tank, rumbling so loud it was vibrating the gravel underneath my cheap flats. I grabbed the handle, hauled myself up into the passenger seat, and slammed the door shut behind me. "Finally," Carter muttered, not even looking at me as he shifted into drive and peeled away from the curb. "My dad’s already at the steakhouse. If we’re late, he’s gonna start talking about how I lack basic discipline before we even order drinks." "Sorry," I breathed out, leaning back against the leather seat and trying to get my heart rate under control. "I was... fixing my dress." Carter flicked his eyes over to me at the red light. He stopped. His eyes slowly dragged down the dark blue silk Chloe had lent me, then slid right







