All Chapters of Too Close to be innocent : Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

Chapter OneAnna’s POVThe Temptation In Andre ClarkFlee the temptations of youth. I’d heard that a million times at Sunday School. My mother had me memorize it every time that it had become a part of my subconscious.Pursue righteousness. If you are going to go down, do it with the right person. My boyfriend. But what was I supposed to do when the temptation was standing right by my window in the middle of the night, the rain thrashing all around him, and a small crate of beer in his hand? Was righteousness supposed to do that?And like a trance, I stepped out of the way, letting him fold his long self into my room around 2 am. The thunder echoed in the back of my mind as he shook his damp hair. He wasn’t smiling. He never did. “I know I shouldn’t be here,” he whispered, stepping further into the room and then sliding the beer onto the desk by the side of my bed. I moved too, the back of my calf hitting the bed frame. “You shouldn’t.” My voice was throaty, mixed with sleep and so

Chapter ThreeAnna’s POVLiarThe word reverberated in every part of my being, and in that split second, I believed it. And I hated it. I turned around to face him, but that was a horrible decision as I didn’t realize how close he was. His grey eyes looked straight into mine, narrowed. I opened my lips and realized I had no idea what to say. In that moment, I was stunned. And it was very strange. No one could render me speechless. “Andre?”His eyes darted towards her. “Cindy, darling, can you give us a moment?”“Of course,” she drawled. I could tell she winked at him from her tone. “I’ll be by the oak tree. We have an unfinished discussion.”I wondered what it could be. Had he tried flirting with her before? I wouldn’t put it past Andre Clark, because apart from being heir to a multi-million conglomerate, he was also a world-class player.I just hoped Cindy knew that. His eyes returned to me, devoid of all emotions. His dark hair grazed his shoulders, and my eyes followed it. It h

Chapter FiveAnna’s POVThe PenthouseI waited for six hours, calling my mother at intervals. All the calls were unresponded to, and by the time I was right outside the dorm, she already had fifteen missed calls sitting on her phone. Sighing, I dropped onto the steps outside, my limbs giving up on me. I knew I was right. I should never have come to Yale. But my mom seemed to think it was either an Ivy League University or nothing.She was wrong about a lot of things, and we were about adding this to the list. The earth seemed to have come outside to laugh at my situation as thunder struck, the sound reverberating through every wall. I had nowhere to go. And as if that wasn’t enough, I was just about to be drenched by the rain in the middle of summer. When thunder struck the second time, my phone vibrated against my thigh, and I jumped so fast that it fell to the ground, the screen shattering.“Shit!” I cursed, picking it off the tiled floor. “Shit! Shit! What the hell is happening

Chapter Seven: Lines You Don’t Cross I didn’t move right away after he left.I told myself it was because I didn’t know where to go.That wasn’t true.I just… needed a second.The place still felt like him somehow. Not in an obvious way. Nothing like cologne or anything like that. Just… the air. The silence. It shifted when he walked through it.I rubbed my arms, suddenly aware of how cold I still felt.“Get it together,” I muttered under my breath.One night.That was it.I pushed off the wall and headed for the bathroom.***The shower helped more than I expected.At first, the water was too hot. It hit my skin and I almost stepped back—but I didn’t. I stayed there, letting it sting a little.It felt… grounding.Like if I focused on that, I wouldn’t think about anything else.Not the dorm.Not my mom.Not Cole.Definitely not Andre.My hand pressed flat against the tile as I exhaled slowly.“Just one night,” I said quietly, like saying it out loud would make it stick.It didn’t.Be