Chapter 31

~Nicki~

 

I walk out of John’s bedroom into the living room. Mitch is sitting on the couch eating some toast and watching the TV. He looks up at the sound of my footsteps and wiggles his eyebrows. I tug at the hem of John’s t-shirt; suddenly feeling really exposed. Shit, I’m not even wearing any panties. What was I thinking?

“Hey.”

“Morning,” Mitch answers, through a mouthful of toast. “You want coffee?” he asks, moving to get up.

“Relax. I’ll get it. I know where everything is. I’ve spent enough time here since you guys moved in.”

“Just not in his bed before.”

I feel my cheeks redden. Uncomfortable, I change the subject quickly. “So…how are classes?”

“A breeze,” he says with a grin.

I laugh. Mitch is so cool and collected. Nothing ever seems to faze him. “Really? That Engineering program is supposed to be one of the hardest programs in the college?”

He wiggles his eyebrows. “I’ve got mad skills, Nicki.”

“I never see you study.”

“Gotta keep my rep intact, right? But, no, I do study. Just away from prying eyes. I need complete quiet. Can’t concentrate otherwise.”

Huh. This is news to me.

He leans back against the couch and says, “People like you and me have to work hard for everything we get. John and Chloe don’t have that problem. They’ve got their trust funds to fall back on, right?”

“Yeah,” I say quietly. “Yeah, they do.”

Mitch is like me: from the wrong side of the tracks, or whatever you want to call it. Like me, he’s here with a scholarship. I’m not sure about his exact story, because he never talks about it, but I know he came from a bad situation just like I did. Having that in common had us hitting it off right away when we met through John a couple of years back.

I cross to the couch and take a seat beside him. I’ll wait for John to get out of the shower and we can have our morning coffee together.

Something crumples under my weight and I lift my butt off the couch a little and grab the offending object. A piece of paper. I’m about to place it on the coffee table when the contents catch my eye. What on earth? My blood boils as I read it.

I turn to Mitch. “What the hell is this? Is this from Axel? He’s threatening John?”

Mitch looks as uncomfortable as hell. “It’s handled.”

I’ve known him long enough to be able to tell when he’s bullshitting me. I catch the twitch of his right eye and I know right away that this is one of those times. “You’re lying.”

“Nicki—”

“This is happening because of me.”

“John knew what he was doing when he crossed Axel Craven.”

I shoot to my feet. “I’ll handle it.”

“How?” Mitch asks, worriedly.

I ignore the question. “Tell John I went home to change or something.”

“Don’t, Nicki. He will flip if he finds out you’re going anywhere near Axel.”

“That’s why you won’t be telling him. He doesn’t deserve this shit hanging over his head. I’ll take care of it.”

“Don’t you guys have Sunday lunch with his parents today? In like two hours?”

We do. For the last two years since John and I went away to college, we’ve been attending monthly lunches or dinners with his parents. We used to do it on a weekly basis when I lived with them during the last couple of years of high school. It’s something I always look forward to. It’s like having a family. His parents are always so warm and kind to me.

“Yeah. I won’t be that long.”

I hurry to the door. As I haul it open I hear Mitch cursing but I ignore it and hurry down the hall to my apartment.

 

 

***

 

I’m leaning against the ivy-covered wall of the Grover building where a bunch of TA offices are located. I know that Axel has a tutoring session with one of them every Sunday. Knowledge like that comes from almost dating someone. What a mistake that’d been. I try not to have regrets about anything I do now. I had enough of that with my childhood. But Axel is most definitely one regret I can’t deny.

I watch him push through the doors, dressed in his usual preppy way: a golf shirt and ironed beige slacks. His hair is slicked back with too much gel as usual. I step into his path.

“Nicki,” he greets me, flashing that fake perfectly white smile of his.

“We need to talk,” I tell him, my gaze steady and offering no alternative.

He hesitates for a moment, clearly not expecting neither my presence nor my demanding attitude. And then he nods and gestures to a bench a few feet away on the green.

He slides onto one side and I perch on the edge of the table top. Yeah, I prefer the higher ground.

“So, what do you wanna talk about, Nicki? Is lover boy not giving you what you need? Just say the word and I’m all yours.”

Ugh. Disgusting. “I’m here to talk about that night when you tried to rape me.”

“What?” he gasps, jerking in his seat at the sound of the ‘R’ word. “I didn’t…I—”

“Yes you did. I was drunk and you tried to take advantage of that. I was inebriated and incapable of giving you my permission,” I tell him bluntly. “Like I said; attempted rape.”

He holds up his hands. “Look, I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”

I scrutinize him as he says the words and it’s clear he’s not lying for once. He really is sorry. Of course, that’s probably in response to the threat I’ve just uttered. But I don’t care about the reasons. I just need him unsettled enough to respond to me in the way I need him to. And I have it. He’s scared shitless, his eyes flicker erratically as he fiddles nervously with his well-coiffed hair.

“Sorry isn’t gonna cut it.”

“It was weeks ago. You can’t…do anything.” I can tell from the nervous waver in his voice that he’s not even sure if that’s true. Good. I need that doubt.

“I have a good lawyer.”

His eyes narrow and I see the Axel I’ve come to know. The dangerous, devious bastard. “John’s father, right? It will never stick, Nicki. You’ve waited too long.”

I smile. “It doesn’t matter. The accusation alone will be enough to ruin your squeaky clean reputation, to discredit you. It’s gonna be difficult carving out the future you want, that your high-society parents want for you, with that hanging over your head, don’t you think? Things like that never truly go away.”

He swallows hard and looks away. A few moments pass where I see him weighing up his options, trying to determine what to do. And then he blows out a breath. “Tell me what you want.”

I lean into him, my eyes cold and my gaze hard and unwavering as I tell him, “End this thing with John Kingston. Let it go. Now.”

His eyes meet mine and I see it there. The depth of his hatred for John. I’m not gonna lie, it scares me a little. But I manage to keep it from my face. Guys like him can smell fear. They get off on it. They’re like sharks getting a whiff of blood.

“All right,” he mutters.

“I’m gonna need more than that, Axel.”

“Fuck,” he says with an exasperated growl. “I swear to you that this thing with John and me is done. I won’t come at him again. As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t exist.”

“Good.” I gesture to his school bag. “Now take out a pen and paper. I’m gonna need that in writing. And while you’re at it, seeing as though you enjoy writing notes so much, I think you can also drum up an apology.”