Scarlett
Iwatch Cormac leave the reading room. I knew he had it booked. For what, I don’t know. Now that the door is closed, I can just wail, and no one will hear me.
The sad truth is, if Cormac and I chose to secretly date and we found ourselves in a place to make a commitment, I would have agreed. But he’s not offering me that. He’s offering me a rushed, fake marriage. A lie.
My relationship with my father is too important. I can’t risk that now that I’ve regained his respect by coming back to school.
Then there’s the reputation with my classmates.
But even as I consider how being with Cormac will affect the standing with my father and class, those excuses feel hollow. When I catch my reflection in the glass panels, I have to face that I can’t risk my heart. I can fall for Cormac. Hard. And it sounds like he doesn’t want to be in love.
But I do.
Someday when it’s right…
A week later, I’m in the Pharm lab. Everyone has left, including Cormac, who barely looked or talked to me. I’m dragging my feet. I don’t have simulators this semester. I don’t have hospital rotations. So I sit at the counter and clean up my notes, my mind singing a song I can’t get out of my head.
The door opens a moment later, and someone enters. I smile, thinking that it’s Cormac. That he just can’t stay away.
“Professor, you…” My words die in my throat.
Pierce is standing in the doorway, and my heart slamssideways.
“Hey, Scarlett.” He steps inside like he owns the place and taps something on his phone that activates the door’s smart lock.
He knows the lab’s PIN code.
“How did you?—”
“My last name is Langston. That means I get what I want,” he says smugly. “Passcode to a lab in a school my family’s foundation supports is easy.”
I stare at him, lost for words.
“Well, you did it. You got back into school.” He fixes his designer suit jacket, then shakes his head at me. “How is that shitty apartment on First Avenue?”
“You know?—”
“You thought I wouldn’t find out?” He saunters toward me, an arrogant smile on his lips.
Before I think to move, he pins me against the cold lab counter.
“I had you followed. I was worried about you, Scarlett.” His voice softens with a tenor that always made me cave.
Manipulative men use kind words and a soft tone like anesthesia, something to numb you right before they cut out your tongue, or your heart.
“I heard things are going well,” he murmurs. “You’re right back in the top five percent of your class.”
Icy bitterness rushes up my spine. “You…you’ve seen my grades?”
He smiles. “My PI is thorough.”
“PI?” I scoff. “That’s a waste of money. I’m not hiding.”
“Blocking me means you are.” He’s tracking my every breath.
“Pierce, you need to leave.” I manage to wiggle out from under him. “Don’t make me get a restraining order.”
“Try it. Any judge who signs that will be impeached.” From inside his suit jacket pocket, he takes out a velvet cube. “This is your ring. Put it on.”