And that’s exactly what I planned to do.
It would be my mission.
“Well, if you will excuse me once more...”
I knew exactly what to do.
I’ve been known to be a rule breaker before. Hell, more than I can count. This one time more wouldn’t be any different. I could blame it on mourning my father. Or plead being under the influence.
My adrenaline shot through my veins like a drug and I actually looked forward to this feat. I made my way back to my room like a man on a mission. I changed carefully. Reaching for an empty backpack, I caught my reflection in the mirror. Wearing a beanie low over my eyes, you could still see my brown locks. I knew what to do. Not just any glasses would do, but skiing goggles, and a scarf. And gloves. No fingerprints. To avoid questions from the staff or being seen by anyone in the home, I’d have to put my things on just around the corner outside before I made my grand entrance.
There wouldn’t be any bulldogs waiting for me.
No.
And I could always stage it as an icicle breaking the system. Something like that. Now you’re thinking!
The library was three miles away. I knew it well. I was often punished to go there during my high school days. The librarians feared me for the pranks and stupid things I’d done.
I immediately regretted the hell I’d caused. Making a mental note to myself, I promised to make more than amends with one person this week. A letter of an apology, even a decade later, was in order even if we had already donated a million dollars to their new wing. I shook my head and sighed. I was really becoming a softy.
“Well…at least we can move forward and turn over a new leaf.”
“Who are you talking to?”
Fuck. I spun around.
It was her. She’d found me. And she had her sexy glasses on.
“And what are you…doing? You look ridiculous, you know that?”
She looked fucking hot when she wore those glasses, sporting the whole sexy librarian thing. Boy did I want to spin her over a desk and make her see stars as I showed her a thing or two with my free hand. Her eyes grew larger as if waiting for an explanation.
Right.
My get-up.
“I’m going running. It’s a bit stuffy in the house and well, our last conversation didn’t go so well. You look like you’ve got your hands full.” She balanced a giant coffee mug with spiral notebooks, books, and a lantern with a candle lit in it. It was sexy, endearing, and tempting as hell as she stood just inches away from my bedroom. The very place I could take her in right now and show her how I felt instead of telling her.
My athletic pants were thin, and I had to think of something else fast or else have her see my excitement down south.
“I—”
“I’m fine,” she said shortly, but the deep edge from earlier had seemed to settle. It was her empathy. “I just…anyway,” she cleared her throat and looked down the hallway as if nerves were getting the best of her.
“I just was making my way back to the study. That stiff drink started to make me sleepy and I can’t afford to sleep right now. This whole internet being down thing has really thrown me for a ringer. All my quotes I needed…I…anyway. So, I just made a fresh pot of coffee with the French press. Thank God it’s a gas oven. I don’t know what I would do otherwise. The staff is asleep. I don’t want to wake them.”
She was really cute when she was nervous. I remember this side of her well back in the day. She would speak so fast and her ideas would be jumbled. She was so excited and had so much to say. I wanted to just stand there and look at her. I wanted to see how ruffled I could make her before I…I cleared my throat. Stay on track. Almost there.
“Well, it is two in the morning.”
“Right. Which, why are you going running in the middle of an ice storm?”
I opened my mouth to give her some bullshit about needing some air. But her hands waved me down.
“You know what? It’s none of my business. I actually understand, a bit. Needing the fresh air. A lot has transpired in the last forty-eight hours. And well, I wanted to say, I mean, follow up about what we spoke about in the study…”
Oh yeah. She was warming up a bit. Just a little bit longer.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s talk about it later. I need fresh air. Now.”
She blew her frustration across some loose bangs.
“Okay…well, I’ll just be on my way to write this paper. Ice storm or no ice storm, the internet still works in Cape Town and my paper is still expected.” Her tone was heavy.
She looked worried. Stressed. And I hated seeing her all bent up about a paper. I knew academic success meant the world to her, but I wished I could just make her happy. I wished I could throw all of her books aside, throw her over my shoulder, and carry her right back to the fireplace and make love to her.
You’re getting there. One step closer.
“Oh, I have plenty of Adderall if you need any.”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“It’s not like that. It’s for my ADD.”
“I didn’t know you had ADD.”
“Well, there’s a lot that you never got to know,” I quickly got out.
“Right, well. I’m going now. Enjoy your cold run. Don’t twist your ankle.”
One sentence I should have seriously considered carefully. Very carefully.
Thirty minutes later…
It was one of those fire alarms, screeching, ringing bells type of security that welcomed me as I broke into one of the side windows. I staged a branch to “fall into the window.” As I fell on the floor rolling around like a bad ass, I wished someone could witness my skills. If this CEO thing didn’t work out forever, maybe I’d enlist in being a bad ass special ops agent. I enjoyed the thrill, that was for sure.
I had to stifle the goofy grin. I was on a mission: grab every book I could on Thoreau and Emerson and stash them in the bag. Running around the library, I finally found my way to the American poets. It was a small library, but one well-stocked since the community was, well, a bunch of intellectuals.
My fingers scrolled across the many titles and I finally settled on a few. After grabbing everything I could manage to stuff in my pack, I zipped up the bag and made my way out of the window. Mission accomplished.
As I picked up my jog, I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face as I solved her problems. Hopefully, she’d run into my arms and I could feel her body against mine before trailing my hands across her shoulders, a soft graze down the small of her back. Oh yeah. She’d pull away and I’d leave my hand on the side of her waist, letting her feel my firm grip, before innocently but very suggestively trailing my thumb across her lower stomach. I’d….
Wham.
I hit the ground just like that. A ice covered fall tree limb laid in wait for my demise. And just like that I was down on the ground.
Fuck.
It hurt like hell.
I could feel my ankle pounding and swelling instantly and there was no one I could fucking call. The cell phones were all down.
Chapter 7
KATE
* * *
I was seriously, really fucked. There was no way to finish this paper now. I was ten seconds away from searching for his Adderall to cure my wandering thoughts. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t numb this feeling.
He told me he loved me.
That I teased him.
That I was the girl he never could have.
My heartbeat quickened and my racing thoughts sought to understand what it all meant. What would happen when he came back? Was the ball in my court now?
Did I dare tell him how I felt?
Ugh!
After going back and forth in my mind like a ping pong match, I was insanely aware of the lingering time; he was not back yet.
Had something happened to him? He was in a great deal of pressure with work. Was someone lying in wait to trap him? To bend him to their will with physical means? Could someone
have the bloodthirsty means of actually …killing him?
My overactive imagination pictured the worst headline possible. Two Rainshaws dead within two days of each other. Sinister play suspected of the youngest.
“Where the hell is he?” I blew out worried steam and tapped my pen against the note pad, trying to rid myself of such morbid, irrational thoughts. There was not a single clock on the wall so the time could not be read. My poor phone on airplane mode was hanging on for dear life. At 4% the white numbers eerily read 4:15 AM. It was almost dawn. I couldn’t call him because the stupid lines were down from the ice storm. And it was going to get worse.
I shivered as I wrapped my shaking arms. I shook my head to shake my thoughts. My breathing had heavily increased from my overactive imagination. I could see the fog escape my breath.
Suddenly a deep hum rattled and the lights flickered back on. It was like lighting up Times Square. In an instant, the home’s electricity returned to normal, which meant the generator must have finally decided to work.
Thank goodness.
Naturally I went to my laptop in an eager attempt to pull up my school e-mail, a brief distraction from my worry, praying to God the internet worked.