Page 68 of Forbidden Romeo
But my life wasn’t normal.
And I knew this was coming.
I knew the exact time the email was sent to her from the bursar’s office—8:35 p.m.—at my request. The only unknown variable was that I didn’t know when she would open that email.
In fact, I was so prepared for this, that I’d planned on sleeping on the couch tonight so that she wouldn’t wake up my roommates if she came over in the middle of the night… or even early in the morning.
Unrelenting, she continued to pound on the front door while I crossed the living room to answer it.
I swung open the door, unsurprised to see Katherine standing there. I was however, surprised to see her clad only in her thin, little lavender cotton pajama pants and a cropped tank top so sheer that it should be fucking illegal.
"Jesus fucking Christ, Katherine,” I muttered and took her hand to tug her inside. “It’s fucking January. Did you come all the way here dressed like that?”
Yanking her hand away from mine, she stormed into my apartment, her eyes blazing with anger. She tossed a backpack I hadn’t seen initially onto my couch before whirling around and shoving her phone into my face.
"What the hell is this?" she demanded, shaking the phone at me.
I didn’t even need to look to know that it was the email from the bursar's office, informing her that her dorm fees for the rest of the year had been paid in full by an anonymous donor.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Look, let me explain?—"
"Explain?!" Katherine shouted. "Explain how you went behind my back and paid for my dorm room when I explicitly asked you not to? I told you I didn't need your help, Holden. I’m not some Dorsey charity case.”
“Oh, please,” I insisted, my voice rising in frustration. “We both know you’re the farthest thing from a charity case. But it’s also okay to take help sometimes!”
Katherine's eyes flashed. "So you just decided to swoop in like a white knight and save the poor damsel in distress? Is that it?” She paused, stepping forward toward me. Even in her anger, I couldn’t help but notice the sexy sway of her hips. Or how the tips of her breasts tightened into two little peaks. “The real thing that pisses me off, Holden? If you had just minded your own business at my audition, I could have afforded my own tuition. I could be living my dream right now and not be stuck here at this school in a program I can’t afford with a professor who doesn’t even want me here.”
I took a deep breath, pausing to collect my thoughts. “I’m not saying I was right for how I barged in on your audition, but couldn’t you maybe try to see things from my perspective. There was a shirtless man holding an audition for you in your hotel room that he paid for. We both got played by McCay.”
She snorted a humorless laugh. “Yeah. Poor little rich senator’s son lost a lot that day.”
“I did,” I whispered, daring to step closer to her. “I lost you. Paying for your dorm was the least I could do to apologize for fucking up that audition.”
“And how am I supposed to pay you back, huh?” Katherine whispered with venom in her voice.
“I don’t want you to pay me back?—”
“Oh, please, Holden. That’s not our game.”
“Our game?”
She grabbed her backpack, yanking on the zipper. “Oh don’t tell me you don’t remember our little game?” From inside the backpack, she pulls out a pair of panties and throws them in my face. “These were from last night in the bar. Nate tried to kiss me that night, you know.”
That blow landed like a punch to the gut and I inhaled sharply. “Katherine?—”
“This pair?” She pinched the string of a black silky looking thong. “I wore these the night of our showcase. You remember, right? That simulated sex scene got them good and wet. You know how hot I get when people might catch us!”
Helplessly, I watched her outburst, wanting so badly to help her, to comfort her, but at a complete loss for how to do that.
So instead, I let her continue ranting at me.
She threw her hands wildly in the air. “That’s why you finger fucking me in an alley was so hot, wasn’t it? Maybe you’ll finally take my virginity if we can do it in front of an audience!” Again, she threw the second pair of panties in my face, but I didn’t bother trying to catch them. They fell to the floor at my feet.
“There’s nothing wrong with a little voyeurism, Katherine. It’s sexy as hell that you like that.”
“And these?” She pulled another pair from her bag, waving them around. Dread crawled up from my gut into my throat as I watched her spiral. “I wore these to my audition. The day you crushed my fucking dreams, Holden!”
“Katherine, stop!” I rushed forward, trying to take her into my arms, but she shoved me off of her. Her out-of-control frenzy rippled the air around us like the swirl of wind just before a tornado. Chaotic, destructive. Deadly.