“We’re not doing anything wrong,” Josh said, shrugging. “It’s a gray area.”
My phone buzzed with a text before I could reply, and I looked down.
Noah.
“Come back to my apartment. Immediately.”
God, he was so arrogant. What gave him the right to think he could just demand where I went or what I did? It was barbaric, when you really thought about it.
You like it. It turns you on, how demanding he is, how he wants to take control of you.
This was how he roped women in. He got them all confused, caught up in a whirlwind of sex and lust and hormones, so they couldn’t see what was really going on. Well, I wasn’t going to be another Katie.
I picked up my phone to text him back and tell him to leave me alone, but before I could, the screen died again. Lovely. The cheap charger I’d gotten was already worthless.
“We have bigger problems than the emails, anyway,” Professor Worthington said. “There’s also the matter of Noah’s juvenile record.”
“His juvenile record?” I asked, frowning.
“Yes, Charlotte, have you not read the file I gave you?”
“I’ve read it,” I lied. “But I must have missed that part.”
“Noah has a juvenile record,” Josh piped up helpfully. “But it’s been sealed. And he won’t tell anyone what’s in it.”
“Which is going to be a problem, because the first thing the prosecutor is going to do if Noah is arrested is ask for it to be unsealed and admitted.” Professor Worthington sighed and rubbed his temples.
Great. On top of everything else, now Noah had a secret sealed record from when he was a juvenile. It was so absurd I almost wanted to laugh out loud.
A moment later, Professor Worthington dismissed us.
“See you in class tomorrow, Charlotte,” Josh said happily as I walked out.
I ignored him.
When I got back to my apartment, there was no sign of Julia. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy I wouldn’t have to deal with her yet. I peeked into my room, my eyes taking a quick inventory to see if anything had been messed with after I’d left last night. But everything seemed like it was in its right place. Of course, there was still the matter of the panties Josh had defaced, the ones he’d placed back in my top drawer.
I decided I’d deal with that later, too. Maybe I’d just toss everything in that drawer into the garbage. I could buy new underwear and bras.
I plugged my phone into its charger, then drew a bath and poured myself a glass of wine. I slid the tap as hot as I could stand it and lowered myself into the tub, letting the searing water wash over my skin.
I sipped my wine and closed my eyes.
I stayed in the bath until I was pruney and drowsy, then got out and dressed in a tank top and cotton shorts.
I was pouring another glass of wine in the kitchen when there was a knock on the door.
I tiptoed to the door and peered through the peephole.
Noah was standing on the other side of the door, looking fierce.
He knocked again, harder this time. “Charlotte,” he called. “Open the door.”
“No,” I said before I realized it probably would have been better to just pretend I wasn’t home. “Go away or I’ll call the police.”
“You’re not going to call the police, Charlotte” Noah said, sounding exasperated. “Now let me in.”
“No!” I said. “I’m not letting you in. You lied to me.”
“Lied to you? About what?”
“About everything!” I said.
“Charlotte, can you please open the door so we can talk about this like adults?”
“No! I’m not letting you in here. You’re a murderer.” I said the words out loud, half because I meant them, half because I wanted to hurt him the way he’d hurt me.
“We’re back to that again, are we?” He didn’t sound hurt. He sounded irritated. Which let me know his walls were back up – earlier, back at his apartment, when he’d been fucking me, trusting him had been the most important thing to him, the thing that had brought us closer together. Now he sounded like he couldn’t care less if I trusted him or not.
And even though I should have been expecting it, even though I’d told him to leave, even though I’d decided he was dangerous and I should have nothing to do with him, it hurt.
It hurt so bad it was like a physical force, almost like I’d had the wind knocked out of me. My legs suddenly felt like jell-o, and I leaned against the front door for support.
“Please,” I said softly. “Please, just go away.”
“Charlotte,” Noah said, his voice firm and commanding. “Open the door.”