8900
Dean Collins‘ office is freezing. He has the AC cranked all the way down to the lowest temperature, and I wonder if he does it to make the students uncomfortable, even as he scolds them.
The ait is still and heavy with a silence that makes my skin itch. I sit on the edge of the leather chair, my knee jerking figuring the orgy
to holt.
He hasn’t said a word since I walked in. Just flips slowly through the folder on his desk–my folder. Every turn of the gaze soubs taxe
judgment.
I stare down at my hands. My manicure is still flawless from the last time the Ashford stylists worked their marke
Finally, the Dean looks up.
“Six whole weeks. The disapproval is thick in his voice, and I wince.
“No notice. No calls. Professors flagged you as missing Campus security was briefly involved.
Well, that seems like overkill.
“Then we hear from–of all people–Mr. Ashford.”
My jerking stills, and I blink at Dean Collins. “Which Ashford?” I ask carefully.
“Nathan Ashford.”
1 flinch at the sound of his name, my heart backflipping in my chest.
Of course it was him. Who else would have my interests at heart to do this? Well, had, I guess.
“Now, we understand that you were away for the…competition.”
The way he says the word makes it sound so ridiculous. I threw away my future on the off chance that the heir of the most powerful family in Chicago would deem me worthy of anything
“But you’re a scholarship student, which means you’re held to a higher regard than your peers.” He taps the folder once, hard. “You signed a contract: maintain your GPA, stay enrolled, communicate. You disappeared, April
“I know,” I whisper, my head bowed, staring at the floor like it might open up and swallow me. “I’m so sorry. It all happened so fast, and then we had no means of communication with the outside world.”
The excuse sounds pathetic, even to me. It makes me seem careless. Ungrateful. Like I don’t deserve this place.
“Your professors submitted incompletes. You missed midterms. Your GPA is hanging by a thread. You word to be a dude‘ you?**
Shit, Professor Linesho
I nod, eyes still down.
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“He was dismissed last month after facing a disciplinary hearing. Apparently, he assaulted a student,” he adds.
49)
There’s a pregnant pause, like he’s waiting for a reaction. I give him none, but I’m slightly confused. Does he know it was me? Or did the Ashfords keep my name out of it?
I guess it doesn’t look good for them if a contestant was the victim of an assault.
How fucking ironic, seeing as their first born son is worse than ten Elias Lincolns.
“Professor Lincoln’s dismissal means any academic goodwill you had tied to that department is gone, too.”
Of course it is. Just one more thing I’ve lost.
“And your scholarship-”
“Please,” I cut in, my voice sharp, panicked. “Please don’t take it away. I’ll catch up. I’ll work twice as hard. I’ll go to tutoring, meet with professors, anything. Just–please. I need this.”
If I lose my scholarship, I’ll have to drop out of school. No matter what I let Penny do for June, I could never ask her to pay for my schooling.
And then I would have lost…everything.
There’s a pause–a long one. Dean Collins leans back in his chair, arms crossed, eyes unreadable. I hold my breath.
“Academic probation,” he says at last. “You’ll check in weekly with Student Support. Meet with your academic advisor twice a month. You’ll submit a re–engagement plan by Friday. One missed meeting, one dropped ball, and that scholarship is gone, Miss Farrah. Got it?”
“Yes,” I exhale. “Thank you. I won’t mess this up.”
He nods once, closes the folder, and that’s it. No smile. No welcome back.
I step out of his office, legs shaking like I just barely escaped a fall. The hallway is empty, and I lean against the wall by the door, taking in several breaths.
That was close, but I managed not to lose everything. Other than what I’ve already lost.
June and Louise are curled up on the couch watching TV later in the evening when I come home.
“Hi, honey,” Lou greets in a soft voice. When I round the couch, I see that June is fast asleep. “How did it go?”
I lift June’s legs and place them on my lap as I lean on Lou’s shoulders.
“I’ll be skating on thin ice for the rest of my college career, but it looks like I might get that degree after all.”
She pats my head. “Yay, that’s good.”
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I exhale. “Yeah…good.”
…
She shifts, shooting me a loaded look. “You sure?”
I force a smile and nod. “Yeah, it’s all good, Lou. I got my job at Rover back, too.”
“Yeah?”
49
“Yeah. I’m a bit of a celebrity now, and Mindy didn’t hide the fact that my working there would draw in more customers, so I’m definitely looking forward to that. Yay being a circus attraction.”
“They’ll get bored soon enough. Goldfish have longer attention spans than Gen Z.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“And hey,” Lou adds softly, “when you decide you’re finally ready to talk about what happened with Nathan,“–she shifts and presses a kiss to my temple-“I’ll be here.”
I smile softly, grateful that despite how nosy she can be, she has given me space since I’ve been back, not once berating me for details. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you, Lou.”
She leans her head on mine. “You’ll be fine, babes.”
I force myself to believe that.
It doesn’t matter that for one dreamy moment, school didn’t matter much to me. It doesn’t matter that I seriously considered never coming back–that I almost chose a career in fashion instead.
It doesn’t matter that I thought I’d be leaving this life behind, that my future with Nathan was bright and beautiful and well within my reach.
All that is over and done with.
My time in the Ashford house was a dream. A really, really nice one. But a dream nonetheless.
I’m wide awake now, and everything is returning to normal.
To the way it was before Nathan Ashford turned my world upside down.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
