Sharon
“Make sure you take notes on this one. It will be on the test.”
Sharon watched as the slide changed before she jotted down some notes, underlining the information that she would need to study later on. The class was crowded today, and she had been forced to sit in the back, running from one side of the campus to the other for the next class.
But it had been refreshing to get back in the swing of a normal life as a college student, pretending that things had never been otherwise.
But deep in her heart, she knew different. Looking around the classroom, Sharon wondered how many of them had experienced anything remotely close to what she had: kidnapping, rough sex, falling in love, and then watching someone get killed before her eyes. How many of them would have chosen the way she had, to get out of the situation and run?
“Hey, you might want to pay attention.”
Sharon looked at the guy beside her, taking note of his good looks as he pointed to the professor.
“What?”
He gave her a grin.
“I failed this class twice. If he says pay attention, you might want to.”
She flushed, realizing she had been daydreaming.
“I… thanks. He’s that bad huh?”
The golden-eyed boy nodded, sticking out his hand.
“I’m Marc.”
“Sharon,” she said softly, shaking his hand.
His skin felt warm under hers and Sharon tried to drum up something, anything that could be an interest in her body. But in her mind’s eye, she saw Vittorio’s grin as she had told him that she loved him, the dark lines of his tattoos that she loved to trace with her fingers as they lay together in bed.
She bet this guy had nothing of the sort.
God, was she ruined for all eternity? Hadn’t Vittorio told her he would ruin her for any other guy in the future? She was starting to believe him.
“Nice to meet you,” he said with a smile.
Sharon drummed up a smile as well, but inside she was dying to leave, to go back to her apartment and bury herself under her covers. She wasn’t ready for something like this.
All she wanted was her life back, her normal life.
Sharon turned her attention back to the lesson, which thankfully wasn’t too much longer, and when class was dismissed, she hurriedly packed up her books in her bag.
“So,” Marc said beside her, throwing his books into his bookbag. “I can give you some pointers on this class if you want. I mean this is my third time.”
Sharon looked up at him, giving him a slight smile.
“Third time’s a charm, right?”
He laughed, showing off a mouth full of straight, perfectly white teeth.
“Yeah I’m hoping so, or my parents are going to kill me.”
Sharon swung her bag on her shoulder, wishing that she could just laugh and act like the college kid she was supposed to be. Her biggest worries should be this class or attempting to get through her first semester, not whether her mafia boyfriend was hunting for her.
“I wish you luck then.”
Marc’s smile grew wider.
“So, you want to be study partners then? I would like to take you out for dinner first, if you are game.”
She shook her head. There was no reason to even entertain the idea right now. She wasn’t interested in another relationship, her heart hurting too badly from her last one.
“I-I’m sorry. I’m not looking to date right now.”
“Too bad,” Marc said, his grin dimming. “I think we would get along pretty well.”
“Sorry,” Sharon forced out, hurrying out of the classroom before he could say anything else.
Marc was the type of guy she had hoped to meet here, a nice guy who could make her laugh. Instead, she had been ruined by a grumbling, violent mob boss, who had stolen her virginity and her heart all in one fell swoop. Ugh, how she hated him!
Shouldering her bag, Sharon pushed open the door to the outside, glad for the warm breeze on her face. She should be grateful that she was alive, that Vittorio’s lifestyle hadn’t caused her to end up in a body bag. Life was too precious to her now, and Sharon was determined to live it to the fullest.
But, first, she had to forget Vittorio and her time with him.
Sharon turned the corner and crossed the street, glad that she had just completed her last class of the day. She had called the soup kitchen this morning and told them that she wasn’t feeling well, not ready to go back to the place where it had all started…
That and she had seen the paper this morning, the one that had displayed the war that was going on between the two mob families. Her heart had lurched in her throat as she read the article, the number of people that had been killed on both sides. There was no explanation as to why they were burning down buildings and killing people, but Sharon knew it was something that had been triggered by her and the night that Vittorio had taken her from Rocco. She had wondered if Vittorio was okay and had cried most of the morning at the thought of him being hurt or killed by this vicious war.
A car blew its horn at her and Sharon realized she was standing in the middle of the street. She gave an embarrassed wave as she crossed the rest of the way. Maybe she needed therapy or some sort of hypnosis to wipe out her memory of the last few weeks.
All she wanted to be was normal.
Sharon passed a storefront, pausing to look at herself in the window. She looked the same, but inside she was a hot mess. Another reflection caught her eye and she whirled around, her heart hammering in her ears. It had looked like Vittorio, dressed all in black. But no one stood in the spot that had been reflected in the window.
Great, now she was losing it.