Chapter 13

Georgiana

“I’m going to sign our names on the sign-up sheet for the volunteer trip, so the two of you better be dressed when I get back,” Rebecca threatened, and Spencer and I bit our lips to keep from laughing.

Earlier this morning, Rebecca came home to the sight of Spencer and I wrapped around each other while in our birthday suits. Her scream had startled us awake, resulting in Spencer falling out of my bed and Rebecca receiving an eyeful of his morning wood, which also resulted in another scream.

She came right to her senses though, and covered for us when Cassie knocked on our door to know what happened. Rebecca said she saw a giant roach on my bed, and although Spencer didn’t like being referred to as a pest, he grunted and said nothing, grateful for Rebecca’s help. She came back and gave us the box of donuts she bought from the café and even two cups of coffee from the vending machine for breakfast, on the condition she would never see us post-coital or any coital phase ever again.

Rebecca took one last look at us before closing the room, and finally it was just Spencer and me again. We kept quiet as we scarfed down the food my best friend brought, content with stealing glances at each other and smiling when the other caught one looking. We were acting like a bunch of fluffy teenagers, and I loved it.

Spencer took a sip of his coffee before tapping the back of my hand to get my attention.

“You’re meeting your brother later, right?” he asked, and I blinked in confusion. “You were talking to him on the phone before I barged in, remember?” he reminded and I nodded, finally remembering.

“Yeah, he told me he was going to shoot me a text as soon as he arrived,” I replied. I bent over to reach my phone, and sure enough, there was a message from Darcy saying he was going to meet me at a café nearby the campus. I sent him a reply, telling him I was getting ready to leave, and I put my phone down on the table.

“Are you busy today?” I asked, feeling shy all of a sudden. He looked at me sweetly and grinned.

“What do you have in mind?” he asked, rubbing his index finger on the back of my hand.

“I was thinking maybe you can come with me to see my brother,” I said, and he stopped his ministrations, looking at me with a guarded expression on his face. “I mean, I know you think it’s going too fast, or whatever, but I really want to know where we stand. If we’re on the same page, I’d like to introduce the special man in my life to my family at some point, and my brother would be a good start,” I explained, rambling a bit as I said my piece quickly.

Spencer stayed silent and contemplative, which made me anxious.

“We…we are at the same page, aren’t we?” I asked uncertainly.

He smiled this time and grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his lips to kiss my knuckles.

“If by the same page, meaning I consider you as my girlfriend now, then yes, I think we are,” he said nonchalantly. I bit my lip to keep from squealing in happiness and nodded.

“So you’ll go?” I asked, my heart beating fast with hope, and he nodded, still smiling.

“Yes. But can I head over to my place first? No offense, but I want to take a shower and change my clothes, at least, before I meet your brother. I really don’t want to make a bad impression,” he said, and I nodded.

“I’ll meet you at the café then,” I said.

***

“So, what was the reason you had to come all this way to explain it to me?” I asked, settling into the seat across from Darcy. I had texted Spencer the directions and he said he’ll be over in a thirty minutes. Till then, I had plenty of time to prep my brother about my new boyfriend.

“There are two things I came to tell you about, remember?” Darcy said, taking a sip of his coffee before continuing. “First, the reason why our parents are so dead set on keeping you locked up at home has something to do with me,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I was looking up some old newspaper clippings for research, and I stumbled across a couple about our parents and me,” Darcy said, sighing. “Apparently, back when I was a small kid, some thugs thought it would be a good idea to kidnap me and hold me for ransom.”

“What?” I cried, my eyes widening.

“I know. Insane, right? But don’t worry, the kidnappers were apprehended, and nothing much happened to me, apart from the fact I was too young to remember what happened,” he explained, pacifying me. “I guess they didn’t want a repeat of that, and the best way they thought was to keep you inside the house.”

“But that’s not much of a life for me,” I grumbled, still thinking it was unfair on my part despite now knowing the reason behind my parents’ overprotectiveness. “I mean, how was I supposed to go on with my life like a prisoner in my own home?” I asked him.

“Exactly, this is probably why they allowed you to be so far away from them. But I found something else,” he said. He opened his bag and pulled out two folders before handing them over to me.

“What’s this?” I asked, opening the first folder. I frowned as I saw Rebecca’s photo fastened over the files inside. “Have they been investigating my roommate?” I asked, outraged.

Darcy shook his head and I frowned.

“Then what the hell are these?” I asked. I put Rebecca’s file down and picked the second folder up as Darcy spoke.

“It seems the reason why our parents are uncharacteristically not worried about you is because they hired people to keep them updated,” he remarked.

I froze in shock at his words as I stared down at the file. No way. How could they have done this, too?

“George,” Darcy said, his voice growing soft. “They hired bodyguards.”

The world stopped spinning on its axis for me that day as I stared at the file, Spencer’s silvery-blue eyes staring back at me.

“Hello. I’m really sorry I’m late.”

I looked up at the very real face of my boyfriend, and his eyes took one look at my face, then down on the table to where his file laid, and back into my eyes.

Those eyes… went wide with fear.