Chapter 3 : Bedlam Academy

Walking through the front door of my mother’s home, I had expected her to greet me. But instead, I was welcomed into an empty house. The light yellow walls with tiny white and pink flowers met me like an old friend. The smell of her perfume still lingered throughout the entire home, and I wondered if that’s why my stepfather never came home anymore. It didn’t matter that he had gotten custody of me, because my father was gone, and I had no other family. He had loved my mother just as much as I had, and now she was gone.

The only thing I was left with was the notion Trevor would be coming for me.

The man who had completely destroyed my life for the last few years, and inevitably would own me now that I was of legal age. After all, this was all I had. All I was good for. My life belonged to him, or so he had told me for years.

Tears fell down my face as I walked towards the antique China cabinet, a photo of my mother and me when I was young sat upon the shelf. The sun, shining down upon the two of us as we smiled for our photo.

I wanted what she had. What my mother had strived for all her life.

Strength.

“I’m sorry, Mama,” I whimpered, running my fingers over the picture frame. “I wish I could have been what you were looking for. I wish I could have been strong like you, but I can’t. I can’t do this without you.”

I barely had time to get the last few words out as the front door flew open. I turned to see Sasha standing there with her older sister and a look of determination in her eyes.

“Sasha, what are you doing here?”

She scoffed with a smirk as she shook her head. “Getting you the fuck out of here, Nessa. You’re going to Bedlam, and you’re never looking back.”

***

“Name please?” the old curly-haired woman said from behind the large, fold-up table. Her words dragged me from my thoughts of when I left home and started my life here. Everything over the past few years had plagued my mind since the night I saw Trevor. With a heavy sigh, I noted her thick metal glasses hung at the end of her nose as she looked down at the stapled papers in her hand.

“Vanessa Thomas.”

She glanced up from the paper to take me in before glancing down once more, her finger drug over the lines of student names until falling on my own. “Ah, yes,” she muttered before she turned towards one of the boxes on the floor, pulling out a yellow manila envelope and holding it out to me. “Here you go. Next!”

Bedlam wasn’t known to be one of the friendliest places in the world, but I enjoyed it here.

From the well-manicured lawns and antique fountains outside to the black steepled walls of the school, to the long extravagant gardens towards the northeast, I found peace within its walls. A sort of peace that I hadn’t felt in a long time, and yet as I wandered down the corridors of Bedlam taking in the familiar scents of oak and juniper, I began to wonder what my future had in store for me.

Trevor had found me, though I had tried hard for so long to avoid him. My life no longer felt like my own, even though it had been for the last year. Shaking my head, I forcibly turned my attention to more important things. Like the classes I would be taking this year, and the internship I had to start preparing for next summer.

As I turned down Colgate corridor, one of the main halls on campus lined with glass windows that overlooked the gardens, I found Becca and Noah talking quietly amongst themselves. Their eyes connected with mine as soon as I got close and it was clear they had been talking about me by the way they quickly closed their mouths.

“Everything okay?” I asked, tucking the manila envelope into my large brown leather bag.

“Yeah, totally,” Becca replied, her eyes shifted to Noah, who nodded, quickly pushing a smile on his face. “We were just going over my classes this year. Statistics isn’t something I’m looking forward to.”

I raised a questionable brow knowing damn well she was lying. “Is that right?”

“Yeah,” she replied, continuing to lie. “I heard Mr. Shrewder is a complete asshole.”

“Becca, since when have you ever been worried about math? You have literally carried A’s your entire life. Or so you liked to brag about all last year.”

She snapped her mouth closed, clearing her throat. She knew I was on to her, and when she opened her mouth to speak again, Noah beat her to it. “Everyone is talking about what happened at JD’s last night. They said you got claimed by the Viking.”

“The Viking?” I furrowed my brows in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“He’s talking about Nash. The godly giant of a man who saved you last night from some creep. The same Nash that graduated last year that every girl in this school has drooled over since he started here his freshman year.”

Regardless of Becca’s description of women drooling all over him, I didn’t remember seeing him at all on campus. Last night had been the first time I had ever laid eyes on the man she called Nash. Yet, since I had spoken to him at the bar, he hadn’t left my mind.

His dark sultry eyes, chiseled jawline and five o’clock shadow. The way his dark hair hung down over his shoulders as his tan skin accented the dark swirling tattoos that ran up the side of his neck. Thinking about him sent shivers of excitement over my skin and a small smile to peek across my lips.

“Why are you smiling?”

Becca’s question snapped me from my impulsive thoughts. My eyes met hers once more as I tried to act as if I didn’t care. “I’m not. Just happy to be at school is all.”

Now it was her turn to give me a questionable look as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Now who's full of shit?”

“Anyways,” I replied, brushing her comment off. “What are we doing for lunch today?”

She rolled her eyes at me before turning her smile back up, her mood shifted as my talk of food seemed to distract her. “I don’t know about you guys, but a burger from the grill on campus sounds pretty amazing.”

We turned, walking down the corridor. Laughter filled the space between us as Becca looped her arms through both mine and Noah’s, the situation as it had always been since the day we became friends. It was times like this that made me feel safe, even if the lurking feeling of Trevor weighed heavily at the back of my mind.

***

Three hours later and with enough excitement from Becca that I could take in one day, I was finally headed back to my dorm room eager to set everything up since Gladys from housing was finally able to put me in a single room. Something I was forever grateful for.

The moment I stepped out through the double doors that led out into the quad I found myself smiling with joy as I stepped out into the vast rays of the sun. My eyes closed as I tilted my face to the sky taking in the heat that wouldn’t last much longer.

Summers in Washington never lasted forever.

“Yo, Nash, ain’t that your girl?” The male voice made me stop in my tracks, my body going tense as I inhaled a sharp breath.

No fucking way.

Opening my eyes, I turned my attention towards the parking lot on the other side of the courtyard. There, upon a black beast of a bike, was Nash. His friends hung out around him with skimpy-looking girls in cut-off dresses and heels that looked painful to wear.

“And that’s my cue,” I muttered to myself, quickly moving forward. The large courtyard fountain loomed ahead as I made my way towards it to take the path on the other side that led to the double doors of the door hall.

“In a hurry?” Nash’s deep dark voice said, stopping me in my tracks. My heart all but beat out of my chest as I turned to face him.

“You move quick for a giant.”

He chuckled at my comment giving me a nod. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

“What do you want, Nash? I have somewhere to be.”

I watched his brows rise behind his dark-framed sunglasses as his smile spread and his arms crossed over his chest. “So you do know who I am.”

“No, actually, I just learned your name today. Didn’t realize graduates didn’t know how to move on once they have accomplished all they can.”

Bitchy? Maybe. But with how my life had been over the past few years, I didn’t care. Plus, he tried to say I owed him last night. I couldn’t let him think that was accurate. I thanked him and that’s all it should have been. I wasn’t interested in any man or getting into any kind of relationship. The only thing I wanted to do was finish school and start a new life.

He was quiet as he took in my response. His rigid stance never wavered and neither did his smile. “It doesn’t matter why I’m still here. I’m not leaving anytime soon. You owe me, Vanessa.”

My breath caught in my throat at him saying my name. No one called me Vanessa. Except for Trevor and hearing it made my stomach turn. “Don’t call me that.”

“What, you mean Vanessa?”

“Yes,” I snapped. “Now if you don’t mind…I have somewhere to be.”

Turning on my heels, I marched towards the doors to the dorms, ready to get as far away from Nash as I possibly could. Only leaving was just wishful thinking when he gently grabbed my arm, spinning me around to face him. “You have a habit of walking away from me, don’t you?”

I had never been the kind of girl to get turned on by the bad boy types. In fact, the only boy I had ever had a serious interest in was my freshman year of high school, and Daniel Plaster was the captain of the soccer team and totally boring. Which was a complete contrast from the type of man Nash was. Shit, he was far from what any man around this campus was and everything about him made my heart race and heat rush to my cheeks.

Coming back to the present, I ripped my arm from his grasp, a heavy breath escaping my lips as my cheeks puffed out. “I have a tendency to walk away from all creepy guys who make a habit of harassing women in the middle of the day.”

“So that means you prefer to speak to me at night?” He smirked.

“No–”

“Don’t try to explain. It’s clear what you like,” he replied, cutting me off. “I’ll remember that next time.”

Narrowing my eyes, I frowned. “Go fuck yourself…old man. I have better things to do with my time than to entertain someone like you. I actually worked for my place in the world. Unlike you and the rest of these entitled fucks who attend this school.”

His happy-go-lucky charisma changed quickly at my comment. My words seemed to have cut something deep within him because he went rigid, and for some reason, the air around him seemed to grow colder by his angered expression.

“I may seem like the type you can play around with, girl. But I can promise you that isn’t the case,” he replied, narrowing his eyes as his smile fell. “I was trying to make you feel comfortable, but if you prefer the side that others see around me…well, I’ll make sure that happens.”

I opened and closed my mouth, wanting to give a retort but unable to process my words as I watched him turn and walk away. A few gasps from people who passed by caught my attention, making it clear that I had completely misjudged the situation.

Something deep inside me was screaming that this wasn’t the last I would see of Nash.