I grabbed the rest of the supplies I need and headed to the checkout. My phone rang, and my dad’s photo flashed across the screen.
“Hey, Dad. What’s up?” I answered.
“Honey, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some extra hours co-piloting the Lear this weekend. I booked a last-minute charter to the Greenwich, Connecticut. Want to meet me at the airport?” he asked.
“Absolutely! I need more hours on the Lear. And I’d love to see you, too. I can only do it if I make it back in time for my first class on Monday morning.” I handed some cash over to the cashier as I spoke with my dad. I needed to run back to the dorm to clean up and change clothes, whip up the smoothies for the girls, and head over to meet my dad.
“I wouldn’t ask you to join me if I thought it meant you would have to skip classes. School comes first, not flying. You know the rules, sweetie. We don’t take off for another two hours. Meet me in ninety minutes?”
“I’ll be there, Dad. Thanks for asking me to join you,” I answered before climbing into my car to go back home.
Aubrey was passed out in bed when I got back to the dorm. I hadn’t heard a peep from the other side of the suite, so I decided that Faith and Natalie must still be sleeping also. I figured I should have enough time to get ready before I made the smoothies and woke everyone up.
I loved having the bathroom all to myself, so weekend mornings were my favorite. I could linger in the shower without worrying about anyone else barging in on me. As I washed my hair with my favorite coconut lime shampoo, I couldn’t help but think of Drake. I had bumped into him twice in less than twelve hours, and both times I’d felt a chemistry like I had never experienced before. The way he had first looked at me at the party and held on to my arms when I bumped into him at the grocery store made me think he might have felt it, too. But then he’d been so cold to me. It was just so confusing. He didn’t even really know me. Why would he be angry with me?
I just didn’t understand the male mind. Brad had been my only boyfriend, and I thought I knew him until things had gone south. We had dated for three years, and everyone thought we would end up getting married and having kids. Including me. When Jackson walked in on Brad cheating on me at a college party his freshman year, things got ugly fast. Jackson kicked his ass then and there and told him to never speak to me again. He was the one who’d told me what had happened, with Aubrey by my side through the whole ordeal.
I was so hurt and didn’t know how to react. Everyone heard about what had happened because of the fight. The pitying looks at school were tough enough to bear. Then when Brad decided that he wanted me back and didn’t care if he had to fight Jackson to accomplish his goal, things got even worse. Flowers showed up on my doorstep regularly. Text messages and missed calls came all the time. I tried to avoid Brad and was pretty successful at it until he started showing up everywhere I went. I wasn’t sure how he knew where I would be, and it freaked me out. My dad talked to the chief of police about getting a restraining order, but I worried that it would push him over the edge. The boy I had fallen in love with had disappeared, and Brad became someone I hardly recognized.
Jackson and Brad had been friends throughout high school and had pledged Sigma Chi together. Their fight had caused some issues at the frat house, with most of the guys siding with Jackson since he was a legacy. When they found out that Brad had resorted to stalking me, Jackson pushed for him to be kicked out of the fraternity and had the support of a lot of influential alumni due to his family connections behind him.
When the chief of police went to his parents, they’d refused to believe that things had gotten that bad. They wouldn’t intervene, so Aubrey and Jackson’s dad did. He owned the local bank, which held the mortgage on their house. I wasn’t supposed to know that he’d visited Brad’s parents and told them that they needed to fix this or he was going to call in their loan. I’d heard my dad talking about it on the phone after Brad had transferred to a school out West. He didn’t want to go, but his parents knew that they had to act fast or things were going to get bad for them. The Silvers had a lot of influence in town and had made it clear that they wouldn’t mind using it on my behalf.
Brad’s leaving was a godsend to me. I’d been able to finish high school without worrying about seeing him in town and move on with my life without him in it. What I hadn’t been able to do was feel comfortable enough to date other guys. What happened with Brad had added some serious trust issues to my abandonment issues. Not a good mixture for teenage dating. I focused on school and flying and forgot about boys for a while. And when the time came for me to pick a college, it made sense for me to attend Blythe but stay at home with my dad. Until he’d decided that I needed to spread my wings and could only do that while living on campus. Brad hadn’t been a problem for more than two years, and I didn’t have an excuse to stay home any longer.