In the Air (The City Book 1) - By Crystal Serowka Page 0,69

skirt. "Your dad called me yesterday morning," she murmured. "He told me that you made a childish decision in ending things between us and I was to come here and talk to the girl who had ruined everything. Make her realize what she'd messed up," Aubrey said in a rage.

"You what?" I exclaimed. Fury filled my body.

"I spoke to Natalia." She paused before looking up to meet my glare. "We met earlier." I began pacing the room. I wanted to scream at Aubrey. I wanted to punch a hole in the wall. This is why Natalia ended things. She did want me, but felt guilty for it.

"Fuck, Aubrey! What the fuck did you do?" I screamed. I'd never been violent to any woman, I never would, but my anger was seeping out of me like a rabid animal. "What the fuck did you do?" I repeated. She began to wipe her eyes as the tears fell down her pale cheeks.

"I did it for us, Samson. For us!" she yelled back.

"You did this for you! Why the fuck did you interfere?" I paced the room, kicking furniture that was in my way. Aubrey stood up and walked toward me. I swung around to meet her stare.

"I did it for us," she said quietly. Her voice was hoarse.

"You don't give a shit if I'm happy, as long as you get what you want. That's how it's always been. Screw you and what you want. You'll never have me again, do you understand?" My voice was low, my throat raw.

"You don't mean that." She knew I did. "Samson, please." Aubrey tried to wrap her arms around my waist, but I forced her away. I didn't want to be anywhere near her.

"Stay away from me. Stay away from Natalia. I don't ever want to see you again." I turned to look at her before I slammed the door. "Goodbye, Aubrey."

After I made the stupid drunk phone call to Samson, I refused to walk back into the bar and spend the rest of the evening with Kingsley and Wren. The last thing I wanted was to be surrounded by two horndogs who couldn't keep their paws off each other. I hailed a cab back to the school. It was after 1 A.M. when I finally got into my room. My head was throbbing. Once I located my bed, feeling around the room aimlessly for at least five minutes, my body collapsed onto the cool sheets.

"Natalia, answer the door. You know it's for you." My father shouted to me from the living room. I hopped down the stairs and found him lounging on the couch in his favorite sweatpants and hoodie.

"You're lazy!" I exclaimed, throwing a coaster at him. He caught it in his hands and threw it back in my direction.

"And you're a mean daughter. I can still trade you in, you know?" My father joked.

The knocking continued on the door, my dad looking at me pointedly from the couch.

"Answer the door, sweetheart." His words repeated in my head. "Answer the door, sweetheart."

I awoke in a panic, breathing hard as I sat up in bed. My forehead was wet from perspiration, and my heart was pounding in my chest.

Knock. Knock.

Am I still dreaming?

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I stood from my bed and reached out for the robe hanging off my chair. The knocking continued. Looking through the peephole, I saw Samson. Oh gosh, did I call him and tell him to come over? When I opened the door, I saw that his entire body was drenched.

"Samson, why are you all wet?" I reached out and pulled him inside my room.

"It's pouring outside. I walked back to the dorms." His fingers shook through his hair, causing droplets of water to splash my face.

"Walked back from where?"

"It doesn't matter," he answered vaguely. "We need to talk about what you said to me in the library."

"Did I ask you to come over?" It was a stupid thing to ask, but he had to know I was drunk from the earlier call I'd made to him.

"No." His body began to shiver, and I quickly retrieved a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. The shivering began to subside, but my arms remained on top of his shoulders.

"What's going on, Samson? Did something happen?"

"You tell me, Natalia. What did you and Aubrey talk about?"

Shit. Aubrey must have told him everything.

Trying to buy myself some more time, I said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Natalia!" he shouted, his nostrils flared. "Tell me