I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,7

in disguise or something,” Elodie said.

I shook my head. “Nothing that exciting. Just some sick people wanting to use me to get money from my dad,” I said.

Elodie’s face showed concern. “Do you think you’re still in danger?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Having security here is just a precaution.”

“Do you carry a gun?” Alice asked.

“God, no. I’d hurt myself. But don’t worry. I took self-defense classes and know how to kick a guy in the balls.”

They laughed, and their laughter dissolved the heaviness in the car that the subject created.

A country song began to play on the radio. “I love this song!” Alice declared.

“Turn it up!” Elodie called to Marco who begrudgingly complied.

And just like that, it was as if the conversation never happened. We sang along to the music all the way back to the dorm, much to Marco’s dismay.

Once we were back inside and had said our good nights, Marco checked my room. When he stepped back out into the hallway, I said, “Thanks, Marco. For everything.”

He nodded, and I hoped, despite the work he had to put in to getting things ready for my night out, he realized how much I needed to find friends. He walked to his room to the left of mine. “Close the door,” he ordered before stepping into his room.

I closed and locked my door, leaning my back against it and exhaling. I’d tried so hard to let loose and forget everything that happened to me. I lived in the moment, like my counselor had encouraged me to do at our last session. And, I laughed—like really laughed—for the first time in a long time.

But now I was alone.

My first night alone since Paris.

And I hoped to God I was as strong as I thought I was.

***

“Le fou de fortune…This isn’t over…”

I jolted up, my body drenched in sweat and my heart racing. My eyes jumped around my dorm room expecting to see the masked Frenchman looming over me. But, the soft glow of the tiny lights around my ceiling confirmed that no one was in my room. My eyes shot to my door. It was still closed and locked.

Despite the rational side of my brain telling me it was just a nightmare, I still listened for Marco’s footsteps.

But I didn’t hear his footsteps. All I heard was the distant sound of salsa music drifting up from the room beneath mine.

A giant breath whooshed out of me, knowing I was safe. Knowing it was only a nightmare. Knowing I got this.

I climbed out of bed and stripped out of my sweat-drenched clothes. I grabbed a new T-shirt and shorts and pulled them on. And though I climbed back into bed, I knew the disappointing truth. The Frenchman was in my head. And sleep wouldn’t come.

CHAPTER THREE

Kresley

I joined Elodie and Alice for breakfast the next morning. I glanced over at Marco, standing against a nearby wall in the dining hall with his arms crossed. It was glaringly obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to blend in on campus. Sure, older people took classes. But they didn’t live in the dorms. Go to dining halls. Stand in the back of classrooms. People would start asking questions. Especially once classes began tomorrow.

“I think I’m just gonna stay in for the rest of the day,” I told Marco, once we returned to the dorm.

He nodded and walked to his door. He peeked over to be sure I’d gone into my room. I hadn’t. “Get in your room and close the door,” he ordered.

“So bossy,” I said as I stepped inside. I could’ve sworn I heard him chuckle as I closed my door.

I spent the day watching movies, texting my parents, and napping. It was so much easier to sleep with sunlight casting through my window. It gave me a false sense of security that my brain needed in order to allow me to sleep.

“She’s staying in for the day,” Marco said to someone in the hallway. “But have your phone handy in case she changes her mind. Or needs the bathroom.”

I climbed off my bed and moved to the door, pressing my ear to it to hear who he was talking to.

“A shadow under the door is a dead giveaway that you’re in there,” a deep voice said.

I looked down at the shadow caused by my feet. Ah hell. I opened the door and my breath caught in my throat.

The guy from the bar was standing in the hallway with Marco.

“What are you doing