Fast-Tracked (19 page)

I spent the next hour with
Autumn
as my escort. After that she finally saw fit to leave me alone – and the moment she did, I sought out Jett
Dwighton
. From my research I knew he was a self made newbie business owner. He could be just the person I needed to give me advice on how to get started.

The first thing Jett
Dwighton
showed me is that looks can be deceiving. He was a short and stumpy little man with only a few wisps of hair left on his head and a bushy black mustache that dripped some of the drink he was sipping. He either didn’t care or couldn’t help his constant belching and clearing of his throat. Overall he was rather repulsive, but it gave me hope. If someone that repulsive could succeed, then there was hope for me.

“I’d be delighted to share some of my wisdom with you, Miss
Zandria
,” Mr.
Dwighton
said after I introduced myself and explained my interest to him. “Why don’t we find somewhere a little quieter so we can talk.” He took my arm and guided me up the grand staircase of Senator
Blackfield’s
home.

He led me into a plush parlor that was overly decorated in gold and red, but it was unoccupied and would give us the quiet we needed to discuss my business plans. “I’m already aware of the challenge I face finding a viable business to grow. I’m more concerned with the next step, building or raising the capital I need to grow the business I choose. I was hoping to find out how you did it,” I said as I sat down on an overstuffed red velvet couch.

“Well it sounds like you’ve done your research,” Mr.
Dwighton
commented as he sat down next to me.

“I’ve actually only just started, but it quickly became apparent that the finances would be my biggest challenge.” I tried to ignore the potent smell of cheese and liquor coming from his mouth as he breathed through it.

“A challenge I’d be more than happy to help you with.” He leaned in closer to me.

Feeling uncomfortable and overwhelmed by his stench, I inched further away. “So anyway, I was hoping to find out how you dealt with your financial issues.”

“Let me show you,” he crooned. He stared at me lustfully and gave my thigh a squeeze.
 

I immediately jumped up and ran to the door. But he had closed and locked it, so all I succeeded in doing was getting pinned against the exit. “Get the hell off me,” I grunted as he leaned into me with his full tubby weight. I would have screamed more, but he covered my mouth with his hand.

“Apparently you haven’t done as much research as I thought. I guess I was mistaken to think you understood how everything works,” he spat at me. “Let me explain it to you. Nobody gets anything for nothing. I had to pay my dues the same way to get what I needed. Actually, you’re lucky: being a male what I had to do was a tad more degrading. But I assure you, if you’re nice to me, I can be nice to you.” He muttered, “Now, if I let you go are you going to behave?”

I bit down on his hand until I tasted blood and thrust my knee up, but missed his groin. He leaped back, sputtering, “You’ll regret that…”

I didn’t hear the rest of his statement because a loud ringing filled my ears when his fist met the side of my head. I stumbled sideways, stunned, but managed to steady myself on a side table. I grabbed some weird gold sculpture that I guessed was supposed to be art and held it over my head, ready to smash it into his face if he came any closer to me.

He startled me by bellowing out a loud, satisfied laugh. “You foolish little twit. You’re a newbie, a nothing. If I don’t claim you, then someone else surely will. And they may not treat you as nicely as I’m willing to.” He started to slither closer, a sneer painted across his lips. I didn’t doubt that he was telling the truth. Avery had made it clear that being a fast-tracker was all about power. I had none, but it gave me an idea.

I turned and matched Mr.
Dwighton’s
sneer with one of my own. With all the condescension I could muster, I snickered. “Don’t you even try to threaten
me.
You’re the misguided fool. I assumed you knew who my boyfriend is. I’m not coming to you because I’m naïve and have no other options. My weakness is pride. I simply want to succeed on my own and not just sit back while Avery Huntington gives me everything.” Mr.
Dwighton’s
eyes widened at the sound of Avery’s name. Knowing his name had the desired effect I was hoping for, I pushed past Mr.
Dwighton
and started to open the door – but then he slammed it back shut.

He whispered in my ear, “Do you think he’ll still be your boyfriend after I tell him what you’ve been up to?” The feeling of his moist breath on my neck made me cringe.

Calling his bluff, I snapped back, “Do you honestly think he’d believe I was willing to give you what I won’t even give him? He’s offered me the finances I need already without any strings attached, but I wanted to succeed on my own. So get the hell out of here. And please just try to tell him your lies, if you’re feeling suicidal.” This time I made sure my knee found its target. He stumbled backward in pain and I finally pulled the door open.
“Out!”
I screamed as he limped out of the door.

As soon as he left I locked the door behind him and crumpled to the ground. I hated Avery for being right. And now I was at risk to be taken down by someone as pathetic as Jett
Dwighton
. If he didn’t believe my lies and questioned Avery all hell could break loose for me. Even if he didn’t I was screwed. How the heck could I expect to grow a business if I couldn’t get the capital? I let the tears fall down my cheeks and wallowed in my own self pity for a while. I couldn’t fail Byron this way.

If only Byron were here. He had always been there to save me from the messes I created for myself. Like when I lost my temper and told Mr. Pelham that he was a jackass. I watched the back of his head and ears turn bright red, but before he could turn around, Byron stood up and somehow got the whole class chanting, “Down with math.” The two phrases didn’t sound anything alike to me, but Mr. Pelham either bought it or forgot about what I said as he tried to find out who started the chant. Byron got a week of detention as a reward for protecting me.

Another time I caused the two of us to miss the tram and as a result we missed curfew. That meant we were both in for some serious trouble. But as usual, Byron came up with a plan to save us both. He had me hide my tablet, and then smashed his. Then he smeared grass and dirt on his pants and picked up a rock and skinned the heels of both hands. Quietly he led me down the neighboring row towards the woods. When his parents finally saw us, Byron was leaning his weight on my shoulder while he limped on his ‘twisted’ ankle. He immediately went into a lengthy tale of how he was showing off in the woods using a fallen tree as a balance beam. He broke his tablet and mine was at home so we couldn’t contact anybody. So, I had to carry his weight the entire way back from the woods. Our parents were just so relieved that we were both okay. We never got in trouble. Byron limped on that ankle for the next two weeks and had to use his dad’s old tablet until he got a new one for his birthday present.

It didn’t matter if Byron despised me now. It was my turn to be there for him. I dried my eyes and forced myself to leave the room.

The reality of what Jett
Dwighton
wanted from me finally sunk in and a sudden wave of nausea hit me. Quickly I found the first available bathroom and emptied the contents of my stomach.

“You do realize it is better form to close and lock the door before purging yourself,” a familiar amused voice teased.

I wiped my mouth, straightened up and turned to meet
Autumn’s
bright smiling face. The moment she took in my distraught appearance her face fell.

“Oh, honey, I leave you alone for a few minutes,” she sighed as she locked the door. “What on earth happened?”

“Jett
Dwighton
tried to claim me as his own,” I murmured, too embarrassed to explain I was so naïve that I had practically invited him to. “I
name-dropped
Avery to get away from him, but then he threatened to lie to Avery about what happened.” I dropped my face into my hands.

“Well
did
anything happen?” she asked. There was a slight accusing edge to her voice.

“No, nothing happened, unless you count a bite to his hand and a knee to the groin as ‘something’.” I met her stare with my
own,
insulted that she could question my integrity.

“Oh, well this is simply delicious,” she bubbled. Then she answered my confused expression. “That
Dwighton
jerk is wearing the evidence on his hand now. All we need to do is straighten you out a bit. You are looking rather disheveled. Then we can tell Avery and sit back and watch the fallout. It should be interesting. I haven’t seen Avery mad in a while – well unless you count
Trevin
, but it’s not like he could do anything to him.” Autumn seemed to be more lost in her thoughts than actually talking to me.

“Avery warned me. He’s going to be furious that I didn’t listen to him,” I whimpered.

“Well I’m sure he’ll be mad at you for being so stupid. I mean, really, do you think I was going around introducing you to everyone for my health? Your association with Avery and I is your only protection from all the creepy old geezers out there.” My face crumpled. “Oh, don’t worry. You won’t be the target of his wrath; that will be
Dwighton
,”
Autumn
said with a dismissive wave. She proceeded to straighten my hair and remove my crushed fabric flower.

“I’m not sure I can face him,” I admitted. I blinked a tear away, feeling embarrassed and pathetic.

“You just wait here and leave that to me,”
Autumn
said as she fluttered out the door.

I nervously paced back and forth while I waited. I wasn’t really scared of what Avery would do. I was just embarrassed and didn’t want to face his disappointed look as he said he told me so.

They seemed to take forever. Eventually I stopped pacing and just sank down onto the small chaise sofa in the corner of the room.

Shortly after there was a light knock on the door and
Autumn
came in followed by Avery. “Hey.” I smiled sheepishly.

Avery sat down next to me. “So,
Autumn
told me you’ve had an interesting night.”

I looked up and noticed she had left the bathroom to give the two of us privacy. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it,” I responded glumly.

“You’re too stubborn for your own good, you know,” Avery chuckled as he pulled me to him. He gingerly kissed my forehead and stroked my hair. “Maybe next time you’ll listen when I try to warn you about something.” His voice was gentle. There was no trace whatsoever of annoyance. It just made me feel worse; I’d rather have him yell at me.

“I wasn’t even asking him for help. I just wanted to know how he managed to raise enough credits to grow his business on his own,” I started to protest, but the look of concern on Avery’s face stopped me short. “I guess I sort of found out,” I sighed.

“Look, I know you want to help your friend and all, but you can’t be so reckless. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” He rested his chin on my head and added, “Next time you might not be so lucky.” He brushed a stray hair away from my face, but managed to brush across the spot where
Dwighton
had hit me.

Wincing, I cried, “Ouch, careful.”

Abruptly Avery pulled away from me. “
Autumn
told me you weren’t hurt!” he bellowed.

“It was nothing worth mentioning. After I took a bite out of his hand he took a swing at my head. I’ll have a bruise tomorrow, but that’s the extent of it.” I rested my hand on Avery’s arm in an attempt to calm him down, but he pulled away. He stood up and grabbed his tablet out of his suit and began furiously typing.

“Hey,” he said to whoever answered. “Jett
Dwighton
overstepped. I need you to take care of it for me.” As soon as he’d barked the command, he switched the tablet off without waiting for an answer.

“What exactly is going to happen to
Dwighton
?” I asked.

Avery sat back down and curled his arms around me. “He won’t be in a position to threaten or harm anyone again, so don’t worry about him anymore,” he said flatly, but I could feel his arm vibrating with his lingering anger. “Come on; let’s get out of here.” He pulled me to my feet before I could respond.

Silently he escorted me out of the party and onto the tram. He didn’t say a word to me during the ride or the entire walk back to my apartment. I expected him to leave me at the door without saying anything, but he followed me in.

For a moment we both just stood there staring at each other. When the tension of the silence became too much, I started to say, “Avery, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you…”

Before I could complete my apology, Avery crossed over to me and curled me into his arms. His entire body had started to shake. Into my ear he breathed, “I’m not mad at you. It’s just the thought of someone hurting you or touching you that way…” His voice trailed off as he began to shower me with kisses on my forehead, my face and my neck. Then his lips met mine, overwhelming me with their urgent longing. I wanted to comfort him, to promise him I would never do anything to make him fear for me ever again. I wanted to tell him I’d forget about accumulating my own power and tell him that it didn’t matter to me anymore.