London Bound: New Adult Romance (Chase Brothers) (25 page)

Anywhere but here.

After a cozy holed-in weekend with Alexi, Abbie was not ready to get back to reality. In fact, she would have paid cash money to be anywhere else but class. A Russian Gulag, running the New York City Marathon in the dead of winter. Anywhere else.

But no.

After spending the rest of the day yesterday with Lex exploring St. Albans village and having late afternoon tea, and him stealing kisses like a love sick teenager, he’d taken her to campus and helped with her prints. She’d seen the photos then, so she knew what was coming.

She hadn’t had the good sense to get her pain over with early this time, so instead, she was last for critique. When Xander pulled up her images, she slunk down into her seat. She knew they weren’t great. She knew they were only pretty pictures with no depth. She’d managed to find one or two from the previous assignment that she’d dropped in there, but as a whole, the images were from that god-awful garden party. There was one of Lex thrown in that she’d taken in St. Albans. He’d been reaching out his hand to her before entering a church.

That photo was cheating though. That wasn’t love in his eyes, but it was a great photo. It was the only one in the bunch. She knew the rest were bad. She didn’t need anyone else to tell her they were.

Ilani, bless her, leaned over in her chair. “They’re not so bad. Really.”

But Abbie knew she was just saying it to be nice.

When Xander spoke, Abbie wished she could just run and hide. He met her gaze directly, and she couldn’t read anything in his stare.

“I’m going to open up the floor for your thoughts on Abbie’s photos this week.”

Shit
. Her friends were going to rip her a new one. No matter that she took care with their feelings for each of their critiques. They had no loyalty to her. They only cared about scoring points with Xander.

One person said, “Flat.”

Another called out, “Boring.”

One even asked, “Did Abbie do these? Last week’s were so good. These are just…” His voice trailed off.

Ilani tried to come to her defense. “C’mon guys. They’re not that bad. They just need a little oomph. I mean there are those ones with the kid krumpers and the one with the hot guy at the end. That captured the essence of the assignment.”

Xander glared at Ilani, and she immediately shut up, sliding Abbie an apologetic glance. And so it went for the rest of ten minutes. For Abbie’s part, she took it like a woman. Chin up, back straight. Well, as much as she could straighten her back while trying to crawl under her desk and hide.

At the end of class, she’d never been so relieved in her life. Ilani handed her her scarf. “C’mon. Let’s go get you a drink. I think you could use it.”

“Not so fast, Miss Bruce. I need to speak to Abbie for a moment.”

Xander’s voice was neutral, but still Abbie’s heart hammered against her ribs. This couldn’t be good. Hell, it wasn’t like she’d had the worst review in the class. Roger’s critique had been far more scathing.

She slunk up to the table at the center of the small auditorium. “Yes, Xander?”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

She swallowed. “I-I’m not sure—”

He interrupted. “Abbie, your photos are better than this. Even your portfolio you sent for admission was better than most of these. I know you’re capable of more, so why are you aiming for mediocrity?”

She rubbed her forehead. What the hell was she supposed to say? She certainly wasn’t going to make excuses for herself. “They’re not my best. I know I can do better.”

“Whatever’s distracting you, get rid of it. Even if it’s my brother. It’s compromising your work. I would hate to waste my time with you all term and have you not turn out how I expect. No more distractions.”

Damn
. How the hell could this be her life? She wasn’t the one who got scolded by the teacher. She’d always prided herself on doing better than expected. Exceeding expectations was her special talent. And she’d failed. All because she’d been too caught up in Lex to do her job properly.

“I won’t let you down again.”

“Assure me. You have a promising career. I’d hate to see that thwarted.”

She nodded stiffly. “I understand.”

“You’re a better artist than this, Little Bird. I want to see your best from now on.”

Finally, as he released her from his reprimanding session, she trudged out of the class to find Ilani waiting for her.

“Well, how did it go?”

Abbie shook her head. “I’m far too sober to be able to talk about it yet.” She would have to make some changes if she wanted to survive another critique.

Chapter 26

Abbie didn’t really have the time to call home, but after the last few days, she needed something familiar. Something to steady her.

Tams called her from down the hall. “Abbie, get a move on. Max will be here to pick us up any minute.”

“I’ll be right there, Tamsin. I just need to make a quick call.” Calling home shouldn’t make her feel lightly nauseated. But it did. Though it wasn’t like she was calling her mother, who would in all likelihood, tell her to call Evan.

“Hello?” The moment, she heard her father’s lilting accent, a sense of calm washed over her. He’d always had that effect. He had a way of keeping her focused.

“Hi, Daddy.” It was hard to keep her voice from wavering, but she put in a good effort.

“Abena, is something wrong?”

“No. I uhm, hadn’t talked to you in a while, and wanted to hear your voice.”

There was a beat of silence. Maybe she’d made a mistake? Perhaps she should have called her sister Ama for reassurance.

“Well, now you hear it. Is everything well?”

Abbie wanted to laugh at their stilted conversation as she remembered why she usually spoke to her mother. “Yes, fine. Just, uhm fine.”

He cleared his throat. “You never were good at masking your emotions. You might as well just tell me.”

“I’m afraid you’ll just tell me to come home.”

Another beat of silence. “Abena, you’re an adult. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. You made the decision to go. So you must want this enough. What’s troubling you?”

Exhausted, she exhaled and slumped her shoulders as she sank onto her bed. “I just, I had a bad critique, and it’s messing with me a little. I’m starting to wonder if you were right. If I should have gone to law school instead. My professor’s pissed. And I feel, I don’t know. Lost, I guess.”

The one thing she always appreciated about her father is he took his time to choose his words.

“Are you giving your all?”

“Of course I am, Dad.” Except she could have worked harder on the last one if she hadn’t been distracted by Lex drama.

“Are you sure?”

She already regretted this call. “I get it, Dad. I should be working harder. I understand.”
Next time you’re wishing for a slice of home, Abbie, just don’t
. She shouldn’t have called.

He sighed. “No. You misunderstand. Abena, you’ve always been the one who worried most about what your mother and I thought. You were always the most cautious. But when you see something you want, you go after it. I have always admired your tenacity. I don’t hear it in your voice now.”

He admired something about her? “I’ve never had a professor tell me they’re disappointed before. I’m used to being confident at least about this. I might be a mess everywhere else, but this…I’m supposed to know how to do this. And now I feel like I’m on loose footing. It scares me.”

“It should scare you.” He dropped his voice for emphasis. “But it should also invigorate you. You’re a Nartey. You fight. Do what challenges you. Don’t settle on doing what will get you the easy remarks from your professor. Do the things that are difficult for you.”

Tears pricked her eyes, and she rapidly blinked them away. He was right. Xander was right. She’d played it safe with the pictures from the party. She’d taken the easy way out. Her focus had been somewhere else.
On Alexi
. Maybe she’d been too focused on him. She’d sworn she wasn’t going to lose herself in another guy and already that was happening, like it had with Evan. The party had been a prime place to work on portraits like Xander said, and she’d blown it.

“I—I really don’t want to disappoint anyone. Least of all myself.”

His voice gentled. “The only way you can do that is to not push yourself. In all areas of your life.”

All areas. Was he talking about Evan? “Dad, I’m sorry to put you in the middle, but could you tell mom not to tell Evan what I’m up to anymore? It doesn’t help.”

“I can do that.” His voice went deeper, gruffer. “I’m glad you’re out there on your own. It’s a chance to get a different perspective and maybe meet some new people. People who will nourish you.” He was silent for a moment before he added, “I will make sure Evan and your mother do a better job of respecting your space.”

Her heart caught in her throat. Did he know about Evan?
No. He couldn’t
. But maybe he’d known she was unhappy all that time. “I—thanks, Daddy. I needed to hear that.”

“Good. Now send me a picture. One of your good ones. I have some empty wall space in my office.”

She laughed. “Could you be more specific? I have lots of good ones.”

“See, Abena? You sound better already.”

After hanging up with her father, she picked up the book Xander had given her and thumbed through it. The portraits were exquisite. Haunting, even. They were unlike anything she’d ever done before. But maybe it was time to try. She’d taken several of Alexi last weekend. Some of them might even work.

Warmth spread through her, just thinking about him. But she had to watch herself. Already her split focus had put her on shaky ground. If she wanted that position, it would mean spending more time with her camera and less in Alexi’s arms. Only problem was, she didn’t think she could stay away from him.

* * *

Dance music thrummed through Lex’s ears as he surveyed the crowd of Lace Nightclub. Judging by the waitresses’ outfits, leather and chains and not much else were an integral part of the uniform. So was lace, like the name suggested.

Leaning into Gemma and Nick, Lex shouted, “One of you want to remind me what I’m doing here again?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Man, you can’t be a recluse all your life. You have to go out. Besides, we have reason to celebrate. Or haven’t you heard? We’re rich.”

Lex shook his head. “We were rich before. Just now, it’s with our own money.” And lots of it. Between the sale of their company and the additional boost from his trust fund, he would be richer than his father.

“Richer. Whatever. Still a reason to celebrate.”

“I’ll celebrate when I find a new CEO. Until then, I generally prefer to keep a low profile.”

“Whatever, mate. You can sit here with your girl and mope all you want. I’m going to go and find someone nice and dangerous to see if I can coax her into spanking me.”

Lex assessed the raven-haired beauty Nick stared at. “Something tells me it won’t take much to convince her.”

Nick grinned as he followed the wanna-be-dominatrix, and Lex could only laugh. “Remind me again why I’m friends with him?” he asked Gemma.

“Because, despite his many failings, he’s a good friend. I’m glad he can coax you out of the house when I can’t. I mean, what in the world have you been up to? I haven’t seen you in weeks. I’m starting to worry you’re depressed or something. You can’t just hide away from the world.”

He hadn’t exactly been hiding away. He’d just been spending every spare minute he could with Abbie, playing undercover couple. So far, no one had taken any notice of them. Riding public transport with her and doing normal people things like schlepping groceries, and hanging out in the public gardens, and seeing museums were a great way to go unnoticed. He’d never given it much thought before, but there was a way to avoid the limelight, and that was to not court it. Whether he liked it or not, club hopping with his friends made him a sitting target.

He’d been out with Abbie on her shooting expeditions, and so far, not one person had recognized him. Even the gossip-hungry teenagers they’d encountered at the Basingstoke Mall, where she’d wanted to hit up a boutique to get Tamsin a present for her upcoming birthday, hadn’t seemed to recognize him. And not like his disguise had been that good—a baseball cap pretty much sucked.

“I’m not depressed, Gem. I’ve just been busy.”

She studied him closely, her pale blue eyes assessing him. “Okay, what gives? There’s something different about you. You’re relaxed. For as long as I’ve known you, there’s always been this edginess to you. It’s still there, but you’re not as hard, I guess. Does that even make sense?”

Yeah, it made sense, but he wasn’t going to tell her the reason. “Not sure. I feel good though. Maybe I’ve finally started to get some sleep.”

“Or maybe you’re actually getting shagged regularly. Either way, I’m glad to hear it. You had me worried. Even Jacinda has been noticing that I’ve been distracted, worrying about you.”

“What exactly is going on there, anyway?” The way things were going with Abbie, he needed to do something about his and Gemma’s relationship. He didn’t want to keep hiding things from Abbie. If she ever found out, it wouldn’t turn out well. She’d said it herself, he barely opened up to her. She’d practically bared her soul to him, and he was still keeping secrets. The need to come clean made him twitchy.