Chapter 40

NOLAN

Nolan should have been focused on his morning meetings, but he was distracted thinking about Yena.

He had been distracted thinking about Yena since the night he met her.

From the beginning, he was addicted to the girl. The feeling he got from touching her was like a drug. And every day she got even more beautiful, somehow.

But it was even worse now. Now that he could admit to himself that it was about more than just sex. He cared about Yena more than he had ever cared about anyone.

She had been at the school for hours but had not called him. Nolan was obsessively looking at his phone every chance he got, each time feeling a little worse when he saw his only notifications were business related.

The show had started by now.

Nolan even thought about stealing away from one of his meetings and placing a call to her himself. But she would be busy, and knowing her, probably stressed out. He did not want to bother or distract her.

He decided firmly that he would just send her a text.

But then he started overthinking what to say.

He could not say I’m sorry or I love you.

Either would be absurd.

But for some annoying reason, those were the only things that kept floating back into his mind every time he looked at his phone and tried to type something out.

ADAN

“This will be the last one,” Adan said, speaking into a cell phone quietly.

He was in his office and pretty sure he was alone on the floor. He had glanced into the offices on either side of his before locking himself inside, to be sure no one was in hearing range. But he kept his eyes on the little window in the door, ready to react should he see the slightest hint of a shadow approaching in the hall.

“He’s already suspicious,” the voice on the other end was saying.

“It doesn’t matter,” Adan replied. “He will still go for it.”

“I hate to say this,” the voice said, “but I’m starting to worry that we’re underestimating him.”

Adan snapped, “It is not your place to worry.” He forgot himself and raised his voice. His eyes flicked back to the little window.

No movement.

There was a tense pause on the line. Then the voice replied, “I’m so sorry, My Lord. Of course, I trust your judgement in this matter, as in all matters.”

“I don’t underestimate Nolan’s intelligence,” Adan said, lowering his voice to almost a whisper again. “I’m well aware the boy is very smart. But he is also very emotional, and can be reckless when he has something to prove.

Another pause.

“I’ll await orders,” the voice said. The line clicked off.

Adan turned the cell phone over and removed its battery.

He slid open a desk drawer and pulled out what looked like a dictionary. He set it in front of him and lifted the cover. The big book had been hollowed out, and the hole inside was filled with disposable cell phones.

Adan tossed the phone and battery in with the others, then put the book back in the drawer and slid the drawer closed and locked it.

Yena’s fashion show had already started, over on the other side of campus.

Good thing he loved a brisk walk. He took off his jacket and hung it over his arm, locked his office behind him, and headed over to the Arts Building.

YENA

I spied on a few of the collections as the models and designers took the stage and walked the runway, one group after another.

After each completed their turn, they went and sat together in the front two rows of the theater audience, which had been kept clear for the competitors. That’s where we would all be sitting and waiting while the scores were tallied up after the final performance.

The judges’ table was right up against the runway. The five of them all had their own stack of big white cards numbered from one to ten, and at the end of each performance, they all held up one of their numbered signs to cast their vote.

So far, the votes were a mixed bag. Sometimes it seemed the judges were being generous, while some other scores were surprisingly low.

Anna, the reigning champ who’d won this contest the past two years in a row, had her turn around the middle of the show. Her collection had three very different looks that only seemed to belong together because all three were wearing white fur jackets, each in different designs but clearly made of the same hide.

I couldn’t be sure what kind of animal the fur had come from. It looked super soft and silky. Something like mink, but snow-white. The crowd went crazy when she did her final walk with her two models, and her scores were the highest so far, too.

The crowd backstage thinned so fast. I looked behind me and realized I had to start getting my shit together to take that stage myself any minute now.

I found Lucy admiring her makeup in the mirror.

She looked like a supermodel.

“You could do makeup for a living, you know,” I told her.

She gave me a funny look, checked back on her face in the mirror, then nodded happily.

Susan was up third from last. Then the only other designer ahead of us was standing at stage right with her models. They had a good view of the stage, but from where Lucy and I stood behind them, we couldn’t see Susan’s performance.

We could sure hear the audience’s reaction, though. They were loving it.

I’d seen what Susan and her models were wearing. It wowed me just as much as Anna’s collection had – which was to say, not at all.

Like Anna, Susan also had a fur theme in her collection. Her models, who went out ahead of her, wore two different versions of nearly the same outfit. Barely-there leather miniskirts with chainmail-style tank tops made of a shiny white metal, with big, plush, black fur coats.

Susan herself wore an elegant black gown. It was the only well-designed piece in the collection. She had a black fur shawl draped around her shoulders that was clearly intended to pull the collection together.

Maybe it was just the effect of the half-naked girls flanking Susan on either side as she strode around in her beautiful dress looking smug as fuck, that made for a good show.

In a flash, the second-to-last designer and her models were onstage, and Lucy and I were next up. We stood near the stage entrance and Lucy squeezed my hand.

It was too loud to hear what she said, but I got the feeling she was trying to give me a pep talk. I nodded and smiled and squeezed her hand back, but my chest was suddenly feeling tight with anxiety.

Not now, I thought to myself. I can’t freak out now. Right at the last minute, when it matters most.

And then I got the quick rush of energy that I felt every time that Lily started stirring inside me. It was a like a surge of heat that woke up every muscle in my body.

We’ve got this, Lily whispered.

She was laughing a little.

I exhaled and felt the tension leaving my chest.

Then I saw the last group of models descending the stage left stairs, and that meant it was our turn.

I gave Lucy a little nudge and off she went.

The four seconds it took for Lucy to stride over into the center stage spotlight were the longest four seconds of my life.

This was the do or die moment.

Time slowed down and my heart started pounding.

Lucy was a boss. She walked like she’d been modeling her whole life.

She hit the mark at center stage and stood looking at the audience with a fierce expression and a stunning silhouette.

I couldn’t believe my ears when the auditorium erupted into wild applause. They had not gotten this loud yet tonight. Not for Anna, not for Susan.

Seemed like Lucy had only just shocked the crowd to life, but already she was disappearing backstage for her quick change.

My body moved forward before my mind could think, and next thing I knew, I was under the blinding spotlight.

And this time the applause didn’t wait till I got to center stage.

The whole theater was on their feet the moment I emerged from behind the curtain.

Clapping, hollering, howling. For me.

Then I forgot what it was even like to be nervous.