Deceit (Gallows Hill #1)

3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Skyla

I stayed at my father’s home last night when we landed, but first thing the next morning, my bags were packed in the car and I was being chauffeured across the city to my new home. As soon as we arrived something rippled through me. It wasn’t necessarily fear. It was almost something… foreboding. A feeling of being unwelcomed. Then again, that could just be my unease with this entire situation.

The campus is breathtaking, though. Large grand buildings that look more like cathedrals than university buildings line either side of the courtyard. Large pillars stand on either side of each entrance, an obvious display of wealth and history. My eyes skate up the sharp peaks and steep rooflines of my dorm building, practically black stained glass windows adorning each ridgeline.

My father assured me that Asher would be waiting in my dorm to welcome me and introduce himself. I can’t lie that as I stand in the elevator, watching as each level lights up, my anxiety ratchets. What will he be like? Is he kind? Does he want to be in this engagement or is he being forced like I am?

When the elevator reaches the last floor, level seven, I step out of it and walk until I find my room. The door is wider than others and it’s at the very corner of the hallway. Taking out the keycard that my father gave me this morning at breakfast, I wave it against the card reader much like a hotel before pushing it open.

My eyes widen and my mouth drops at the sight before me. I expected your average dorm room with a few extra amenities inside. After all, my father went here, as well as my mother and aunt Steph. She told me a lot about the school, how it was grand in ways other schools could never be. I assumed she meant the historic gothic architecture of the buildings outside that more closely resemble a castle, or maybe the sprawling land it sits on that seems to go for miles. I had no idea she was talking about plush leather couches, full kitchens and what looks to be an en suite to my left.

I also didn’t expect to walk into my new dorm and find a naked woman bent over a queen sized bed as a man’s bare ass thrusts into her savagely. The noises she’s making has me shifting uncomfortably as he slaps the side of her ass and continues. I’m not a prude by any means, but I’d also be lying if I said I was experienced. Being forced to attend an all-girls boarding school and not being allowed out of an adult’s supervision at all times made the whole engaging with the men thing virtually impossible.

The girl turns her head to look around the man, giving me a satisfied grin that makes my stomach turn. I spin on my heel as I head for the door. Obviously I was given the wrong room number. I’m stopped in my tracks almost immediately though, when a deep voice calls out to me.

“Where are you going?”

I don’t turn around, continuing to stare at the doorway as I speak.

“Sorry. I must have the wrong room. I’m Skyla Parris.”

I hear a deep groan and a breathy whimper come from behind me and I take another step to leave when he speaks again.

“Stay,” he practically commands. “You,” he says, as I glance behind me only to find him staring at the girl beneath him. “Get dressed and get the fuck out of here.”

She does as he says happily, smiling the entire time she slips on her dress and heels. Running a hand through her hair, she leans in to press a kiss to his lips, but he easily dodges her, gripping her arm in his hand as he escorts her to the open doorway, slamming the door in her face.

Wow, harsh.

His pants are securely fastened by now, and his forehead is dotted with small beads of sweat as he turns to look at me. His short dark brown hair and matching brown eyes are nearly the same color, his sharp jawline looking like it was carved from marble.

I watch as his full pink lips twist up into a scowl as he speaks.

“Why are you staring at me?”

I startle at his question, fastening my eyes to the floor as I respond.

“I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment before he begins circling me, much like a predator does to his prey.

“So, you’re the Parris princess.”

I frown at that, my eyes tracking him as he continues to slowly circle me.

“What? I’m not a princess. I’m—”

“You are on this campus, Princess, and I’m the king.”

Tilting my head to the side, my face pinches in confusion.

“So, on this campus, I’m your daughter?”

He pauses for a moment before his face is slashed with irritation.

“Fucking smartass. My father told me you were a good girl. Quiet, obedient. Guess he was wrong.”

His father? So this must be—

“Asher?” I question.

“Is that a question?” He asks with a lifted eyebrow.

My eyes roam over him, his wide shoulders and lean muscles a stark contrast from who I expected. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t…him. His smug attitude is really starting to irritate me though, and before I can stop myself, I speak.

“Disappointed more so. What can you do? Life is full of them,” I shrug.

Fire rages in his chocolate brown eyes before he reaches into his pocket, throwing a jewelry box at my chest. I make no move to catch it, allowing it to fall to the ground as he sneers.

“Put it on and don’t take it off,” before he’s storming out of my room, slamming the door shut with a shake that rattles the walls around me.

Irritation rises inside of me, before I close my eyes and let out a ragged breath. And that is the guy that I’m supposed to be marrying in less than nine months? What an asshole.

After my bags are brought up to me and my things are unpacked, I get a call from the nurse’s office.

“Can you please come down this evening so we can go over your medical records?” a soft voice asks through the phone.

“Oh, of course. How do I get there from the Parris dormitory?” I ask, internally cringing that my father felt it necessary to have an entire dorm named after himself. Then again, it could be my grandfather’s doing, or maybe my great-grandfather. Supposedly, Parris’s have been attending Gallows Hill since the college first opened back in the early seventeenth-century.

“Just head through the main courtyard and it’s the building straight ahead. You can’t miss it.”

I nod to myself as I speak.

“I’ll head there now.”

“See you soon.”

I hang up and grab my purse and key card, making sure to throw my phone in for good measure as I trek across campus. The sun hasn’t quite set yet and it’s actually fairly quiet. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and according to my father, move-in day was officially last week so everyone is undoubtedly turned in for the night.

When I get to the main building, I see a sign saying ‘nurse’ with an arrow on it. I follow the hallway all the way to the end before stopping at a full on ER, at least that’s what it looks like. Dozens of beds, several nursing staff and medical supplies as far as the eye can see.

One guy is sitting on a bed, football uniform caked with mud and his bloodied nose stuffed with gauze. His eyes track me curiously, as if I was a newly discovered species. A cherubic looking nurse smiles at me as she makes her way over.

“Miss Parris?” she questions.

I give her a polite smile and nod as she escorts me to a bed, pulling the privacy curtain before she fires up the computer at the station. We are going through all the routine questions like my date of birth, history of illnesses or surgeries when she catches me off guard.

“Are you sexually active?”

I blink at her for several seconds.

“Do you really need to know that?”

She gives me a sympathetic smile as she nods.

“University policy.”

I stare at her for several more seconds, before I gently shake my head. She smiles at that, like being a virgin is something to be proud of, before she quickly types away on her keyboard. Then she rifles through a medical cabinet, grabbing a needle and other supplies.

“What is that?” I ask.

“Birth control,” she says easily, as she begins readying the syringe.

“Uhm, no thank you. I’m good.”

“It’s not optional, sweetie. Every student is tested for STDs when they return from each break and every female student is given birth control each quarter.”

“Even if I’m not having sex?” I ask dubiously, instantly regretting it when she gives me a pinched look like I’m irritating her.

“Yes,” she says, before she gestures to my arm. “Roll up your sleeve, please.”

I want to argue more, she’s literally forcing me to get birth control and submit to an STD panel? This is ridiculous. I don’t even have sex. I got a lengthy lecture from my father about the very subject, which was as uncomfortable as it sounds. He told me that it was of the utmost importance that I was a virgin before Asher and my ceremony. I didn’t argue with my father at the time, but after meeting Asher, I have to say, I have some complaints.

Slowly, I roll up my sleeve and she makes quick work of giving me the shot. It only hurts for a moment and soon she’s bandaging my arm before she runs the STD panel, which is a hell of a lot more invasive. I guess it keeps their precious children from getting pregnant or catching diseases. It is still a college, despite its impeccable education and really what else is there to do at college except go to class and have sex?

I’ve thought about what it would be like to lose my virginity a thousand times, but not once did I ever picture myself losing it to an asshole like Asher. Apparently he can have sex with whoever he wants, but of course as the woman I have to stay pure and chaste for our arrangement.

What a bunch of bullshit.