Chapter 5

The VIP lounge was a stark contrast to the chaotic energy of the main club. It was dimly lit, soundproofed, and smelled faintly of expensive leather cleaner.

Dawn lay curled on her side on a massive, plush leather sofa. She looked like a broken doll, her knees pulled tightly to her chest in a fetal position. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her teeth grinding together as she rode out the violent waves of pain radiating from her stomach. Every muscle in her body was locked in a state of rigid tension.

The heavy oak door of the lounge clicked open. Allyson hurried in, her heels sinking into the thick carpet. She was carefully balancing a delicate porcelain teacup on a saucer. Steam rose from the cup in curling wisps.

Allyson knelt beside the sofa. She gently placed a hand on Dawn's trembling shoulder. "Hey. Sit up just a little bit. I got the bartender to brew this. Real peppermint leaves."

Dawn forced her eyes open. Her vision was slightly blurry from the unshed tears of physical pain. She uncurled her body with agonizing slowness, propping herself up on one elbow.

Allyson guided the rim of the teacup to Dawn's pale lips. Dawn took a small, hesitant sip.

The liquid was scalding hot, but the sharp, clean taste of peppermint immediately flooded her mouth. The heat traveled down her throat, settling into her violently cramping stomach. The medicinal properties of the mint began to work almost instantly, slightly loosening the tight, agonizing knot in her muscles.

Dawn let her head fall back against the soft leather cushion. She exhaled a long, shaky breath. The intense physical pain began to recede, leaving behind a profound, hollow exhaustion.

As she lay there, the sharp scent of the peppermint vapor drifted into her nose. It was a distinct, piercing smell.

Proustian memory. The scientific term for when a specific scent bypasses the logical brain and directly triggers a visceral, buried memory.

The smell of peppermint didn't remind Dawn of a high-end club. It reminded her of cheap chewing gum. It reminded her of a boy who constantly chewed it to mask the smell of cigarettes he wasn't supposed to be smoking.

The low, muffled bass of the club music outside the door began to distort. The sound warped, stretching and fading until it was replaced by the shrill, chaotic noise of teenagers. The dim lighting of the lounge dissolved, replaced by the blinding, harsh sunlight of an early autumn morning.

The memory hit her with the force of a physical blow, dragging her five years into the past.

She was seventeen again.

She was sitting in a classroom at St. Jude's Preparatory Academy, an elite private school in Manhattan where the tuition cost more than her father made in a decade. She was there on a full academic scholarship, a charity case dropped into a sea of unimaginable wealth.

The sunlight poured through the massive, floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the rich mahogany desks. Dawn sat in her usual seat, a desk in the middle of the classroom, pushed right up against the massive windows. She wore a pristine, perfectly ironed uniform. Her skirt was the regulation length. Her tie was knotted perfectly. She was a ghost, trying desperately not to be noticed by the kids wearing limited-edition sneakers and carrying backpacks that cost thousands of dollars.

Suddenly, a massive commotion erupted in the hallway outside. It was a mix of loud, obnoxious laughter and the high-pitched giggles of girls.

Bang.

The heavy wooden door of the classroom was kicked open with such force that it slammed against the wall, the sound echoing like a gunshot.

Arlo Hammond strode into the room.

He was eighteen, tall, and already built like a man who spent hours in a private gym. He had a designer backpack slung carelessly over one shoulder. His school uniform was a disaster. The top two buttons of his crisp white shirt were undone, exposing a sliver of his tanned chest. His tie hung loosely around his neck, completely useless.

He reeked of the absolute, arrogant entitlement of a trust-fund baby who knew the rules didn't apply to him because his father funded the school's new science wing.

The moment he entered, the dynamic of the room shifted. The girls stopped talking, their eyes tracking his every movement with undisguised hunger. The boys puffed out their chests, desperate for his attention.

He strode toward the back of the room, his path taking him right past Dawn's desk. His gaze fixed straight ahead, jaw tight, deliberately ignoring the figure in his peripheral vision. He dropped his heavy bag onto his self-appointed throne in the center of the back row.

Dawn stared down at the complex calculus equation in her textbook. Her fingers tightened around her mechanical pencil. The plastic dug into her skin, leaving a deep red indentation.

She forced her eyes to focus on the numbers. She pressed the graphite tip onto her scratch paper, writing out formulas at a frantic pace. The scratching sound of the pencil was her attempt to drown out the sudden, erratic thumping of her own heart.

From just a few seats away, she could hear Arlo's voice. He was talking to his friends about a weekend yacht party his family was hosting in the Hamptons. His voice was a lazy, gravelly drawl. Every syllable he spoke felt like a physical tug on Dawn's nerve endings.

She hunched her shoulders, trying to make herself physically smaller. She buried her face closer to the textbook.

We are different species, she repeated the mantra in her head like a desperate prayer. He is a Hammond. I live in a neighborhood where the streetlights are broken. We cannot intersect. Do not look at him.

The shrill, piercing scream of the school bell suddenly rang out, signaling the end of the period. It was a harsh sound that shattered the delicate, oppressive ecosystem of the classroom.

Dawn didn't hesitate. Before the teacher had even finished speaking, she slammed her heavy calculus textbook shut. She shoved it into her worn canvas tote bag, her movements jerky and panicked. She needed to get out of this room. She needed to escape the suffocating gravity of his presence before she did something stupid, like turn around and look at him.