Page 22 of The Other Side
Lenny narrowed his gaze, seeing right through me, but amused by my distaste, nonetheless. “Remember, there are eyes and ears everywhere at Montgomery,” he warned me solemnly.
I frowned at his comment, knowing he was right. With a quick salute, I headed toward the food staging area to fill the containers up. Jolene wouldn’t mind if her food didn’t look as meticulous as Lenny instructed his staff, so I dumped the pork belly, fingerling potatoes, and asparagus all together in each container.
The sous chef assembling plates to my right looked horrified, but silently handed me two forks, despite his outraged scowl.
By taking back service hallways, I was able to avoid running into any students or staff. However I had no choice but to pass through the main entrance hall to access the stairwell that led to the administrative offices below.
It was there that Chance Harper stood, his piercing blue-grey eyes alight when he spotted me.
I was ashamed to admit that my heart might have skipped a beat and my eyes, of their own accord, raked down his lean form, clad in black trousers that fit him perfectly and another crisp white shirt, sans tie, that was somehow so much whiter and brighter than my own.
The image and feel of his body pressed against mine, his mouth on me, his hands coiled around my waist, pulling me to him, flashed through my mind, causing a full-body blush.
Why did he have to be so attractive, and even worse, such a good kisser when he was also a liar and a scoundrel?
Anger and desire coursed through me in a simultaneous dance, vying for dominance.
I hated that I’d told him to leave me alone, and yet there he was.
I hated that while we both existed at Montgomery, there was no escaping him.
But most of all, I hated my traitorous mind for still wanting him…for being so very pleased at the thought of him seeking me out despite my earlier attempts to rebuke him.
“I missed you at lunch, Violet.” He leaned casually against the banister, careful to keep his voice low, as there were students dotted around the periphery of the large hall.
“It’s Miss Price,” I reminded him curtly. “And I don’t eat in the dining hall.” I tried to sidestep him, but he mirrored the action, blocking my access to the stairwell.
“Then where do you eat?”
Somewhere I don’t have to see your stupid, handsome face.
“None of your business.” I stacked the containers on top of each other so I could hold them with one arm, allowing me to use the other to shove him to the side.
“I’ll see you around, Violet.” I couldn’t tell if his tone was mocking or resigned.
Being that I wanted to dislike him, I decided on the former, muttering words of distaste for him under my breath as I made my descent.
“Jolene?” I called out as I reached the bottom of the steps.
The basement offices were in fine creepy form on the first day of school. With the weather outside being rather overcast, shadows of dubious origin lurched from every nook and cranny, only to disintegrate as they reached the cast of the even more sinister glare from the malicious overhead fluorescent lighting.
Thankfully, I’d never been to a morgue before, but I imagined it would evoke similar dread and depression as the lower level of the main building at Montgomery.
Further adding to the discomfort of the basement, the stone effectively muffled sounds, so you often didn’t hear others until they were right upon you, which could be rather disconcerting. Despite the stone enhancing disembodied voices from the offices beyond the corridor, the incessant buzzing from the overhead lights always caused an immediate and slowly increasing throbbing headache to set in.
How all the staff managed to work down here every single day was beyond me. Jolene had once told me, “You get used to it,” with a shrug, when I asked. I certainly would never get used to it.
“Violet!” Jolene exclaimed, her saccharine voice bouncing off the walls, producing an odd dissonance. A moment later, her head popped out of the records room door. The hallway light flickered overhead as she locked the door, making it appear as though the bright yellow school bus appliqué on her sweater was in fact moving along in jerky spasms. The motion and flashing light intensified my already present headache.
The dichotomy of the Montgomery manor home with warmly lit and comfortably upholstered areas for students on the main level contrasted greatly with the almost brutalist dungeon-like classrooms and the actual dungeon that was the lower level.
“Lunch.” I held up the stacked containers with my hands. “As promised.”
“Goodness, I can’t believe it’s almost one o’clock already. The day’s just flying by.” She hung her lanyard, heavy and jangling with keys, around her neck, and veered toward the couches in the waiting area just in front of her desk.
I handed her a fork and a box. We wasted no time digging into the food. Although it was lukewarm, neither of us minded.
“Lenny said people have been talking about me leaving with Chance,” I grumbled, unable to keep it from her and desperate to know what she had heard herself. Jolene wastheeyes and ears of Montgomery.
