Page 4 of Ignition

She saw, too? Kill me now.

“I’m Priscilla, by the way, I’ll be your liaison here. But call me Pri. ‘Priscilla’ makes me feel like I’m about sixty.” Her bright chortle curled around the cavernous space, wrapping us in a bubble.

“I’m Mia. Nice to meet you.”

She grinned and took one of the suitcases without asking.

“Ohh, I bet he’s plotting his revenge now.” Underneath the bubbly laugh, something darker peeked out, something that smelled like a warning.

My mouth went dry.

“He’ll forget all about it by dinner.” I shrugged, feigning an indifference I didn’t feel.

She snorted.

The sound of our footsteps against pristine marble echoed up high, vaulted ceilings as we followed the upward curve of the polished wood bannister.

“Yeah, right. I never knew Josh Whitmoore to back down from anything.”

Whitmoore as in…?

Crap.

I hadn’t pissed off just any cocky, rich boy.

She paused at the top of the stairs and toyed with the patterned scarf knitted through her braid.

You’re either brave… or an idiot, the glint in her eye said.

My money was on both.

Without waiting for a reply, she led me up another sweeping staircase, down a sconce-lit hallway, every click of her blocky, colourful heels spiking my pulse further.

The hall carried the kind of quiet luxury that belonged in a museum instead of a school, and I had the urge to drop my voice, as if the building itself expected silence and good breeding.

Soon, too soon, we reached my room, and she bid me goodbye with a wink and a knowing grin that did little to dampen my apprehension.

The door clicked shut, and blessed silence swallowed me whole—the heavy, absolute kind, born of thick walls and spaces designed with comfort in mind.

My thoughts turned up in volume.

She’s clearly exaggerating.

The faint tremor lingering in my hands disagreed.

For a traitorous moment, I wondered if he’d retaliate—and how.

My heart pounded in my chest in warning, but underneath it all, something wild peeked its head up at me: a glimmer of curiosity. I shook my head and shoved it aside, but I couldn’t quite dispel the words ringing in my ears like a death knell:

Did I just start a war I can’t possibly win?

Chapter two

Mia

My back pressed against the heavy oak door as I loosed the first full breath of the day, before the sheer size and luxury of my lodgings hit me like a punch to the solar plexus.

Despite the overcast sky, large windows let in plenty of light beams that played and chased each other in the folds of the canopied bed. Gone were the cramped little room I’d shared with Anne, and the bunk that squeaked with every toss and turn.