Salutem

Chapter 4

I couldn't stop thinking about that night.

No matter where I was or what I was doing, I kept thinking back to the way his lips felt as they trailed kisses from my lips to my neck or the way his rough hands felt as they slipped under the thin material of my dress and explored my body.

I tried to bring my attention away from the memories of that night with Santiago and back to the lecture I was sitting in. As I entered back into the real world, I noticed Greyson giving me a questioning look. "You okay Cynthia?" he whispered. "You've been out of it all week."

"I'm fine, just got a lot going in my head." I smiled trying to convince Greyson that it was just school and not a certain someone who I couldn't stop thinking about. He didn't look convinced but he dropped it and went back to typing out notes. I mentally thanked god that he didn't continue asking.

In the past week I learned that Greyson and I shared 3 classes and he took it upon himself to sit next to me in all of them. While I appreciated the fact that he seemed to somewhat care about me, he did hover in a way that I wasn't used to.

My focus in school hasn't been making friends. For me, school was about doing well enough that I made my parents proud. Even after their death, I knew that I had to make the inheritance I was left to pay for college worth it.

I only had a month left before graduation and I wanted to show everyone that even though I was about to inherit millions, I could still make it on my own. I knew that after graduation, the only number that would matter to people is the balance of my bank account, but I hoped that wherever they were, my parents saw how hard I worked.

It scared the shit out of me knowing that I would soon be in charge of millions of dollars and it could possibly cause me to cut ties with everyone else in my family. It also hurt that I couldn't even tell Crystal, my best friend, about the internal battle I was fighting over the money.

Our professor wrapped up his lecture and I began putting my things away. As I walked away from the class I could sense that Greyson was no more than a few feet behind me. I stopped walking and turned to face him. With the fakest possible smile plastered on my face I asked "Do you need something Greyson?"

"I-I-I was just wondering if maybe you wanted t-to go out with m-me this weekend?" he stuttered. His face was flushed and he was awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

There it was, the question I knew was coming all week. "I can't Greyson." I stated bluntly. "I'm working all weekend and I really don't want to start a relationship right now. I'm moving to Spain after graduation and I wouldn't be able to handle a long-distance relationship." I finished.

The look on his face was one of disappointment. I'm sure he was expecting me to say yes, just as all of the other girls do. A part of me felt a little bad, i mean he was a good guy who seemed to care about me.

With that I slowly turned to face the exit and continued towards my car. With the air conditioner in my Jeep on full blast on this hot California day, I started my short drive home.

As I opened the door to my apartment my phone rang. Crystal's ringtone began to play and i answered.

"What's up bitch?" she asked as soon as I picked up the phone. "Nothing much, just got out of class for the day." I replied. "Sooooo" she began "the club I work at is having a latin night tomorrow."

I thought back to the club. The club where I had seen my younger cousin strip for those old men. The club where I met Santiago. And the club where I had mind-blowing sex with a man I hardly knew on a leather couch.