With that I ran back upstairs, and visited my mom quickly, who was busy in her room with a giant seating plan for the wedding.
An hour or so later I heard the now-familiar roar of the Lamborghini engine pulling up into the driveway before screeching to a stop.
When I heard Jack’s footsteps in our guest room wing of the house, I came out of my room and went into the hallway to see him.
“Hey, have you seen the cops yet?”
Jack looked surprised.
“Cops? No.”
“Good. They came by here earlier looking for you. Apparently Oliver snitched. I told them we went to that bar you took me to at 1:30, after my class, so you couldn’t have beaten Oliver up at 1:40. You took me out to tell me how sorry you were about my mom. Just FYI, in case they come back.”
Jack looked at me with an inscrutable expression. Finally, he spoke.
“I didn’t pick you as someone who would lie to the cops.”
I shrugged. “Normally I wouldn’t be. But if I told the truth it was he said/she said, and honestly Oxford is probably looking for any excuse to kick you out now. I kind of figured I owed you one.”
“You did owe me one. Thanks, sis,” he replied with a grin before going into his room.
I turned and went back into my own room, feeling more confused than ever. Jack was so guarded, so shielded, it was like he never wanted to let anybody in. I wondered what he was thinking, then eventually resigned myself to the fact that I would probably never know.
Chapter Eighteen
It wasn’t exactly a surprise, but when I showed up to my next Art History class, Oliver wasn’t there. I had told Annie and Tina everything that had happened in the cafeteria the next day at lunch. They got the truth, I figured neither one of them would betray me and go to the cops. But, I also made them promise they’d never tell anyone.s
“Good to know it was true, that guy was bad news,” Tina quipped, shaking her head.
“Yeah, jeez. That’s scary,” Annie replied. We were both visibly relieved when the next class had started and Oliver hadn’t shown up. Of course now that I’d lied to the police about where I’d been I couldn’t tell them about Oliver’s attack, but a part of me was still worried that Jack was going to get in trouble over it.
That Saturday, when I woke up, I found a text on my phone.
“Meet me at the stables at 11. Jack.”
I looked at the clock on the top of the phone. It was 9:45, so I had a little over an hour to get ready. Plenty of time. How on earth did Jack get my phone number? I wondered. God, the guy had secrets.
Showering, wondering why Jack wanted to see me at the stables, I got ready pretty quickly and went downstairs to get a quick bite to eat for breakfast, then headed out.
I wasn’t sure what to wear, since I didn’t know what Jack wanted, so I settled on some sneakers, jeans and a warm sweater. After all, it was still late January, although it was also apparently one of the mildest Januaries on record, a balmy forty degrees that morning.
The ground of the Alcott estate were so large I’d never actually seen the stables. I wanted to learn to horseback ride, of course, but so far I’d been so busy with school and getting used to life in England that I hadn’t found the time.
It was a ten minute walk before I even saw the stables in the distance, and I started to realize just how rich the Alcott family must be.
When I finally got there, I saw Jack waiting for me, leaning on the outside of the barn, playing with his phone. He looked up and saw me.
“Hey Julianne,” he told me, and gave me a small smile.
“Hey,” I replied. “Why’d you ask me over here?”
“You wanted to learn how to ride horses, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Well, today you’re going to learn.” There was that grin again. God he was good looking. I could feel my naughty parts reacting just at the look of him, and it seemed there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Opening the barn door, I was greeted by the stench of horses and their neighing. Like a pro who had done this a million times, Jack went over to one of the stables, opened it up, and brought out two horses which he held by the saddles. One was a big brown horse with a diamond shaped white spot on his forehead, the other was smaller, pure white, except for some little black spots that went up and down her legs, giving her the most adorable look ever.
“This is Perdita,” he told me, motioning to the smaller horse. I smiled at the reference to 101 Dalmatians. It suited her.
She stomped her feet and nuzzled with me with her nose as Jack handed me her reins. I’m not going to lie, I had virtually no experience with horses, and had no idea what to do. I pat her softly, whispering to her that I was going to be her friend.
“Do you know how to get on?” Jack asked, and I had to shake my head, embarrassed.