Hope - Book 1 of the Bad Boy Vibes series

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The day was deceptively mild. Clear blue dominated the skies, with only a few specs of white fluffs to pass off as clouds. Anna gazed up at them suspiciously. She knew better than to be taken in by their unassuming appearance. This was still Melbourne, a city prone to boast four seasons all in one day.

And with the undertaking she had in store for her day, Anna knew there was no escaping whatever it was fate chose to mete out to her. She was rather sensible that way. If a tad overly negative.

She made her way along the concrete path and into the cool shadows of the interior. The building was modern. Designed to reflect contemporary visions of what constitutes architectural beauty. Anna couldn't see it. She saw only its cold, dank halls, chilled by inadequate heating. She burrowed further beneath her warm hoody. This was not her idea. Returning to her college was not something she'd thought about doing...ever.

But Rafe had been adamant; it was the only way. The only way to snoop into their doings and hopefully get something on them. As a student, already having been threading these hallways for a good many months prior to the incident, it made sense for her to be the one doing the snooping. Rafe would have been spotted entering the place from miles away. He was huge. Tall, brawny, and muscular. Built like a tree and then had the face of the gods planted on his oh-so-capable shoulders. Still, Anna wasn't one to notice such things anymore. Or so she liked to tell herself anyway.

Anna stood before her English teacher's office door, her knees shaking. She had been equipped with the latest in spyware, courtesy of Rafe's dubious connections with the police. Dubious only because of Tess's unreasonable fascination with the man himself. Feeling a little more self-conscious than usual, she looked about at the emptied corridor with a little uncertainty. Reaching up to pat at her pockets hesitantly, Anna felt up the little button that was, in fact, a micro camera and audio transmission piece. At the other end were Rafe and his girlfriend, Tess from the police, watching and listening in to everything she did. It made her doubly conscious of messing up. She wondered about a trip to the bathroom which, due to nervousness, was becoming increasingly necessary.

Anna came to college a little earlier that day hoping to avoid unpleasant eyes and have a look around Peter's office.

She reached out to turn the doorknob, praying it was locked, only to find with a sinking heart that it wasn't. Taking a deep breath and deliberately refusing to think about it, Anna slipped right in and went over to the neat desk. There was nothing on it. She tried the drawers and found it was locked.

"What are you doing?"

Anna jumped and looked wildly around. Her heart rate accelerating before abruptly stilling, the blood rush left her ears tingling. But then it pumped up a beat when she saw that she was quite alone. It was Rafe in her ear sounding oddly different. Anna did not reply, finding it difficult to do calmly in the face of her sudden panic. She abruptly decided not to linger. She'd done what she'd been sent to do. The drawers were locked and there was no way of uncovering more. She didn't understand what they'd hoped to find there. A recording of what happened? The Prestons were not that stupid to keep incriminating evidence around. They were obviously professionals at what they did—luring unsuspecting innocents and sexually grooming them to be their little playthings. Only she was not as susceptible as they thought. Perhaps alone, and without another to turn to, she may have succumbed to their inevitable manipulation, but she had Rafe. Rafe to cling to. Rafe to sustain her through this.

Anna hurried to back out the way she came in, with hopefully none the wiser. But just as she moved to swing the door open, she heard footsteps right outside and coming closer. There was really no reason to assume that whoever it was, was heading towards her but it was a risk she couldn't afford to take. Anna rapidly backed away from the door, turning around to look desperately about the room. Thrown into a tizzy, Anna made for a closet door to the side. She pulled it open and saw that it could fit her in, then leapt in without a thought.