The Haven High Book Series (Wattys2017)

Chapter 2

Kelly stood in her full length mirror rejecting yet another outfit. She wanted to look her best tomorrow on the first day of school. It was going to be the first time she would see Xan since leaving Nice. A part of her wished she had said no to the booking of the shoot in Miami, but it was with a previous client and when you start saying no to loyal clients they tend to move on to the next stunning beauty.

Besides, nobody pays their bills by refusing work.

No, she would just have to contend herself with the thought that someday she'd be working the runways of New York and abroad and will be sought after by all the haute couture designers of the world, but in order to get there she had to work hard to build her brand as a nationally known print model here in the US.

Sometimes the idea of being conscripted worried her for more reasons than the danger of the job, especially since Liam and his crew showed up. No it worried her because she didn't know how it would affect her career to disappear for five years while she served.

A great deal could happen over a five year period, she was sixteen now and by the time she finished with the guard she'd be twenty-four. Age discrimination is alive and well in the industry. What if she came back and she didn't fit the current look . . . Kelly's worry wheel came to an abrupt stop as she snorted and snickered to herself, and thought, as if being blonde, tall and beautiful would ever go out of style.

"Kelly my dear," she reprimanded herself, "you have more pressing concerns to deal with." She hadn't spoken to Xan in more than a week. Every time she tried him on his cell it went straight to voice mail. She'd stopped leaving messages for him days ago. Kelly Armstrong grovels at no one's feet. But, hell what was with him?

She tried not to be petty when she saw the pictures of him at a Gala event in St Tropez with a leggy blonde that wasn't her. He needed to attend these things and showing up stag all the time wasn't great for anyone's brand, not that he cared much about that.

Xan spent most of his time trying to disappear from his adoring fans. He simply couldn't stand the paparazzi -- hence his ever growing collection of super fast bikes. When she questioned him on his new fascination he had only said, 'well when I'm wearing the helmet they can't see my face and when they spot me they have no chance of catching me; they'd be crazy to even try'.

And he was right about that -- on his Ducati, Tomahawk, or now his Blackbird that goes 190 miles an hour not even the California Highway Patrol can catch him. She stopped riding with him as soon as he got comfortable enough on the bike to go stupid-fast. She'd said it was because she couldn't stand helmet head, but actually, and she'd never admit this to anyone, they scared the bejeezus out of her.

She'd asked him to slow down but he'd said going slow on these bikes would be like strapping on your roller blades to go for a swim -- it just didn't make any sense. The last time she straddled the death dealers she had been a shaking quivering mess by the time he'd finally pulled over. That's when she'd tapped out.

Yeah, yeah, she knew Xan's friends thought of her as a total bad ass, and she normally wouldn't disagree, but there are limits to even her bravery or stupidity, whatever way you look at it; it was a real shame -- she looked damn good in biker leather.

Kelly had to resist the urge to try Xan again. No doubt he was back in San Fran by now but he obviously didn't feel the need to contact her so why contact him like some sort of stalker girl? She had more dignity than that. She just wished the guy would stop ghosting her.

When she started to consider getting out her magical pen to invite the dweebs out to a group outing -- under the guise of a pre-back to school get together just to see him -- she began to realize how pathetic she truly was.