Navy SEAL Romance: MC ROMANCE: Axel (Bad Boy Alpha Male Military Romance) (Military Suspense Protector Romance) (10 page)

*****

When Dean Warren sent her a terse message requesting she visit his office, Felicia just knew she was about to be in some major trouble.

She was caught between dragging her feet there to draw out the inevitable, and wanting to get it over as quickly as possible. Dean Warren seemed to get mad at her every other week over the most mundane things, but every lecture was somehow worse than the last.

She knocked on the door and was met with an immediately barked “Come in!” She rolled her eyes and walked inside, head held high.

Dean Warren stared at her over his desk. “Sit, Miss Monrovia.”

She sat down and crossed her legs. Dean Warren was practically giving off angry waves of heat. She stifled a sigh and settled in for a very long, very loud lecture.

Dean Warren steepled his fingers and glared at her from his seat. “Do you know why I called you in here, Miss Monrovia?”

She shook her head. “No, sir. I have no idea.”

His frown deepened. “I find that very hard to believe. I think you know very well how you pawned Mr. Mathis off on your friend four months ago, as if I wouldn’t notice.”

Felicia froze. Oh, shoot, how could he know about that? She had made Monica promise not to tell, and the few times Felicia asked her about it, she made no indication he was upset enough to go to the Dean.

There was no point in lying. Lying would only make things crappier than they already were.

Felicia tried to play it cool. “I didn’t think I could properly fulfill my duties, so I—”

“Oh, cut the crap,” Dean Warren said bluntly. “We both know you hated being asked to guide Mr. Mathis since day one. Now, you’ve worked out a plan where you conveniently don’t have to deal with him, and I’m supposed to take that at face value?”

She grimaced. “Um, yes?”

“No!” He shouted. “I asked you to do this one thing, Miss Monrovia, and you couldn’t even do it!”

“It’s not my fault!” She whined. “I told you it was too big a request to ask of me—”

“So, you leave this boy who is in a new country to his own devices?”

Felicia balked at the idea. “No; of course not! He’s with my friend, Monica. She’s a better hostess than I am anyway.”

Dean Warren pinched the bridge of his nose. “That may very well be, but it wasn’t her that I asked to do this, now was it?”

“What do you want from me? She’s been his guide for the past four months. He’s only here for six. Am I supposed to just uproot the whole thing now?” Felicia really didn’t want to. She could tell from the way Monica had been talking about Eliott that she really liked him, and Felicia expected he really liked her too. She didn’t want to get in the way of that

The look on Dean Warren’s face said that she didn’t have much of a choice though.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. When he spoke again, he sounded more tired than angry. “Miss Monrovia, you have to understand that I’m not the bad guy here. Eliott’s parents specifically asked me for our top brash to guide their son, and I gave them your name; not Monica’s, yours. If they find out about this — and believe me, they’re the kind of people who can find out about things — what am I supposed to do? What is the school supposed to do without his family’s charitable donations?”

He was trying to tug at her heartstrings, she knew. Luckily, it wasn’t working. “We get countless donations though. Even my father—”

“Ah yes, your father.” Dean Warren’s voice was back to hard. He must have quickly realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere playing the sympathy card. “I had a chat with him about all of this on the golf course the other day.”

Dread filled Felicia’s gut. That couldn’t be good. “You went to my father?”

“It came up naturally in conversation,” Dean Warren insisted. Felicia bit the inside of her cheek to keep from lashing out. She didn’t know what was worse, her father talking about her behind her back or making time away from the office to play golf with his buddies instead of seeing her. “He couldn’t understand why you would go back on your word and leave a poor boy all alone, and when I told him about the financial stakes at play, he was even more flabbergasted.”

“That was totally unfair of you,” Felicia said.

Dean Warren shrugged as if to say
Yeah, I know
. “He agreed that certain punishments should be in order for actions that affect not only me, but every single one of your peers.”

“Punishments like what?” She was afraid to ask.

“If you refuse to fulfill your duties, you will be stricken from the Spencer Board of Student Excellency and the Student Council effective immediately,” he said.

Felicia stood from her chair. “That’s not fair!”

“Sure it is,” Dean Warren replied calmly. “You were put on those boards not only as a favor to your father, but because I believed you to be someone worthy of representing Spencer on a grand scale. If you are no longer able to do that, you will no longer be trusted on those boards. It’s very simple, really.”

Felicia slumped back in her chair feeling defeated. What was she supposed to do? She might have been put on those boards because her father wanted her to shine at the top, but over the years, she had put blood, sweat, and tears into those organizations. The positions may have been given to her, but no one would doubt she hadn’t earned her place at the top.

Could she really give all of that up?

No, she couldn’t. She had worked too hard. Besides, Monica and Eliott could keep seeing each other. If she took over as his guide like she was supposed to do, nothing would have to change between them. Heck, maybe having the pressure of being in an official capacity removed would finally push Monica to take that first step.

“Well?” He asked impatiently.

Felicia slumped in her chair; all semblance of poise out of the window. It was for the best, she knew, but it still felt like she was losing the war instead of just the battle.

“Fine,” she said finally. “I’ll be the stupid guide.”

Dean Warren nodded. “I knew you’d come around.

Eliott waited for Monica at their usual spot in the courtyard. She was late, but he wasn’t too upset. She was
always
late because something always came up last minute to derail her. He thought about it with a smile.

He was debating whether to drop by the cafeteria to grab a quick lunch while he waited when he spotted Felicia across the yard. He scowled. Eventhough months had passed since her snuff, and Monica had tried to convince him she was a really nice girl, he still felt ill will toward her. As she got closer, he realized she was headed straight for him.

“Eliott?” She said hesitantly.

He narrowed his eyes, instantly suspicious. “Yes?”

She smiled awkwardly and pointed to the empty space on the bench beside him. “Do you mind if I sit?”

“I cannot stop you from doing anything,” he bit back.

She sighed and sat on the edge of the seat. He folded his arms and glared at her; an eyebrow raised in question. What was she doing here?

“Look, I know I was kind of a jerk to you in the beginning,” she said without meeting his eyes. “I know that. I feel really bad about it.

He scoffed. “Now you feel bad? After four months of ignoring me?”

She looked up at him with sad blue eyes. “Okay, so I was a major jerk. I’m sorry. There’s a whole history to this thing that you got caught up in, and I didn’t warn you about it.”

Eliott thought that he didn’t need to hear whatever lame excuse Felicia could come up with. She had shown him her true colors the first day they meet, and spent four whole months not even sparing him a thought. Now, all of a sudden, she was sorry? He wasn’t going to buy it.

But, a nagging voice in his head told him maybe he should hear her out. He thought about Monica and how fond her voice got on the rare occasion when their conversations drifted to Felicia. The many times he had been over to her apartment since their first fateful meeting, he’s noticed framed portraits of Monica and Felicia together; smiling ear-to-ear with their arms slung over each other’s shoulders.

Monica was so kind and good. If she thought Felicia was a decent person, could she really be all that bad?

Doubtful, yet feeling an inexplicable drive to find out, Eliott relented. “And what was that?”

Felicia bit her lip and closed her eyes. “Okay, so, Dean Warren was telling the truth when he said guiding transfer students was something I’d done a lot. It’s one of my many unofficial jobs around the school, but unlike a real job, I didn’t sign-up for it at all.”

Eliott frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Dean Warren is tight with my dad and has done him a bunch of favors over the years. Some of those favors involve me; getting me on special school boards, writing me letters of recommendation, that sort of thing. He makes it seem like a friendship thing, but I’m kind of indebted to him. That’s why I do the stupid welcoming and guide stuff for him. It’s like blackmail really.”

Eliott dropped his arms in surprise. He had no idea about any of that.

“I did not know,” he admitted. “That sounds awful. I am sorry.”

Felicia smiled sadly and shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Dean Warren isn’t a bad guy, he’s just a load of hot air in a suit. Plus, I know somewhere deep down in his heart he cares. He cares more about money for sure, but he cares about me too.”

Eliott searched for something to say. He was still sore about her behavior from before, but now that he had some context for it, he didn’t feel the same anger toward her as before.

“Okay,” he said.

Felicia raised her eyebrows. “Is that an ‘okay’ as in ‘Okay, I forgive you’?”

He chuckled. “Yes. Okay, I forgive you.”

She slapped a hand to her chest and sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God. Okay then, let’s go!”

She jumped up and grabbed his arm. Eliott was too shocked to do anything other than follow, though he tried to make his mouth catch up with his mind.

“Wait, wait!” He said. “Where are we going?”

“I’m making up for lost time! Let’s go do some shadowing, yeah?” She replied.

Eliott shook his head. “But Monica—”

“I’ll remember to text her late,” Felicia said while waving him off. “Or better yet, you can. I think she’d like that
a lot
more.”

Eliott blushed. “She and I were supposed to—”

“Look, I’d love to leave you and Monica with your little puppy love thing. Really, I would. You seem to make her really happy, but Dean Warren is threatening me with some pretty heavy stuff since he’s found out I haven’t been actually shadowing you these past few months. I just need to save my own bacon real quick, you understand?”

Eliott supposed he did understand, but there was still a nagging feeling inside. Still, he sighed and nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

She smiled at him. “Great! Let’s go see some landmarks or something. You’ll be back to making heart eyes at Monica in no time.”

She linked their arms together and tugged him forward. Despite her small size, she was so much stronger than he thought.

He was so wrapped up in trying not to get his arm yanked off that he didn’t notice Monica staring at them until he was already in the building.

*****

It had been over two months since Monica had hung out with Eliott. Since the day she saw him leave arm-in-arm with Felicia, she’d barely seen her friend too.

She tried not to let her mind wonder about it too much, but that was almost entirely futile. Without Eliott’s smile or cute anecdotes to get her through the day, the only thing she could think about was whether he’d already lost interest in her.

They had become close over the last few months. Eliott was an easy listener, and always laughed at her dumb jokes and offered to pay the bill when they went out to eat. He’d tuck hair behind her ears when it got in her face, and press against her side whenever they were sitting together. It was the little things that made her fall head over heels in love with him.

Now, she would never get the chance to tell him.

Did he choose Felicia over her? Did he finally wake up and realize he was wasting his American experience with the ditzy girl who was always late instead of someone more poised and beautiful?

Could she really blame him?

She couldn’t even bring herself to hate Felicia, though she really wanted to. Maybe if she hadn’t spent so much time trying to convince him Felicia was a good person, this wouldn’t have happened?

She sat in the courtyard by herself, looking out at a game of frisbee that some guys were playing. It was late, and she had just gotten off work.

Usually, she would run home the first chance she could, but now, she just sat, letting her dark thoughts consume her.

“Monica?”

Monica startled. She turned around to see Eliott standing in front of her; a shy smile on his lips.

Monica searched for something to say, but came up with nothing. Eliott sat down on the bench beside her, as closely as he always had, and smiled.

“I have missed you,” he said, “I have not seen you around as of late.”

That’s because you’ve been too busy looking at Felicia, Monica thought bitterly. Instead, she said, “I’ve been around.”

His smile dimmed, as he noticed the flatness of her voice. “Is everything okay? Is something wrong?”

“I’m fine.”

He frowned. “Are—are you sure? Because you sound… weird.”

She shook her head. If he kept this up, she was going to crack. “I said I was fine. Look, I gotta go.”

She stood up and grabbed her apron off the bench. Eliott stood up too and took one hesitant step toward her

“Monica, I—”

Finally cracking, Monica turned around and glared at him. “Shouldn’t you be with Felicia somewhere?”

Eliott took a step back, shocked. “What? What does Felicia have to do with anything?”

“She’s the one you’ve been wanting to spend all your time with, right?” Monica accused. “That’s why you’ve been shadowing her instead of me now.”

Eliott shook his head and tried to keep up with everything being said. “That is not — Monica, no. Do you think that I ditched you?”

“Yes,” she said quietly, heartbreaking all over again.

He laughed and took her by surprise. “No! That is not the case at all! I thought Felicia was supposed to text you about everything!”

“Felicia hardly ever remembers to text anyone when she says she will,” Monica answered automatically. She didn’t know where he was going with this.

He smiled and walked into her space. He took her hand in his and gave it a little squeeze. “Felicia had gotten in trouble with Dean Warren for not shadowing me like she was supposed to. Apparently, he found out she had asked you to do it instead. To make up for the lost time, she asked me if I could go along with her for a while just to get him off of her back.”

Monica blinked slowly. “...What?”

He laughed again. “This has been some sort of silly mix up. I did not abandon you, Monica. In fact, I have missed you very much.”

Monica blushed and ducked her head. Eliott grabbed her chin gently and lifted it so he could meet her eyes.

“Monica, I am so sorry for causing you so much grief. Cellphone or no, I should have tried to get in contact with you. I never wanted to make you feel bad, and I could kick myself for doing this to you.”

Up close, Monica could see the flecks of gold in Eliott’s green eyes. He was so breathtakingly handsome that she forgot her words for a moment.

When she recovered them, she smiled. “You are forgiven, but you’ll have to make it up to me.”

He looked surprised, but only for a moment. With an easy smile, he leaned in even closer. “Ah? And what would that be?”

They kissed, soft and chaste. His lips were as soft as she always dreamed they were.

When they pulled back, Monica smirked.

“Well, I hear it
is
nice in Nice.”

The End