Page 684 of Filthy Elites

As she made her way to the front of the class, Alyson was there to block her way. “What’s the rush? Going to go hide? That’s about all you can do after what you did to Adrian.”

Kelsey sighed. She was not in the mood to deal with Alyson. “Now you have a reason to go talk to Adrian. You can console him.”

Gwen stepped up next to Kelsey. “Ignore her, Kels. Everyone else does.” She guided her friend around the mean girl and into the hallway.

Kelsey blew out a breath. “I shouldn’t have engaged her. I know better. She always knows exactly what to say to make me lose my temper.”

“I know the feeling.”

Kelsey watched Alyson follow Conner from the room. She could tell Conner was trying to get away from Alyson, but she was in hot pursuit. “I need some caffeine. Want to come?”

“Oh yeah. I’ll never turn down coffee.” Gwen fell into step next to Kelsey as they made their way across campus. They had made it halfway to the coffee house when a guy stepped away from a group of students to intercept them.

“Hello, sweet things. Where are you off to?” Greg Lindstrom’s fake smile was in place as his eyes traveled up and down Kelsey and Gwen.

Gwen folded her arms over her chest. “None of your business.”

Greg was good friends with Eric and Parker, the two men who tried to kill Gwen. He had been away the weekend that everything happened, or Kelsey knew he would have been involved. Somehow, Greg had escaped punishment when he shouldn’t have.

Kelsey glared at him. He was a part of the rowing team and one of the guys who treated Janie so badly. “What do you want?”

Greg acted as if both girls were gushing over him. “Just being friendly. It’s a beautiful morning for a walk and I’m offering to escort you to wherever you’re going. You never know when a dangerous situation could occur.”

Kelsey glared at him. “No, thank you.”

Gwen sidestepped around him. “We can manage on our own.”

Greg shook his head. “Be careful.”

Kelsey and Gwen hurried away.

When they were out of hearing range, Kelsey turned to Gwen. “Why did that feel like a threat?”

Gwen glanced back and saw Greg talking to the same group of people. “I hope he’s just being a jerk because of what happened to his friends.” She didn’t want to tell Kelsey that she agreed with her. Greg’s words sounded like trouble.

They quickened their pace. “It’s packed,” Kelsey complained when they entered the store. “There are not many tables left, so if you grab us one, I’ll get our drinks.”

Gwen grinned. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll take a large Cuban Dark Roast with just a touch of half and half, and a triple berry scone. The world’s best breakfast.” She handed Kelsey a ten-dollar bill and squeezed through the crowd gathering around the counter.

Kelsey got behind the line and hoped it would move quickly. After dealing with two undesirable people, she needed her pick-me-up.

* * *

Adrian joggedacross the parking lot to his Porsche. He needed to grab his backpack and his wallet. After the dreadfully boring introduction to community service, he needed an infusion of caffeine.

Two spaces down from his car, he was surprised to see Kelsey’s Audi. After nearly running him over, she parked near his vehicle. Seeing her car brought back his anger at almost getting run over. She could have hurt or even killed him. Why did she have it out for him?

Loud squawking caught his attention. Two elderly women were sitting on a bench at the end of the lot, leisurely feeding the birds. They were throwing handfuls of birdseed across the grass and a variety of winged creatures were swooping down toward them.

Watching the geese gave Adrian an idea. He approached the two ladies and gave them his most dazzling smile.

“Good morning, ladies. How are you both today?”

The woman closest to him sat straighter and nudged her friend. “Why, hello there.”

“Good morning, young man.” The second woman giggled.

Adrian shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ve seen you feeding the birds before. It reminds me of making feeders with my grandma. We would take pinecones and spread peanut butter all over it and roll them in birdseed. It was something we did together.”

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