Roxy POV
My phone vibrated suddenly against the glass coffee table, the screen lighting up bright blue.
But I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t even breathe.
Jaxon was still pinned over me, his bare chest radiating an intense heat that made my skin burn.
His fingers were still pressed firmly against my thigh, his thumb resting inches from the hem of my skirt.
His stormy grey eyes burned into mine, filled with a wild, dangerous hunger that made my pulse race out of control.
Before either of us could say a word, a loud knock rattled against the solid front door of the penthouse.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Jaxon froze.
A low, frustrated growl vibrated deep in his throat as he slowly closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the side of my neck for one agonizing second.
The heat of his skin against my collarbone was almost too much to bear.
“Ignore it,” Jaxon muttered, his voice thick and rough.
“Jax, open the damn door,” Nate Miller’s deep baritone barked through the thick wood.
“I know you guys are in there. We have a big problem.”
The spell snapped.
I shoved Jaxon’s bare shoulders with all the strength left in my shaking arms.
He allowed himself to be pushed back, standing up slowly and grabbing his discarded t-shirt from the floor.
He pulled it over his head in one move, restoring his broad, intimidating silhouette.
I scrambled off his lap instantly, my legs feeling lifeless.
I smoothed down my skirt, my pulse ticking faster than they’ve ever in my entire life.
Jaxon strode over to the front door, unlocked the bolt, and pulled it open with a quick jerk.
“This better be important, Nate.”
Nate stepped straight inside, ignoring Jaxon’s foul mood.
He wore a dark Kingston Academy athletic hoodie, his broad shoulders filling the entryway.
His face was entirely pale, his dark eyes grim as he locked onto Jaxon, then shifted over to me standing breathlessly near the sofa.
“The entire executive committee is coming.”
“So what?” Jaxon sneered, crossing his thick arms over his chest as he walked over to the counter.
“Cooper calls meetings all the time to feel important.”
“Not like this one,” Nate countered, his voice steady, serious, and laced with real danger.
“The rumors are spreading like wildfire across the entire campus after what happened in the dining hall with Chloe. People are saying your little fake relationship is a cheap, desperate stunt just to avoid an academic suspension.”
My stomach dropped into a cold pit.
“What?”
“It gets worse,” Nate said, turning his gaze toward me.
“Cassandra Belmont filed a formal, signed complaint with the Dean’s office two hours ago.”
The name sent a chill through the room.
Even as a scholarship student who kept her head down, I knew who Cassandra Belmont was.
She was royalty on campus—cold, untouchable, and dangerous.
Her family’s foundation donated millions to Kingston every year, and her father’s name was carved into the building of the law library.
She didn’t throw childish tantrums like Chloe, she destroyed people quietly behind closed doors.
“What does Cassandra have to do with me?” I asked, my voice rising.
“I’ve never even spoken to her!”
“She told the board that you’re taking cash bribes under the table to write Jaxon’s macroeconomics term papers for him,” Nate revealed.
“That liar!” I shouted, the fury exploding in my chest before I could stop it.
I took two hurried steps toward Nate, my fists clenching so tight my nails dug into my palms.
“I haven’t written a single word for him! I’ve been trying to force him to open a textbook for a week while he plays his stupid games! I haven’t taken a single penny that isn’t on my official tutoring sheet!”
“It doesn’t matter what the truth is, Roxy,” Nate said softly, a rare look of genuine pity flashing across his guarded face.
“Cassandra has money, influence, and the Dean’s ear. She told Cooper that you’re using your financial need to extort Jaxon, and that Jaxon is taking advantage of a poor scholarship student to cheat his way through the semester.”
Jaxon let out a cold, vicious laugh, but his jaw was clenched so hard a muscle throbbed violently in his cheek.
“Cassandra is doing this because she thinks she owns this campus. She thinks because our families move in the same circles, she can control who I stand next to.”
He didn’t mention anything else about his family’s connection to hers, but the dark rage in his eyes told me there was history there—something deep he wasn’t telling me.
“She’s playing dirty, Jax,” Nate warned.
“She knows where to hit both of you. If the board believes her, Roxy gets expelled for academic dishonesty, and you get suspended for the rest of the season. You lose your spot in the professional hockey draft, and she loses her entire future.”
The room seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
Ashenvale.
My family’s crushing debt.
My entire family was counting on me to graduate, to get a real degree, to lift us out of the suffocating debt that was threatening to drown us.
If I lost my scholarship over a rich girl’s ruthless power play, I would never recover.
“I can’t lose my scholarship,” I whispered, my voice breaking for the first time.
The independent, stubborn wall I built around myself began to crack.
“I can’t go home like that, Nate. I can’t.”
Jaxon’s head snapped toward me.
The mocking, dangerous edge vanished from his eyes in an instant, replaced by a sudden intensity as he saw the terror on my face.
He took a quick step toward me, his large hand reaching out as if he wanted to hold me, to steady me, but he stopped himself just short of making contact.
“You’re not going home, Tutor,” Jaxon said, his voice dropping into a fierce, low rumble that sounded like a solemn vow.
“I won’t let them touch you.”
“How are you going to stop them, Jaxon?” Nate asked, his voice cutting through the space between us.
Jaxon turned to face his teammate, his chin held high.
“We go to the game on Friday night. We show up together. We play the part so well that the board looks like idiots for believing Cassandra’s lies.”
Nate let out a deep, exhausted breath.
He looked between Jaxon’s fierce expression and my pale, trembling body.
He shook his head slowly, his face hardening into the most serious expression I had ever seen on him.
“It’s worse than you think, Jax,” Nate said, his voice quiet, and grim.
“I saw the guest list for the donor box at Friday’s game.”
Jaxon went totally rigid.
“Who?”
Nate looked directly at me, his eyes dark with unspoken warning.
“Jaxon’s father is flying in on his private jet for the game on Friday,” Nate revealed, every word landing like a ton of bricks.
“He heard about Cassandra’s complaint. He wants to see this scholarship girl with his own eyes before he decides whether to pull the team’s funding or throw Jaxon out.”
Nate took a step toward the front door, pausing on the threshold to look back at us one last time.
“If you two don’t look completely, undeniably obsessed with each other in front of his father and the board,” Nate warned, his voice grave, “the Dean is revoking your scholarship on the spot.”
Hello, I’m so happy to be sharing my story with you.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!
I look forward to hearing your honest opinions in the comments.
Enjoy.