The Billion Dollar Girl

(Chapter 44)

Ͼ Ella Castillo Ͽ

I glanced at Ash, worried. His face was smooth, but the way he was staring out of the window told me that he clearly didn’t want to be disturbed.

What had his Father said? I wondered, staring down at my crutches which were resting on my lap. Could it have been that bad? Maybe he was demanding I repay the money, or to waive the contract. Surely if it was something like that, Ash would tell me. I stared out of the window too.

“Who do you think did this?” I asked, in a small voice. Ash didn’t look at me, his jaw set. I wondered if he’d even heard me. Maybe he was wondering the same question. No one else knew, apart from myself, Ash and his Dad. Oh, wait. There was one other person.

“Will,” I breathed. Could it be? I thought about the way he acted yesterday, crazy and jealous. It was definitely possible. But was he capable of doing something like that?

Ash glanced at me, our eyes meeting for a moment. He clearly thought so.

When the car pulled to a stop, I let out a small gasp.

All of a sudden, we were surrounded by all sides, paparazzi cameras flashing at us so violently that even though the tinted windows, I was blinded. Ash had called for a special team to get us safely out of the penthouse, but he clearly hadn’t anticipated such a large crowd outside the school. Though we were only a few feet away from the school gates, I could barely see them through the hoard of excited cameramen.

“Smile for us, Ella,” I heard one call.

“How does it feel to be New York’s highest earning escort?”

Anger rose up inside me, hot and flowing. Will had done this. He’d betrayed my secret and turned the whole world against me, turned me into some kind of joke, just as I’d starting fitting into Ash’s society. My hands shook. I might actually kill him.

“Hey,” Ash said softly, taking my hand in his. The shaking stopped. “If something like this had happened maybe a week before, it might have broken us up. But now I think we’re stronger than that. Together, I think we can handle it.”

The anger lasted for maybe a moment more, before subsiding. I returned Ash’s smile, and before he could reacted I gave him a quick kiss on the edge of his mouth.

“You’re right,” I smiled. “The only question is…how are we meant to get into school?”

“We could call another security team,” he suggested.

“We could do that. Or we could race,” I said, grinning.

A slow smile spread across his face.

“On the count of three,” Ash said. “Three.”

Then he opened the car door and started pushing his way through the crowd.

Laughing, I grabbed my crutches before following him, shoving and poking at the journalists bustling around me, trying to catch up with him. Shouts and curses erupted around me, the flashing lights ten times brighter now that I was out of the car. I hopped my way through them. Maybe racing was a bad idea while my leg was still injured. I stumbled, but a warm hand reached out through the thick crowd, steading me. I looked up, and saw Ash, his blue eyes glinting.

“Together?”

I smiled.

“Together.”

***

ῼ Ash Castillo ῼ

I insisted on walking Ella to her homeroom, claiming I was being chivalrous, though I think she suspected the real reason I was walking her. Will might visit her. He was also in her Biology class, and even if I called the Dean now and insisted that Will moved classes, they would still have to spend at least first period together.