The Gang Leader Sent Me To his Rival

Asher Dane arrived on campus at 9:17 on Monday morning, which Eloise knew because the clock over the library doors said 9:17 and everybody looked at him.

She was halfway across the quad with June when the motorcycle came up the long drive.

Eloise heard it before she saw it. So did everyone else.

Heads turned along the brick path. Two girls sitting on the fountain twisted around at the same time, one of them actually stopping in the middle of whatever she was saying. A group of first-years near the administration building moved aside even though Asher wasn’t anywhere near them yet.

June sighed beside her.

“And here we have the Dane in his natural habitat.”

Eloise smiled but kept walking.

“Notice the excessive noise used to alert potential mates.”

“June.”

“The male Dane approaches the watering hole.”

“It’s a parking lot.”

“Same thing.”

The motorcycle swept past the edge of the quad and into the faculty-and-student lot, although Eloise was fairly sure Asher Dane could have parked it inside Dean Marsh’s office, and nobody would’ve done much beyond asking whether he wanted coffee.

He pulled into a space near the library and killed the engine.

There was absolutely no reason taking off a motorcycle helmet should have been an event, but somehow it became one.

Asher swung one leg over the bike, pulled off his helmet, and shook out platinum-blond hair that probably cost more to maintain than Eloise’s monthly grocery budget. Maybe two months. She had stopped buying conditioner in August, so she wasn’t currently qualified to judge.

He wore a black leather jacket over a gray shirt, dark jeans, and boots that had never once stepped into a Payless. Sunglasses covered his eyes even though the October sky was mostly clouds.

Three guys Eloise recognized from campus drifted toward him. Another called his name from across the lot.

Asher lifted one hand.

That was it.

One hand, and apparently the morning had officially begun.

June bumped Eloise’s shoulder as they went up the library steps. “You know about Sybil Vitale, right?”

“I know you tell me about Sybil Vitale every time he arrives within a hundred-foot radius.”

"Well, you didn’t know the Danes have a place in Monaco.”

Eloise pulled open the heavy glass door. “That’s exactly the kind of information that has been holding me back in life.”

“I’m serious, El."

“So am I. Imagine where I’d be if I’d known sooner.”

June caught the door before it swung shut and followed her inside.

The library was warm enough to make Eloise regret the sweatshirt she’d pulled on over her diner shirt that morning. She still smelled faintly like fryer oil despite washing her hands twice before class, and there was a little brown mark near the hem that had survived three different detergents and whatever Mason had bought from the discount store that claimed to be stain remover.

Her wardrobe was becoming less clothing and more historical record.

They crossed toward the circulation desk, where Eloise had forty-five minutes of scholarship work-study before her ten-thirty lecture. Technically, the hours counted toward the portion of her aid package Hawthorne Dane didn’t simply hand her, which meant she wasn’t working a third job.

Technically.

June dropped into the chair beside her as Eloise logged into the terminal.

“Anyway,” June continued, “Asher and Sybil were basically engaged.”

“You told me.”

“Not officially.”

“You also told me that.”

“But family-official.”

Eloise clicked through two overdue notices and started checking the return bin.

June lowered her voice."Asher Dane and Sybil Vitale are over. Quite the scandal because you don’t walk away from a Vitale.”

Eloise looked at her.

“And he just did it. Apparently told both families it was over and stopped showing up to things with her.”

“Sometimes people stop dating.”

June stared at her for a second. ”El, these aren’t just people.”

Eloise smiled and shook her head. Then she looked toward the glass doors.

Asher was coming up the steps now with two of his friends. Suddenly, her phone buzzed against the desk. The name on the screen wiped the last of Eloise’s smile away.

ASTRID.

She considered ignoring it. Then it buzzed again.

June’s eyes dropped toward it before politely moving elsewhere.

Eloise opened the messages.

You need to pick up more hours this week.

A second message arrived while she was reading.

Mason is short again.

Then:

Don’t tell me you have exams. I don’t care.

Eloise stared at the screen for a moment.

There had been a time when messages from Astrid could change the entire shape of her day. One sentence and Eloise’s stomach would knot. Another and she’d start mentally counting what she had in checking, what she’d already promised Mason, how much longer she could make twenty-three dollars stretch if she lived primarily on staff meals.

She’d gotten better at it.

She typed, I’ll see what I can do, then turned the phone facedown.

June asked, “Everything okay?”

“Fantastic. My financial portfolio continues to diversify.”

“Eloise.”

“I’m serious. I now owe money in several exciting directions.”

June’s mouth tightened.

Eloise reached for the next return. “Don’t give me the face.”

“What face?”

“The one where you’re about to offer your place.”

“Well, we’d love to have you, you know.”

"June, your apartment has one bedroom, and your mother calls all the time and ask weird questions."

“She just worries.”

“She interrogates. Last time I stayed over, she asked whether I was sexually active.”

June smiled despite herself. ”Well, she likes you.”

The scanner beeped.

A shadow fell across the desk.

June stopped smiling.

Eloise looked up.

Asher Dane stood on the other side of the counter.

Up close, he somehow looked younger than he did from across the quad. Not less noticeable, unfortunately. Just less like the campus mythology June enjoyed reciting and more like an actual twenty-four-year-old man.

He pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head.

His eyes were pale blue.

Life had apparently looked at Asher Dane and decided subtlety would be a waste of everybody’s time.

“Hi,” he said. His attention moved between her and June. “I need a book.”

June looked down very quickly.

Eloise said, “Good place to come.”

Asher blinked.

She hadn’t meant it as a joke. Judging by the sudden noise June made that might have been a cough, it had landed as one anyway.

Asher rested both hands on the counter. “It’s for Harrington’s seminar. Something about political economies and institutional corruption.”

“That’s the title?”

“No, I think that’s just what the class is about.” He frowned slightly. “Or maybe that’s the title. The syllabus is messed up."

“What book?”

He pulled out his phone and scrolled.

For several seconds.

Then several more.

Eloise glanced at the return cart.

He kept scrolling.

June had gone completely silent beside her, which was how Eloise knew she was enjoying herself.

Asher finally found what he wanted and turned the phone around.

Eloise typed the title into the catalog, then said, “It’s on seminar reserve, but there’s a hold list. “Four people.”

“Okay.”

“And your account is blocked.”