What He Commits (What He Wants, Book Thirteen) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (6 page)

My hands balled into fists as my side as
anger pulsed through my body.
 
I
was losing my grip on my emotions, and I struggled to hold on.

“Go home, Charlotte,” he said as he began
walking toward the door.
 
“You’re
not needed here anymore.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To Central Booking to see if I can talk
to Noah.”

“I’m going with you.”

“No.”
 
He shook his head.
 
“There’s nothing you can do.”
 
He began walking toward the door again, his steps echoing through the
empty room.

“No,” I said, running after him.
 
“Please, I want to come.”

“Charlotte – ”

“Please,” I said.
 
“You told me I needed to get a thicker
skin.
 
So let me try.”

My instinct was to keep talking, to list
all the reasons I should be allowed to go with him.
 
But something inside of me said to be quiet, to stay silent,
that talking too much was going to make me seem weak.

Professor Worthington sighed.
 
“Fine,” he said.
 
“But you are not to say a word.”

I nodded.

I would promise anything, as long as it
got me to Noah.

***

I drove Noah’s car to Central Booking,
then parked it in a lot around the corner.
 
It would cost a fortune, but I didn’t care.
 
I wasn’t going to try parking on the
street – I was lucky enough I’d been able to navigate the car through the
maze of one-way streets and honking cabs and red lights without getting into an
accident.

Professor Worthington was waiting for me outside
the building and we walked inside together, the familiar smell of urine and
steel hitting my nose.

A uniformed guard told us Noah was still
at the police station.

So we sat down to wait.

I told myself that Noah would get himself
out of this, the same way he’d done before.
 
That if he could get himself out on bail for a murder
charge, that he would certainly be able to do the same for a simple assault
charge.

And yet we waited.

And waited.

My body was wired with anticipation, so I
pulled out my iPad and pretended to work, but my eyes slid over the screen, not
absorbing anything I was reading.

Noah,
Noah, Noah.
 

He was all I could think about, all I
could focus on.

The hours ticked by, until finally, at
around six o’clock, an officer appeared in front of us.

“You can see him now,” he said curtly.

Professor Worthington stood up, and I
stood up too, but he stopped me.
 
“No, Charlotte,” he said.
 
“You stay here.”

“But – ”

“He’ll be out soon,” he said.
 
“I’m going to get him out.
 
Don’t worry.”

I wanted to fight him, but I was afraid
of seeming too emotional.
 
And
Professor Worthington was right.
 
There was nothing I could do.

He followed the officer down the hallway,
and I sat back down.
 

I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I’d never known what patience was until
now.
 
I remembered those days
waiting for my father to die, how the time between his breaths had begun to
stretch, how I’d been so ready for his suffering to end.
 
And yet somehow the time seemed to have
passed faster then than it did now, because I’d known deep down that once it
was over, my father would be gone, and even though he had been ready to die,
part of me had wanted to hold on to every second.

I tried not to seem nervous as a man on
the other side of the room eyed my iPad. I wondered if he wanted to steal
it.
 
I put it back in my bag and
hugged it to my chest.

Finally, after about an hour, Professor
Worthington came storming back into the waiting area, looking agitated.

“He won’t be out until tomorrow,” he
said.

“What?”

“They won’t let him out until he sees a
judge.
 
And that won’t be until
tomorrow.”

I followed him down the stairs,
struggling to keep up with him.
 
It
was dark out now, and the air had turned chilly.
 
I had no coat, and a blast of cold wind hit me hard, sucking
the breath out of me.

“So what do we do?” I asked.
 
“I don’t … what can we do?”

“He asked me to drive you back to my
apartment,” he said.
 
“You can stay
the night with me, and then tomorrow morning we’ll come back to the courthouse for
his arraignment.”

The thought of the hours stretching
before me was unbearable.

“I want to go back to Noah’s,” I said.

“No.”
 
The professor shook his head.
 
“He was very clear that you were to come with me.
 
He told me what happened with
Josh.
 
He’s very worried about
you.”

I swallowed.
 
“Okay,” I said.
 
“Just… can we stop back at Noah’s apartment so I can get my things?”

“Yes.”

We’d been walking toward the parking lot
on the other side of the street, and Professor Worthington handed the ticket to
the parking attendant, who brought his car around.

It was a dark Lexus, with tinted windows
and a moon roof.

I slid into the passenger seat, the scent
of leather hitting my nostrils.

Professor Worthington turned the key in
the ignition and I pressed my forehead against the window, the pane of glass
cool against my forehead.

“Are you okay, Charlotte?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

He stayed silent for a moment, and then he
said quietly.
 
“I’m proud of you.”

“What?”
 
I turned away from the window and looked over at him.
 
He was sitting up straight in the seat,
his hands gripping the wheel tightly.

“I’m proud of you.”

“For what?”
 
I was pretty sure it was a compliment, but it was also a
strange thing to hear coming from your professor.
 
Law professors didn’t normally use the word ‘proud’ when speaking
to you.
 
It was also a little odd
seeing as how just a few hours ago he’d basically called me weak.

“For going to Force.
 
For trying to lure Josh out.
 
You were very brave, Charlotte.”
 
His tone was light, casual, but something
about it was disconcerting.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Of course, I’m disappointed, too.”

“Disappointed?”

He looked at me.
 
“Josh?”

“What about him?”

“Did you really think Josh killed
Katie?
 
What would be his motive?”

An icy hot shiver of fear ran up my
spine, and my mouth went dry.

“You were very brave, Charlotte.
 
But you went off the script.”
 
He sounded angry now.
 
“You took things into your own hands.
 
And that’s not allowed.
 
That’s not what I’ve come to expect of
you.”

He reached over and locked the doors, the
sound reverberating through the car and rattling my throat.

“Josh didn’t kill Katie, Charlotte.
 
I did.
 
And now we’re going to play a little game.
 
And see if you can figure out why.”

The car turned off onto a side street,
nowhere near Noah’s apartment.

The horrible reality of the situation hit
me like a train slamming into my body.

Josh hadn’t killed Katie.

Professor Worthington had.

Noah was locked up in jail.

And I was alone with a killer.

End
of Book Thirteen

Look
For Book Fourteen, Coming Soon!

Got a craving for more hot and sexy BDSM
romance?

Click
here to check out DISCIPLINE, book one in the hot new series THE BILLIONAIRE’S
RULES by New York Times Bestselling author Kelly Favor.

Twenty-one-year-old Ivy Spellman has always
played by the rules – get good grades, stay out of trouble, and avoid bad
boys at all costs.
 
But when she takes a temp assignment at a
multi-billion dollar drug company, she can’t help but become intrigued with the
sexy and ultra-demanding CEO, Cullen Sharpe.
 
Cullen Sharpe is used to getting what he wants,
and his dark and damaged desires are locked on Ivy. Her good girl innocent
routine is enough to drive him over the edge, and after Ivy makes a mistake at
work, he senses an opening to teach the shy temp the pleasures and seductions
of being bad...
 
…as well as the punishment that goes along with
it.
 
Soon the two of them are locked in a game of
mystery, seduction, and raging desire that knows no bounds. But as Ivy is
pushed beyond her sexual limits, she begins to crave more from the dark
billionaire.
 
However, Cullen guards his secrets and his heart
for reasons that run deep. And if those reasons were to ever be revealed, it
just might destroy them both…
 

Click
here for more!