“Oh, and one other thing to get out of the way. I want to remind the female and male students alike that it’s pointless to try to sleep with me. I don’t sleep with my students. I promise you, it’s not going to happen. So save us all some time and don’t. I'd rather get on with teaching you.”
Wow. Okay. Way to put it all out there. Abbie snuck a look around the room and instantly understood why he’d laid out his cards. Every single girl—and at least a quarter of the guys— appraised him. She had to wonder if anyone would make the attempt. There were only fifty students in the program, and of them, only twenty were female.
A tiny brunette sitting next to her whispered, “Just a tad full of himself, isn’t he?”
Abbie giggled and whispered back, “I'd heard British men had a problem with confidence. I see he doesn’t suffer from that affliction.”
The girl grinned. “I'm Ilani Bruce, by the way.”
“Abbie Nartey.” She smiled back.
As she listened, energy hummed through her veins. The work would be exciting. She certainly wasn't going to enjoy the critiques. But then again, who did?
Xander was speaking again, and Abbie dragged her attention back to him.
“Remember, I hand-selected each of you based on your portfolio submissions. I think each and every one of you has a raw talent waiting to come out. I need your commitment to be honest. Don't give me trite and pretty. I want you exposing yourselves and putting yourself in every single image.”
She and her classmates all nodded enthusiastically.
“Okay, first assignment is as follows. Since all of you are so fresh faced and bushy tailed, I want you to photograph joy. In all of its forms. Gritty, serene, blissful—I want it all. Think you all can manage that?”
There was a general murmur of accord. The excitement was palpable as each student fiddled with their camera.
“Good. Now go and do your worst. And by worst I mean better than your best.”
As soon as class was over, Abbie headed over to Xander. Unlike the other students who crowded him, she stopped well outside his sphere of personal space. “Excuse me, Xander?” She forced a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She would have to learn to talk to him if she wanted to work for him.
He cocked his head, and his almost-smiling mouth tugged into a glimmer of a real one as he assessed her. “Little Bird. I’d wondered if you’d come and introduce yourself.”
Little Bird? He remembered her photo? Abbie flushed. It had taken her three days to find the hummingbird nest and capture the mother feeding her chicks.
Up close she realized Xander’s eyes weren’t dark at all, but rather a slate gray. She forced out her carefully selected words. “I, uh, wanted to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to study with you. It’s already changing my life.”
He chuckled. “Well, if you think today was life-changing, then wait until I actually start teaching you something.” He studied her closely. “I’m glad you accepted. I was starting to worry that you wouldn’t when we hadn’t heard from you.”
Her skin prickled with embarrassment. He had been waiting on her acceptance? “I had no idea you were waiting on me—”
“Like I said, Little Bird, I hand-selected all of you. In the process I become quite attached to your works. To you.” This time his grin was the slow, cocky, confident smile of someone who was accustomed to women falling at his feet.
It fell flat on her. The longer she stood in his presence, the less nervous she became. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all.
“Right. Well, anyway, thank you again. I’m looking forward to learning from you.” With a little boost of confidence, she turned to leave.
He called out to her, “Don’t you want to know why I selected you for this program?”
Abbie turned but walked backward to keep her momentum. “Nope. You already told me why. And I know what I can do with a camera.” She didn’t wait for a response as she turned back around and strode out of the lecture hall.
Ilani followed her out of the building, and they made their escape.
“You're a Yank, aren’t you?”
Abbie nodded. “Yeah, I guess the accent gives me away.”
Her new friend grinned. “Only a little. Listen, some of us took Xander for undergrad and used to get together right after crits to drink our sorrows away. You game for a bit of a laugh after the first one?”
“Yeah sounds good. They sound pretty scary.”
Ilani followed her out of the main lobby into the rare British sunshine. “They are. He's usually not satisfied unless at least one person cries.”
Abbie’s eyes widened, and she swallowed hard, resolute not to be the crying student. “Ouch.”
“It's his way, I guess.” Ilani shrugged. “Anyway. Good to meet you, Abbie. See you next week.”
“Yeah you too.” She smiled encouragingly, even though her stomach pitched at the thought of those crits.
As Abbie headed down the cobblestone steps of the Ealing campus and made her way to the bus stop, she let her lens be her eyes. The excitement of the new city fueled her blood. The first step to living her dream was already in motion.
51
As Abbie’s luck would have it, the earlier sunshine was a fluke. The skies darkened to a blackened gray, fat raindrops pelted her arms and battered her umbrella. “Damn it.” Sucking in a resolute breath, she marched forward. A little rain wasn’t going to ruin her day. She’d come here knowing the weather pattern. It was just one more thing she’d have to get used to.
Quickly, she checked Tamsin’s scrawled directions to Sophie’s boyfriend’s place. 1257 Camberwell Road. She glanced at the numbers on the row houses on her right. 1232, 1234—at least she was moving in the right direction, though she needed to cross the street.
With rain pelting the sleeves of her thick sweater even harder, she trotted to the edge of the sidewalk and checked for oncoming cars. Just as she was about to step onto the road, she heard a revving motor.
From behind, someone shouted, “Look out!”
In one smooth snap of icy talons, fear gripped her spine as strong arms jerked her backward with enough force to knock the wind out of her. Her head swam. In an automatic reply to being grabbed, her body went numb, and her oxygen would only come in short stabbing bursts as her hands flew up in an attempt to protect her face. But then, the tiny voice inside screamed, You are not helpless. It was just the motivation she needed.
Abbie fought the stranger’s hold and struggled, immediately losing her footing. In the split second her brain registered her downward trajectory, she squealed and tucked her camera into her sweater to protect it as she fell. The arms tightened around her again and turned both their bodies. Nausea swelled as she tried to free herself from the grip of strong hands.
She and her would-be attacker landed ass-first in a grimy puddle with a thud hard enough to make her teeth rattle. She blinked rapidly, her brain trying to register what had happened as a Mini Cooper whizzed by. The driver shouted epithets in her direction.
Unable to calm the panic as adrenaline flooded her veins, she continued to try to free herself and fight for control.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you. Stop struggling. I didn’t just save your life so I could hurt you. Just relax for one second and breathe.”