Chapter 1

T he drive out to the institute was calm and easy, but as my mother, our driver Max and I pulled up to the gates of that all prestigious IICA Academy, that calm, easy feeling was replaced with excitement.

A new life was about to begin.

The place was big, really big. The main administration building was imposing as were the surroundings that made up the campus.

Where do I begin?

I had no idea where to go. Then I noticed the large sign pointing students in the right direction. Mom pulled her white Mercedes over to the curb to let me out.

“Are you sure you can handle moving in,” Mom asked.

“I can. Look at the other students walking in. They don’t’ have their parents helping them.”

“Then promise to call me as soon as you settle in,” Mom said.

“Yes, Mom. I promise I’ll call the minute I settle in. Yes. Yes. I promise.”

“Here,” Mom said, “I’ll go park the car and help you move into your dorm.”

“I’ve got it, Mom,” I said.

“You don’t need me anymore,” Mom said with chagrin. “My little Katrina is all grown up now and no longer needs her mother.”

“And you should be proud of that fact,” I said gently, trying to console her mother. “Remember Annie? She’s two years older than I am and she still relies on her mother for everything. Would you prefer that?”

“No,” Mom said. “But I just wished you hadn’t grown up so fast. This is all happening too fast.”

I grabbed my suitcase from the backseat of the car and dragged it out. “You promised you wouldn’t do this, Mom.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mom said, wiping away a stray tear. “Give me a kiss and go on with your life.”

I kissed Mom, gave her a warm hug then stepped back to watch her get back in the car and drive off.

“They sometimes have a hard time letting go, don’t they?” A sultry feminine voice said.

I looked over to see one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen. Tall, slender but with curves in the right places, blonde, blue-eyes, large plump lips. Barbie comes to life, complete with a summery floral sundress, pink heels, and pink luggage.

“Try to understand a Chinese mother. One day she’s pushing me to go out on my own. The next she’s pulling me back to stay at her side.”

She laughed and held out my hand to her. “Sounds a lot like my mother,” the Barbie lookalike said. With the brightest and whitest smile I’d ever seen, she turned to me and nodded. “I’m Layla, by the way.”

“Katrina,” I said. “But you can call me Kat. Kat Lee.”

“Nice to meet you, Kat.”

“You’ve got a bit of a twang,” I said. “Where are you from?”

“Texas,” she said. “Amarillo.”

I let out a long whistle. “Ooh. That’s a long, long way from here. I’m just from San Francisco... barely an hour away from here.”

“So, I guess you’ll be going back to visit with your parents pretty often,” Layla said.

“Oh, no,” I said. “I need to concentrate on my studies. I’ll be living here in the dorm and I’m quite happy about that, although a little nervous at the same time. You? Are you staying at the dorm?”

“Yes. This is my first year here, so I’m a little nervous, too.”

“My first year, too.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Layla said. “We can be nervous together.”

“And lost,” I said. “And whatever first years go through. At least we’ll have good food here.”

She laughed a deep throaty hearty laugh that contrasted well with her blonde blue-eyed beauty. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

I already liked the girl. “I don’t mean to pry, Layla, but... what dorm are you in?”

She pulled out a card and scrutinized it for a moment. “D. I’m in dorm D.”

“Oh, so am I. What room?”

Again, she looked at the card. “37.”

I smiled. “I can’t believe it. That’s my room as well.”

She held her hand out. “Well, then, it’s nice to meet you, roomie. This is great. We’re already acquainted. I was a little worried about what kind of person I would be paired with.”

“Same here.”

“Well, then,” she said as she gestured to the entrance. “Shall we?”

We joined the dozens of students headed to the registration tables set up for the day.

“Here,” I said. “Let’s get into this line.”

Layla absentmindedly followed behind me, but her gaze was on someone beyond the next line.

“You okay?” I said.

“That guy,” she whispered with a not so discreet tilt of the head in the guy’s direction. “He’s staring at me in a very uncomfortable way.”

I glanced in the direction she’d indicated but didn’t spot anyone staring at her. “Is he cute?”

“Yeah,” Layla said. “If you like the maniacal type who devours you with his eyes.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Sounds interesting. What does he look like?”

“Dark hair... almost black. Green eyes I think, but maybe blue... sexy full lips, carefully chiseled cheeks... a kind of muscular build.”

“Sounds more and more interesting.”

“Not really, Kat,” Layla said, her voice trembling with alarm. “He isn’t looking at me with any degree of interest at all. In fact, it looks as if he would just love to kick me to the curb.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Layla,” I said. “You’re gorgeous. Tall, blonde, pretty smile, lovely eyes. What guy wouldn’t want to get a little closer to you? He’s probably just the awkward type who doesn’t know how to behave when he sees a pretty girl.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

The girl was obviously more nervous about this first day at the academy than she let on.

“That guy,” she said. “I swear to you. He must hate me... and I have no idea why.”

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating,” I said as I tried to discreetly look over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of this guy.

“And he looks just so stuck up and full of it. And look... he’s heading around to the back of the registration tables, walking around with his hands clasped behind his back. The way he has his nose up in the air, you’d think the guy owned the place.”

I turned to look behind the registration tables hoping to spot the... “Oh, my God!”

“What is it?” Layla whispered.

“That’s... that’s... oh, my God. That’s Axel King.”

“Axel King?”

“Yeah... and, for your information, he does own the place.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

I shook my head.

“He’s one of Chef Errol King’s three sons... twins.”

“Oh, geesh,” she let out. “And here he is looking at me as I’m sure he would a pile of trash.”

“He does have that air of arrogance, doesn’t he.” I looked at him as he stared at Layla.

He certainly had grown even hotter since I’d last seen him. He was tall, easily over six feet, and his crisp blue shirt didn’t do much to hide his muscular physique. Axel and Kobe had always been good-looking when we were kids, but now... Axel had grown to be stunning like a Greek god.

“How do you know him?” Layla said.

“His brother,” I said. “Kobe King. We hung out together back in middle school.”

“Really? Is he as cold and arrogant as that guy is?”

“No. Not at all. They may look alike, that is as much as fraternal twins can. But Axel was always a little more... standoffish. But he was still a real nice kid back then. Then again, I haven’t seen either of them in a long while, so I don’t know what type of young men they turned into.”

Truth was, Kobe had cut ties with me, ghosted me, iced me out. There was just no talking to him once camp ended. It was like I didn’t exist to him.

“What sort of camp did you go to?” Layla said.

“Culinary,” I said with a forced smile. “What else?”

I swallowed the sudden lump of discomfort that had lodged in my throat. Kobe. I’d stopped thinking about him. It had taken a while, but I had finally stopped wondering why he wouldn’t call back, why he didn’t respond to my texts and why he suddenly wanted nothing to do with me after camp. It was the first time, perhaps the only time, anyone had ever treated me like that.

I bristled even thinking about it.

But now, seeing him at the academy was inevitable. If Axel was here so would Kobe. They were almost inseparable. Butterflies took over my stomach and for a second, I thought I’d throw up. I had to find a way to calm my nerves.

“You okay?” Layla asked. “You looked like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“You could say that,” I said.

You have Axel staring ominously at you and I’m nervous as all hell about running into Kobe. What could go wrong?