The Seduction Game novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Results

I ran the whole length of the drive in my school shoes, through the slush, with my blazer flapping.

Nash and Hattie ran behind me, and I did not care who saw.

My mother stood outside the iron gate in her good wool coat, the burgundy one, with a foil-covered dish in both hands.

Behind her, the Corolla sat on the shoulder with its hazard lights blinking and one door tied shut with a bungee cord.

A security guard in a booth was looking at the Corolla.

"Baby," my mother said.

I hit the gate, and the guard said something, and then the Dean's voice said, "Let her in," over his radio.

I went through, and then I was in my mother's arms, and neither of us could say a word.

She smelled like the cleaning supplies from her last shift and like our kitchen at home.

She was smaller than I remembered.

She was forty-four years old, with tired eyes and brown hair going gray at the part.

She held onto me.

"You're thin," she said into my hair.

"I'm not."

"You're thin. I brought a casserole."

"Mom."

"It's the good one. Not the exploding one."

She pulled back and held my face in her cold hands.

"The Dean's office called me at noon. A woman I've never met said, Mrs. Brannigan, please come. Nothing's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong."

"I drove straight from my shift." Her eyes were wet. "I'm not sorry I drove it with that door."

I laughed, and it came out wrecked.

Hattie arrived beside me, panting.

"Mrs. Brannigan, I'm Hattie, I'm the roommate, we've talked on the phone, I love you."

"I know who you are." My mother handed her the casserole. "You're the one who steals your father's keys."

"Aileen told you that?"

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Seduction Game from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.