The Price of Forever

Charlie Davenport stared at the thick business textbook open on her dorm desk and then at the glowing screen of her phone. The group chat was blowing up with messages about the biggest campus party of the semester. She bit her lip, glanced at the clock, and shut the book with a decisive slam.

"Screw it," she muttered to herself. "One more party won't kill me."

Twenty minutes later she was walking into the off-campus house that was already pulsing with music and packed wall to wall with students. The air smelled like cheap beer and perfume. Her platinum blonde hair was down in loose waves, and she wore a tight black top with dark jeans that hugged her fit frame. Sky-blue eyes scanned the room until she spotted her friends near the kitchen island.

"Charlie!" her roommate Sarah yelled over the bass. "You actually came! I thought you were buried in that exam crap."

"I was," Charlie said, grabbing a red cup someone shoved into her hand. "Then I remembered life is short and textbooks are boring as hell."

She took a long swallow of the strong punch. It burned going down, but she didn't care. Another cup followed, then another. The room got louder, the lights blurrier, and her laughter came easier. Sarah and two other girls crowded closer as the music shifted to something faster.

"So, heiress," Sarah teased, bumping Charlie's shoulder. "You really need that business degree? I mean, you're gonna inherit like a billion dollars anyway. What's the point of suffering through midterms?"

Charlie rolled her eyes and laughed, the sound light and careless. "Oh please. Grandpa's still kicking, and I'm not touching that money. Besides, maybe I want to actually earn something for once."

"Yeah right," another girl, Megan, snorted. "I'd drop out tomorrow if I had your trust fund. No more student loans, no more ramen. Just yacht parties forever."

"It's not like that," Charlie said, though she was grinning. She lifted her cup in a mock toast. "To one more night of being a normal college kid before reality crashes the party."

They all clinked plastic and drank. Charlie lost track of how many cups she finished. The jokes kept coming, each one about her future fortune, and she kept laughing them off like they didn't sit heavy under her ribs. The room spun a little when she danced. Her ivory skin felt warm, flushed from the alcohol and the press of bodies.

After midnight the crowd thinned just enough for her to decide she needed air. Or maybe her bed. She stumbled toward the front door, heels clicking unevenly on the porch steps. The night air hit her face, cool and sharp. She dug in her small purse for her car keys, missing the pocket twice before she found them.

"Okay, Charlie. Drive slow. You've got this," she whispered to herself, though the words came out slurred.

She made it halfway across the dark parking lot when headlights cut through the night. Three black SUVs rolled up in a tight line, engines low and smooth. Doors opened almost at the same time. Joe Romano stepped out of the lead vehicle, tall and solid in a dark jacket, shoulder-length brown hair pulled back loosely, circle beard neat as always. His brown eyes locked on her immediately.

Charlie stopped walking and burst out laughing. "Oh my God. Look who it is. Grandpa's shadow. What, did the old man send the cavalry again?"

Joe walked straight toward her, calm and unhurried. "Charlie, it's late. You're done for the night. Let's get you home."

"Home? I'm fine." She waved a hand and almost dropped her keys. "Go back to your serious face and your black cars. I'm driving myself."

"You're not driving anywhere like this." His voice stayed even, the same quiet authority he always used around her. "Hand me the keys."

She clutched them tighter and took a wobbly step back. "Nope. Not happening, Joe. You don't get to crash my night just because you think I'm some delicate little princess. I'm twenty-three. I can handle a few drinks."

"You've had more than a few. I can smell it from here." He stopped a couple feet away, arms loose at his sides. "Come on. No fight tonight. Just get in the car."

Charlie pointed a finger at his chest and nearly tipped sideways. "You and that face. Always so damn serious. Does it hurt being that responsible all the time? Lighten up. Have a drink. Live a little."

"Not my job to lighten up. My job is making sure you don't wrap yourself around a tree." He held out a hand. "Keys, Charlie."

She shook her head hard enough that her hair swung into her face. "Forget it. I'm not getting in those creepy matching SUVs like some prisoner. Go away. Tell Grandpa I'm studying hard or whatever he wants to hear."

Joe exhaled through his nose, the only sign he was losing patience. "Last chance. Walk to the car on your own, or I carry you."

"You wouldn't dare." She laughed again, bright and mocking. "Big tough Joe Romano manhandling the boss's granddaughter? That'll look great on your resume."

He moved faster than she expected for someone his size. One second she was standing there swaying, the next his arm hooked around the back of her thighs and the world tilted. Charlie yelped as her stomach hit his broad shoulder. The parking lot spun upside down.

"Joe! Put me down right now!" She pounded her fists against his back, the keys still gripped in one hand. "I mean it! This is kidnapping! Somebody call the cops!"

"Settle down," he said, completely unfazed as he started walking toward the open rear door of the first SUV. His free hand held her legs steady so she couldn't kick free. "You're gonna thank me in the morning when you're not in a holding cell for a DUI."

"I hate you!" she shouted, still hitting his back with the side of her fist. It was like punching a brick wall. "You're the worst. Absolute worst. Grandpa's gonna hear about this!"

"I'm sure he will." Joe ducked carefully so she didn't hit her head on the doorframe and set her down on the leather seat. She tried to scramble out immediately. He blocked her with one arm and gently but firmly took the keys from her fingers.

"Give those back!"

"Not a chance." He shut the door, rounded the vehicle, and climbed into the front passenger seat. The driver, one of the security guys she vaguely recognized, pulled away from the curb without a word. The other two SUVs fell in behind them like a small convoy leaving the campus lights behind.

Charlie slumped against the seat, arms crossed, still breathing hard from the struggle. Her head throbbed in time with the fading bass from the party. She glared at the back of Joe's head.

"You didn't have to go all caveman," she muttered.

He glanced back once, brown eyes steady in the dim interior light. "You didn't leave me a choice. Next time study. Or at least call me before you decide to drink your weight in whatever that punch was."

She wanted to fire back something sharp, but the alcohol and the motion of the car made her eyelids heavy. Outside the dark windows, the college buildings slid past and disappeared. Charlie leaned her forehead against the cool glass and closed her eyes, the low rumble of the engine the last thing she heard before the night finally caught up with her.