I sat in the chair and pulled open the top drawer to apply my skincare. In the mirror, I caught a glimpse of Kenna behind me on the opposite side, applying layers of mascara on her lashes. The music still played on the other side of the room but had been turned down to a low hum of background noise.
Josie came dancing over to me, her long hair falling and bouncing in loose curls. Ainsley came in right behind her, singing the words to whatever song played on her phone. She was dressed in all black, the fishnet tights, combat boots, and decorative chains hanging from her belt making the rather plain skirt and cropped top edgy. She often altered her clothes, adding personal touches like the metal rings embedded in the bottom of her skirt.
“What’s up with you? Are you still upset about the article?” Josie asked, immediately noticing something off with me. The two of them climbed onto my bed, feet hanging over the side.
I rubbed moisturizer into my face. “Yes. No.” Sighing, I twisted in my seat, facing them instead of looking at their reflection. “It’s not so much the embarrassing photo, because whatever, who doesn’t have moments like that in life? It’s thatheput it there.”
“He?” Ainsley repeated, her mossy green eyes confused.
“Sterling,” I stated flatly, turning back to the mirror.
“Who is Sterling?” Ainsley whispered to Josie.
“The fraternity guy, I think,” she explained, but not entirely confident in her response.
Ainsley’s eyes widened. “Does she know him?”
So much had gone on this week that I hadn’t had a chance to talk to either of them, but I could count on Kenna to fill them in.
“She banged him a couple years ago, right after Micah crushed her heart,” my cousin divulged from the other side of the room, not missing a beat.
“It was a mistake,” I declared, pulling out my tube of primer with a frown. As I applied my makeup, Kenna joined Ainsley and Josie on the bed, giving them a rundown of my history with Sterling, including the last few days. She got most of the facts right and didn’t leave anything out, surprising me. I guess she had listened to me the other day.
When she finished, I informed them about my confrontation today and the locker room incident. “I’m not acting completely out of my mind, am I? Who does that? I can’t shake this feeling that he wants something from me.”
“Uh, he does. Your pussy,” Ainsley so eloquently advised.
The eyeliner pencil I had pointed at my eyelid veered off to the side in the craziest cat eye ever. I scowled, glancing at the reflection of my roommates.
Two seconds went by, and they burst out laughing.
“I’m glad you guys can find humor in my misery.” I grabbed a wipe to clean up the mess of eyeliner, but as I did, my lips curved at the corner.
Josie crossed her legs, leaning back on her hands. “I’ll admit it does seem a bit much, but maybe he sincerely likes you and doesn’t want you to run away like you did the first time,” she suggested.
“Perhaps,” I agreed, pressing my lips together. It was a reasonable explanation.
“But your instincts are telling you something else?” she guessed, seeing the unsettled look still on my face.
Giving up on my eyeliner, I moved to apply my blush, picking out a big, fluffy brush. “I honestly don’t know. At first, I was afraid Micah would find out, which is crazy. We both have pasts. Why should I feel ashamed about mine? He sure as shit isn’t about his.” Micah had regrets like most people, but he didn’t hide or shy away from his mistakes. I could take a page from his book. My irrational behavior and decisions the last few days didn’t make any sense to me. How could they make sense to someone else?
“Did you tell him yet?” Kenna asked, twirling a piece of her hair.
A hot flush stole up the back of my neck as I remembered just why I’d been so preoccupied that my mind basically stopped functioning. “Not yet.”
Josie frowned. “This isn’t good. If he finds out that Sterling is flirting with you, or worse, making moves on you…”
I swiped the brush over the apple of my cheeks, my eyes darting away from hers in the mirror. “You don’t have to tell me. And to think, I’d hoped we would be able to leave all the Elite drama back home.”
Kenna snorted. “When it comes to the four of them, trouble is never far. They’re like a package deal. When you date one of them, you don’t just get the Elite, you get the baggage the four of them come with.”
Truer words couldn’t have been spoken.
Several bars edged the outer perimeter of campus, and the school offered golf cart shuttles that ran all night both Fridays and Saturdays to take people to and from the downtown area. It was part of the Allie Viscount Safety Movement that started a few years back after she’d been kidnapped and assaulted on her way back to the dorms. KU was normally a safe and peaceful school, and when Allie’s body was found a week after she disappeared, it rocked not just the college but the whole state.
It didn’t matter how safe you felt in a community. Evil lurked in some of the unlikeliest places.
Groups were key when going out clubbing or to bars. The four of us, we stuck together, we watched out for each other, and we had the Elite on speed dial. They were never really far away, and we would all be in the same area tonight if anything arose.