“Look at me.”
She casts me a fleeting glance, then focuses back on her cup. “I know your face and love it, Glyn. No need to look at it.”
“You’re hiding something from me.”
An awkward chuckle spills from her. “You probably got things mixed up.”
“I heard you. There’s some filth you, Ava, and Bran are keeping from me. What is it?”
She remains silent.
“Ces, please. I’m not a little girl.”
My friend releases a sigh, puts the cup on the table, and takes my hands in hers. “You’re right. We shouldn’t have hidden it, but we all thought you were in a fragile mental state after…Devlin.”
“What is it?”
“We threw it away because that shit is disgusting, but I took a picture.” She retrieves her phone and scrolls to a photo taken a few weeks ago.
My heart thunders when I see a blank canvas chaotically smeared with red paint. The words are barely legible, but I can see them loud and clear.
Why are you still breathing, Glyndon?
My mouth falls open in a wordless gasp and I stare between it and Cecily. “Where…did you find this?”
“In front of our flat. We called Bran and he said to get rid of it because, well, it would’ve broken you.”
It would’ve.
“Why would anyone do this?” Cecily breathes harshly. “You’re the least antagonistic person on earth. It doesn’t make sense for someone to target you.”
It doesn’t.
Unless I got myself in bigger trouble than I thought.
* * *
I’m at a party.
And not just any party.
It’stheparty.
As in the one Killian told me to come to and I vehemently refused.
Now, I have a good excuse for the change in my decision. I wasn’t thinking straight when he was around—he just rattles me too much.
But once he left, or more like, once I went to class and was separated from him, I gave it some serious thought. While half focusing on what the professor was saying.
I’m still not over the bitterness of being eliminated from the initiation at the last second for the simple reason of catching the psycho’s attention. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get close to the inner circle and investigate Devlin’s involvement in the club.
My chances of getting rid of Killian are starting to seem impossible, so I might as well use him. If it were anyone else, my upbringing would’ve interfered and I would have felt bad for using them, but this isn’t a normal person.
Killian is a raging monster with no restraints. He targeted me first, so it’s only fair that he gets a taste of his own medicine.
“I can’t believe we got the chance to be here! This is like the shit!” Ava’s awed shout barely reaches me over the loud music and the endless chatter.
Countless students surround the massive pool and some are soaking in the Jacuzzi while singing and shouting and producing all sorts of noise.