I rip the sheets off, ready to barge into her room. This has to be a joke, right? She and Vienna will be down the hall, laughing their asses off that they pulled a fucking prank on me.
Right?
“Posie, if you’re joking, I swear I’ll punch you in the face.”
Her eyes widen, so bloodshot there are no whites left. “Why would I joke about this, Lakyn? Listen to what I’m saying.Eloise was fucking stabbed last night!” she screams at me.
Reality hits, and I gasp, my hands clenching so tightly my nails burrow into my skin, creating small crescents in my palms.
It was him. He went after her.
He warned me last night. I played his game, and I lost.
This is all my fault.
“Is she… is she dead?” I croak.
She shakes her head, then lifts her shoulders in a shrug. My ears start ringing as I think the worst, my body trembling from the inside out.
“Posie, tell me!” I cry out, tears flooding my eyes as I go to stand. Rushing across my room, I open my dresser drawer so roughly it bangs against my wall. I’m prepared to go to her, wherever she is. I need to help her.
“She’s in the hospital, Lakyn. She lost a lot of blood.” Vienna’s scratchy voice comes from my doorway, and I glance over my shoulder, seeing her look a mess. She’s in one of Creed’s oversized shirts, the entire top half nearly see through as it’s soaked with tears.
I think back to last night. When I got home in a frenzy, barely able to think straight when she walked out of the house to grab her keys just as I was pulling up. She said she was headed to the library, and I thought nothing of it, too wrapped up in my own thoughts.
I should have stopped her. I could have saved her.
“I need to go see her,” I mumble, pulling my clothes on with jerky movements.
“She’s not awake, Lakyn. She’s been in surgery all night,” Vienna whimpers.
The front door slams, and Posie leaps off my bed as footsteps pound up the stairs. Vienna lets out a sob as she turns around just as Creed rushes her, sweeping her into his arms and leaning her against the doorway. My heart crushes, and tears flow down my cheeks as I watch him comfort her.
I pull my pants around my waist just as Archer slips in the doorway, sliding behind Creed, his eyes zeroed in on mine. The first tears slip down my cheeks, and my knees feel weak as I step toward him.
“Lakyn,” Archer mumbles my name, his arms sliding around my waist. I dip my head into his chest, not sure whether I have the right to cry after being the cause of this. I feel like I need to say what happened, how the masked man contacted me, yet that admission refuses to slip past my lips.
“Lakyn, look at me.”
His words do me in, and I fall to the ground. Archer catches me, his arms cinched around my waist as he lifts me up. He carries me to the bed and sets me down on the mattress, stepping between my legs.
I glance around, seeing Kyler standing in front of me, his eyes lost, a little haunted.
My eyes fall to my doorway, where Reign stands, his arms crossed over his chest as he watches me with dark eyes.
“We need to go to the library,” he mumbles.
My face twists in pain. “Why?” I cry, feeling my insides twisting into painful knots.
Reign steps forward, his jaw clenching. “Because someone thinks they can fuck with us, and we need to figure out who it is.”
A cry comes from down the hall, and then Creed’s voice barks at Vienna to calm down. The tension in the air is so thick it’s stifling. A headache forms, and I shuffle back, lying back down on my bed. “I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to go anywhere.”
“Reign is right, Lakyn. We can’t sit here and let this shit happen,” Kyler mumbles.
A sob breaks from my chest, and I curl my legs up to my chin, my head burrowing onto my pillow. “I don’t want to go where she was attacked. What if he’s still there? We aren’t even safe outside of our homes anymore.” I flop onto my back. “I bet she was so scared,” I whisper, my eyes overflowing with tears as I stare at the ceiling.
I hear footsteps moments before weight settles on the edge of the mattress. Reign’s heady scent fills my senses as he grabs me by the arm, hauling me up until I’m in front of him.