ONE
KINGSTON
It comesas no surprise our initiate is right back to being the rule breaker she’d been when she first arrived at Hawthorne Hall. Eyeing the message Elliot sent to our group chat a moment ago, I grit my teeth because I can’t help but be irritated that she left on her own. In the beginning, it had been about controlling her. Requiring her to abide our rules. But it’s not like that anymore. She knows damn well we only want to make sure she gets to her destination safely. So, why would she do this?
I huff out a frustrated groan that has the girl sitting beside me inching away. Dammit, she should have waited for one of us to come get her, especially if she wasn’t feeling well. The fact that she couldn’t make it through the final twenty minutes of her class is concerning. Had she lied yesterday about feeling well enough to participate in The Games? If that’s the case, I feel like shit for being the one to okay it because as head of the house, I didn’t have to. Probably shouldn’t have. But Elliot does inexplicable shit to my head.
I would do anything for her. Give her whatever she needs. There’s this new, different side of me thatwantsto see her happy—tomakeher happy. I haven’t allowed myself to feel this way about someone since I lost Juliette. Sisters are different than other girls, for sure, but I still can’t imagine loving someone and losing them—which is why the way I feel for Elliot is shocking to my system. It’s also so fuckingrightI can’t see straight when I think about her, much less when we’re in the same damn room.
I glance down at the time on my phone. Half past ten. My jaw works back and forth as I ponder the significance. Is it possible Elliot knew we’d have a harder time leaving class to chase her down if she waited to tell us she’d gone until we were halfway through our lectures? She’s smart. But what reason would she have to purposely do something like that?
All I know right now is that something feels fuckin’ off, and the more I think about it, the more I don’t like the odd sensation in my gut. Drawing in a breath, I drum my fingers on the edge of my desk, considering whether I should wait it out or take off after her now. There’renota whole lot of people I’d leave a lecture on the Holy Roman Empire for, but Elliot is one of them.
Without another moment’s hesitation, I slap my laptop shut, making everyone around me jump and Professor Darby falter mid-sentence. But I have no fuckin’ time to worry about what anyone else thinks or the professor’s ego, so I shove the computer into my bag before shuffling to my feet. A moment later, I bound down the stairs and out the door at the front of the classroom, giving our professor an apologetic smile and a salute on my way out.Sorry, man.
I sling my bag over my shoulder while walking toward the exit of Cabot Hall, and glance at her text again before shooting my own to the group.
Elliot
Hey. Have a headache.
Heading back to sleep it off.
I wish you’d have said something.
Where are you?
I’ll pick you up in the SUV.
I’m on my way.
Archer
Will follow as soon as I can on foot.
Cannon
Ditto.
A few minutes later, I pause my sprint to the parking lot to double-check whether she’s responded. She hasn’t. Fuck. I was hoping— Her silence only pushes me to run faster. Once I get to the SUV and slide behind the wheel, my brain goes on autopilot, and I let myself drift back to how she’d seemed a little out of sorts when she’d come downstairs. I’d chalked it up to her being put through the wringer during the game last night.
And fuck, maybe I’ve been more than a little preoccupied with what’d happened between Archer and me. By the time we were in the Escalade and en route to campus, she’d been joking with Archer and sharing songs back and forth with Cannon. I thought she was good to go—happy and prepared to be returning to her regular classes.
My eyes wander the sidewalk along the road leading out of campus and scan for her the entire way back to the house. Nothing. She’s nowhere. Once I arrive at our driveway without seeing a single sign of her, I know I was correct in my suspicion. Something isn’t right. Worry crashes through me. She didn’t want us following or stopping her. But why?
Leaping out of the vehicle without bothering to grab my bag, I rush up the front steps and let myself into the house. I’m not fucking around here—I shout so loud it echoes through the high ceiling of the foyer, practically making the French-country style chandelier shake with it. “Elliot! Where are you?”
When she doesn’t respond, my mind immediately goes to darkness, to the most horrible place imaginable, setting my heart to pounding viciously in my chest. I take the stairs two at a time and bolt down the hallway toward her bedroom. I try her door, but as I assumed would be the case, it’s locked. I silently curse as I head into my room, going immediately to my desk drawer. Reaching all the way into the back, I come up with the spare key to her room. With it in hand, I return to her bedroom door and unlock it.
My eyes slam shut. What am I going to find on the other side of this door? My blood whooshes through my head so loudly I can’t hear anything else. I exhale heavily, turn the knob, and throw open the door.
I stand there a moment blinking, trying to process. The bed is unmade, but that doesn’t surprise me. There’s a dress draped over the back of her desk chair and a pair of sandals on the floor. Slowly, I walk into the room, inhaling the sweet scent of her body wash that’s still lingering in the air from her shower this morning. My gaze sweeps around the entire room until I’m satisfied I’ve seen all there is to see. My eyes flick toward the bathroom, and my body immediately follows, though I’m terrified of what I’ll find. I throw the door open, letting it hit the wall and bounce back before holding my hand out to catch it. Easing my way in, I glance around. My mind spins out. She’s. Not.Here.
Fuck.I run my hands through my hair, clenching my teeth. This feels so much like the night my baby sister left the football game without telling me. I’d come home to a deathly quiet house. And there she was. Already gone. Bile rises in the back of my throat, and I force it back down with a hard swallow.
My heart races and races, but I’m not getting anywhere. I search the remainder of the rooms on this floor, then tear downstairs like the devil himself is chasing me. I don’t have a problem searching every single room in this house, privacy invaded or not. Because if she’s not here, where the fuck would she be?
As I get to the foyer, I glance down the wide hallway toward the open kitchen area. Alec sits there, toying with his phone, a can of Coke in his hand. He eyes me over it, takes a sip, then cocks his head to the side. “What’s up, man? You look like you saw a ghost.”
