I bit the inside of my cheek, already regretting coming out when I couldn’tactuallytalk about what was going on in Bluebell House. Then again…the NDA said I couldn’t disclose anythingtrue.It said nothing about spinning absolute bullshit. The guys all seemed determined to cultivate the idea they were arch enemies—Connor and Andrew in particular—so why not play along with that idea?
“It’sawful.” I groaned dramatically. “They’re constantly at each other’s throats. I seriously wouldn’t be surprised if someone gets smothered with a pillow before long. And to be fair, it might be me doing the smothering.”
Nina winced. “That bad? Shit, girl, I am so freaking sorry. I’ll go to Dean Attworth again and see if there’s anything I can do.”
I shrugged. “It’s fine. Seriously. Connor just has a really awful singing voice, and he insists on putting on a full-length Eras Tour performance every time he showers. Also, Andrew keeps using my razor and not rinsing the hair off.” I gave a dramatic shudder, giggling internally at my fabricated gossip.
Nina and Ursa were one hundred percent lapping it up, too. “You’re kidding! For his face?” I shook my head ominously and Nina gagged. “Ew. Come on. Ewww. Maybe it’s his legs? He seems like the kind of guy who might shave his legs…sort of?”
“He’s the kind of guy who shaves his balls, too,” Ursa added with a giggle.
For the love of all hell, now she had me thinking about Andrews balls…and whether shaving them made his dick look bigger. Did he need those kinds of optical illusions? I really didn’t want to find out, did I? No. Definitely not. Okay, maybe a little bit…
Pushing the mental image—entirely made up—of Andrew’s dick out of my head, I focused on making up more harmless but ridiculous lies about the guys I lived with. Mostly about Connor and Andrew, to be fair. Brodie was too fucking likeable, and Haze genuinely scared me, so I wasn’t keen to get on his bad side. And then there was Ethan…I was worried Nina would see right through me if I so much as said his name, so I danced all the way around the teacher supervision subject.
The girls convinced me to join them for a dorm party at Sven’s building, and it wasfun. More fun than I’d had in a long time, despite my refusal to drink anything.
Sven was kind enough to walk me home, which I was quietly relieved about since it was after midnight and the path through the woods was creepy at the best of times. I could have taken the road, but it was nearly three times the distance, as it circled around the outskirts of the campus.
The floorboards creaked as I let myself into the house as quietly as possible, and I wrinkled my nose. The last thing I needed was a lecture about ignoring my phone…which I’d done plenty of over the last few hours.
Fortunately, no one popped out of the closet to scold me. In fact, the whole house was silent. Were the guys asleep already? Tiptoeing my way upstairs, I noted that their bedroom doors were closed so it was possible. Or maybe they’d all gone out? It was Saturday night, after all.
Stepping into my room, I gagged at the strong smell of floor stain. The windows I’d left open had blown shut and the fumes were lingering like a bitch. Someone had thoughtfully moved my bed back into the room so I could sleep, but just the few minutes I spent in there changing my clothes gave me a headache. There was no way I could spend a whole night inhaling that smell.
With a sigh, I gathered my pillow and blankets up in my arms and quietly padded back downstairs. The house itself had plenty of empty bedrooms but none were furnished, and I really wasn’t in the mood to go hauling beds around in the middle of the night.
The couch would be just fine.
I made myself a cozy nest, then snuggled into it and closedmy eyes. Only to immediately open them again when the house creaked ominously.
“Stop it,” I hissed. “You’re not haunted, no matter what Brode thinks.”
That was what I kept telling myself, over and over, until I eventually fell asleep.
14
EVELYN
My breathing was too loud. Way too loud. He was going to hear me, find me, kill me. I needed to hold my breath, but it was so hard, with panic throttling my chest. Sprinting through the halls had left me winded and gasping, so all I could do was cover my mouth and attempt to breath as quietly as I could through flaring nostrils.
“Evelyn Cromwell…I know you’re in here somewhere…” The man’s voice echoed through the class that I hid in. Had he seen me dash in here? Or was it just a guess? Shit.Shit.
“Come on, Evelyn, no one else has to die. I didn’t come here for them; I came foryou.” His voice wasn’t familiar in the least. He was no one I knew, at least not well enough to recognize. Why the fuck was he trying to kill me, though?
Cold sweat dripped down my brow, stinging my eyes, but I didn’t move. Couldn’t move. He’d already shot at least a dozen people as I ran for my life, and now that he’d informed me he was here to kill me, those deaths were on me. But why? I was no one. Basically an orphan. What had I done to make someone want me dead?
“Evelyn Cromwell…come out, come out, wherever you are…” He sang it in an unhinged kind of way that made me question whether the shooter was sane at all. Surely not? You didn’t just open fire in the middle of a university if you were perfectly balanced in the head.
Footsteps drew closer and my whole body trembled where I crouched inside a short cabinet. If I were taller, I’d never have fit, but for once luck had been on my side.
He was going to pass by, he was going to decide the class was empty and then I’d make a run for it. I’d run as fast as humanly possible and then?—
“I’ve got you, Evelyn,” he announced, yanking the door open and grabbing my hair. He dragged me out of the cabinet, and I screamed with all my pent-up terror.
This wasn’t how it went. This never happened. He didn’t find me in the cabinet, he heard me running and shot me in the back as I fled. That was how it happened, notthis.
“Be quiet, Evelyn,” he growled. “I’ve got you now.”
