I’m safe.
I’m safe.
I open my eyes. I need to get the hell out of here. I need to do something to clear my mind, so I send a message to my group chat with Winter and Lyrical for drinks at a bar. I want to get drunk as fuck.
Winter tells me to meet her at a party on campus, the one the football players are throwing, and Lyrical states she has a date with Snow.
I change into a long-sleeve corset dress and knee-high boots, grab Irvin’s key to his Lexus—he has four vehicles—and meet Winter at the party.
I pull up to the frat house. A few students litter the lawn. Loud techno music pounds from inside the house. Weed lingers in the shadowy air.
I meet Winter at the door, and she smiles at me. Once we walk in, we find a group inhaling a line of coke on the coffee table. Um, no thank you. I want to numb myself, but not like this.
I follow Winter to the empty kitchen. Finally, I hear my own thoughts.
“I didn’t know you hung out with football players. How would Keanu feel about it?” I pour myself a glass of punch.
She shrugs, smoothing out her white sweater. “Jameson’s fiancée invited me. I’m glad you were able to make it.” She sighs. “This wedding stuff is annoying. Really getting on my nerves.” She pours herself a shot of tequila, then downs it. “I banned sex with him because I caught him tampering with my birth control pills. He wants me to have a baby. I told him hell no. We have to get married and graduate first.”
I furrow my brow. “Why would Keanu trap you with a baby? That’s fucking weird.”
Her nostrils flare. “We had a long talk about boundaries. He’s afraid to lose me, said he’s in love with me. He saw me speaking to Greg.”
I lift my eyebrows. “Your ex, Greg?”
Greg was the ex from hell. He admitted he was only using her for sex and spread lies about her around campus, claiming she sucked in bed.
She nods. “Yes. He wanted to apologize for what he did to me sophomore year and wanted to know if my engagement to Keanu was real.” She plays with the ends of her hair. “Keanu threatened to kill him if he ever came near me again. I’ve never seen him that mad. Anyway, enough about me. Congratulations on your marriage.”
I nod and shrug. “The marriage is fake.”
She strolls behind the table full of drinks, pouring us both shots. “What do you mean?”
I down the burning liquor. “It’s temporary. It’s to trick his father into thinking our marriage is real, and we’re going to do a fake breakup.”
She frowns, tilting her head. “That doesn’t sound right, Lilac. I don’t think Irvin will be able to fool the board members.”
I shrug again. “He said I’m worth the risk.”
A petite girl walks in with auburn hair and a wide smile. She’s pretty, her chocolate eyes narrowing on us. “I’m glad you came,” she says to Winter, then waves at me. “I’m Raven. Jameson’s fiancée.”
So this is the girl Jameson hates—or so I heard from Irvin.
“Lilac.” I smile.
She pours vodka and Coke into a red Solo cup, her smile beaming. “Yes, I know. Congratulations on the wedding. It was lovely.”
I swallow thickly and nod. “Thank you.”
“You two ready to get fucked up?” Raven asks.
“Yes,” we say in unison.
We drink, laugh, and dance until my feet ache. For a second, I forget Ally’s message. I forget the pain of losing my parents. I forget about the hallucinations. And I’m free.
Irvin
Unknown: Be at the courtroom at the American Billionaire Club tonight at 6 p.m.
