I take another drink. I might pass out here before Cyn and I can get a ride back to our place. Before we left Tas at Slyth’s, all three of us went into the private room to check on her. As much as the girl irritates me and clearly just wants the attention of some man—any man—I didn’t want to leave her to the wolves, particularly since she’d been drinking.
But she was perched on Sylvan’s lap and Faust was nowhere to be found.
Sylvan locked eyes with me and smirked before I rolled my own and walked out, letting Karter and Cyn talk to Tasia. She had another girl friend there, Darcie, her roommate, and Karter stalked the girl in the lounge to make sure she’d promise to bring Tasia back to their place at the end of the night.
I tip my head back on the couch, desperate to be out of these leather pants and this fucking bodysuit, but I like Karter and I don’t want to make Cynthia leave yet.
I don’t really want to be alone with my thoughts either.
“We’re not talking about it.” My words come out slow and slurred, and I mean it to be humorous, but the girls don’t laugh.
“Neve.” Cynthia’s serious voice.
“First of all,” Karter says, and I feel slightly relieved hearing her own slurred words as she shifts beside me on the couch. “Tasia is crazy.”
Great.
“And I mean that so nicely. She’s one of my best friends. But I’d hate to be her enemy.”
“Yeah, well, I’d hate to be Neve’s, so don’t threaten us with a good time,” Cynthia chirps in and my chest feels like it’s going to burst with pride.
I drag my head up and look at her, smiling as she arches her brows at me from across the room. She’s got a water bottle in her hand and she coolly sips from it as Karter sighs beside me.
“Oh, boy,” she says, and she drinks, too, but definitely not water.
“Cyn is right,” I say, and I mean it. “For now, I’m letting her win. I don’t give a fuck about those boys.” It’s true, isn’t it? The tension in my limbs when I say it makes it feel like a lie, but I. Don’t. Care.
“But you might if you keep fucking with them, and she won’t give up without a fight.”
“Have you seen us next to each other?” I raise my brows, staring at Karter. “She doesn’t want to get physical with me.”
“Unless she has a death wish,” Cyn murmurs, and the words land hard, considering… the murders. None of that has come up tonight, shockingly. Although there have been murmurs of the deaths on campus, it’s oddly not a big topic. The local news seems to be suppressing it, and they finally made clear neither of the deaths were students. It’s like people don’t care, because they weren’t one of us.
Karter glances down at her fingers wrapped around the beer bottle. Her nails are a glassy, seafoam green. It must be her favorite color and I want to see if she used it in her bedroom soI can borrow more decorating ideas but obviously now is not the time for all that.
“I know you can hold your own, Neve. It’s just… She’s boy crazy, for one,” Karter says, lifting one finger off the Stella. “And when she feels like she’s not getting enough attention, she gets angry.”
“I mean, so do I.”
“Yeah,” Cyn adds. “That’s kinda relatable.”
Karter shakes her head though, and she doesn’t laugh. “No, it’s like… She rages. Destroys her stuff. She once got suspended at our high school.”
“What? How long have you known her?” I ask, surprised. Sure, Tasia introduced me to Karter, but they didn’t necessarily act like besties and they don’t room together.
Karter shrugs one shoulder as she glances at me. “Most of my life honestly. She was worried she wouldn’t get in at Drayton because of her behavior.”
I think of my clinical analysis, but Tasia doesn’t really fit a psychopath’s description. Maybe something else, though. Borderline? But mentally ill people are more likely to be the victim of a crime rather than the perpetrator. That’s drilled into us. But so is watching for signs that something wayward might have happened or could happen in the future.
No.
Tasia definitely did not kill Will or Jackson. She wouldn’t even know them, would she? Then again… I did. And she seems happy taking my leftovers. Maybe she hooked up with Sylvan before I knew him, but she stayed in the room with him after he got me off. At least the leftovers were warm.
“She’s a cool girl. Very supportive, if not very loyal when it comes to a man.” Karter wrinkles her nose, and I don’t ask if something happened between them, because if it did, it wasn’t enough to ruin her friendship and honestly, it ain’t my business.
“But if she doesn’t like you…” Karter takes a breath. “One time she sprayed bear spray all over a girl’s cheer uniform our senior year, only on the inside, right before a pep rally. When Marissa,” must be the victim, “put it on, she pulled it over her head instead of stepping in. Started throwing up, her eyes bulging red almost out of their sockets.” Karter winces.
Cynthia’s mouth hangs open.
