Left, right, left and left, then another staircase.
“Okay...” She glances over her shoulder as we reach the top, her eyes sparkling, my cock half hard. “Any chance you get, huh? Well played, but...” She spins, walking backward down the hall. “That’s enough for one day.”
“Not had my fill yet.” The words are out faster than my brain can process them. “Turn around, Hailey.”
I close in on her, rational thought fleeing my mind as primal lust takes the reins. I shouldn’t want to bend her over and fuck her senseless. I shouldn’t be imagining what her skin tastes like, but the erotic images infecting my mind are uncontainable.
And then, as fast as they popped up, they disappear when a petite brunette appears from one of the rooms down the hall.
She reminds me of Aalyiah.
Short, cute, and pretty, with dark hair cascading down her back. I stop in my tracks, taking a deep, centering breath.
There’s plenty of perfectly good pussy on campus. No need to betray my sister’s memory by fucking the one responsible for her death...
“Goodnight, Hailey.”
Not waiting for any reply, I spin, heading out the way we came, and burst outside thirty seconds later, shaking off the last three minutes like they never happened.
17
Carter
Over a thousand pages.
That’s the size of the file Jackson sent, every page filled with text messages between Aalyiah and Alex. I skim through the first fifty or so, catching keywords, and I quickly realize I won’t stomach this without numbing my mind a little.
Kicking my shoes off, I grab a crystal glass, fill it halfway with the finest bourbon and sit in the loveseat with the laptop on my knees. I start from the top, hoping that easing into it from their earliest messages can acclimatize me for when the content gets too disturbing. Like a frog in boiling water.
Nothing worse than reading through your sister’s sexting... I fucking hope it doesn’t get to that.
Alex: Hey, it’s Alex from the concert. Did you get home okay?
Aalyiah: Hi! Yes, I did, thanks. How about you?
Alex: Safe and sound. Got time for coffee tomorrow?
Aalyiah: Sure. Where and what time?
It took her less than a minute to agree and I can imagine her excitement. I grind my teeth, squeezing the life out of my glass; if it was any cheaper I’d be picking shards of it out from between my fingers. I should’ve known about him. I should’ve fucking realized she was dating. I should’ve paid more attention.
She just met this guy and agreed to meet him again straight away?
Did I teach her nothing?
It seems she forgot everything I ever told her about being careful. The world is full of psychos and myworld,herworld, is infinitely worse.
Alex could’ve been anyone. A mole planted by Rhett’s rivals, someone tasked with kidnapping her for ransom, favors, or revenge. God knows Rhett has many enemies, many of which hold personal grudges.
She should’ve been more careful. She wasthisclose to getting kidnapped by Blaze Noretto Jr. a few years ago, after Rhett executed Blaze’s father. To ensure Aalyiah’s safety, he paid Blaze a hefty sum as compensation, but Noretto’s crazy; who knows what he’ll do when the money runs out?
She should’ve called me immediately so I could investigate the guy. I would’ve flown to Columbus to threaten him with a slow, painful death if he even thought about hurting my little sister.
But she did none of that. What’s more, she even kept the fucker a secret from Rhett for months.
I keep reading, keeping an eye on the dates. One page after another, the texts change from friendly to nuanced and flirty. Days go by, but not nearly enough, unfortunately.
One week and shit got real.
