“Did you have to get him naked?” I grumble. “I don’t want you looking at other men’s cocks.”
“How would the rats have bitten his skin if he wasn’t naked?” Pandora asks. “Anyway, don’t worry, you have one of the most perfect cocks in the world. I’m not going to lower my standards for that trash.”
River takes the phone so he can look at the pictures, and he shakes his head. “Fine. What’s done is done. But before you try to make any more moves, you need to talk to us first. We can’t protect you if we aren’t all on the same page with this.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Pandora closes her eyes. “Oh, what are your Christmas plans? You’re all coming to NB with me, right?”
I don’t miss that she didn’t agree to anything, but I think this is about as much of a concession as we’ll get from her right now.
“I’m going back to NewVa. Asch too,” I say. “He needs to visit his mom. And while I don’t really want to see my dad, my mom has been buzzing with excitement to see me again. I guess my dad didn’t tell her about all that happened.”
River hesitates, but he replies, “I’m going back to NB, but I have to go see my parents. I don’t know. Maybe if your parents won’t killme, I’ll show up at some point. They really did not seem happy to see me at Thanksgiving, so I don’t want to intrude. Again.”
“You wouldn’t be intruding!” Pandora narrows her eyes at me. “New Bristol would be better than NewVa. We’ve got snow. What do you have? Mosquitos?”
“Not in December we don’t,” I say. “There are wild New Year’s Eve parties in NewVa.”
But I can’t deny that I would much rather spend my holidays with Pandora—or, hell, with Pandora’s family—than with my own.
I also really, really want to keep an eye on what she does while we’re away.
That’ll have to be River’s task.
7
ASCH
I’m sitting in the library when the text comes in, and I blink when I see who it’s coming from.
Holden
Can I talk to you?
I’ve never really talked to Holden one-on-one before, and curiosity gets the better of me as I reply.
Asch
Yeah. I’m in the library.
Holden
Be there in 5
Huh. I have no idea what he could possibly want from me. He’s one of Brock and Tate’s friends, which means he has absolutely no reason to seekmeout. After everything that’s happened, I should be the last person he wants to see.
I try to return to studying, but it’s impossible. I find myself watching for Holden’s approach instead, and when he arrives, I gesture for him tograb a chair and pull it close.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me.
Holden hesitates, then he seems to steel himself as he says in a rush, “It’s about Blaze. You’re the only person who can talk reason into him.”
“Blaze,” I repeat, my voice flat. “Talk reason into him about what?”
I can make a few guesses, but I want to hear what he has to say. It’s bound to be interesting, to put it lightly.
Holden looks around the library, like he’s worried somebody might overhear. Finally he leans closer to me.
“You know everybody’s upset about what happened to Declan and Tate. To the frat house. And Blaze’s girlfriend broke into my house the other night and released rats. Which is… not funny, but whatever. That’s her. The problem is that Blaze refuses to do anything about it.”
