Page 155 of Veiled

“Time!” Sasha calls between laughs, and I risk the extra seconds to pull some mud from my hair to wipe across Antonio’s cheek. Before he can get revenge, I take off to the rope, swinging through the air and yelling like Tarzan until I drop to the platform and ring the bell to stop my timer.

As soon as my feet touch the ground, Josh has me in his arms, running toward the mud pit with Matt only a few steps behind. I don't even have enough time to try to get loose before I’m tossed in, mud splashing everywhere as they dive in after me, laughing and flinging handfuls back and forth until none of us are recognizable anymore.

So much mud is thrown around that I’m spitting the entire walk back to the barracks trying to get it out of my mouth.

Sasha, Antonio, and James yelled their goodbyes shortly after we hit the mud, and it isn’t until we’re climbing the stairs that something hits me.

“Wait, who won tonight?” The guys look to each other, laughing before Josh finally says, “Sasha forgot to start your timer.”

“No she didn’t; she called time during mine and Antonio’s fight.”

“Yeah, that was because she said something about being excited to wash the mud off of him,” Josh says.

“Better turn up your music while you shower,” Matt teases.

Chapter fifty-six

Annalise

Ihum under my breath as I close the door behind me, leaving it unlocked, knowing Mattey will be done with his shower and down here before I’m cleaned up.

My cheeks ache from laughing so hard, and my chest is light in a way it hasn’t been since the breakup as I drop my dirty clothes into a pile by the door.

I’m barely getting my hair lathered for the second time when I hear the door close behind Matt.

“It must be so nice being a guy. There was still mud in my hair after my first round of shampoo,” I call out to him. “Will you grab me a clean towel from my laundry hamper and throw it in here? I forgot to grab it on my way in.”

“Here,” he says a minute later, his voice muffled through the water as a towel is hung on the hook, ruffling the shower curtain.

“Thanks! I’ll be out in a few.”

I finish rinsing, double conditioning, and wringing my hair out before shutting off the water. The bathroom mirror is fogged over, the air nice and steamy as I wrap the towel around myself and step out. When only my hair is left dripping, I head toward my room to grab sleep clothes.

The room is empty. Matt’s gone.

I frown, grabbing a worn T-shirt from my armoire, and turn back toward the bathroom to get dressed. As I step over the threshold, the door behind me opens.

I jump.

“Where did you go?” I ask, my heart thudding harder than it should be, knowing he would be coming right back.

“Uhm, to shower?” Matt says, brows pulled together.

“Oh. Did you forget something?”

“Not that I know of? Was there something I was supposed to bring other than my charger?”

I shake my head, unease settling low in my stomach as I turn back toward the bathroom.

That’s when I see it.

A small, pink, plush pig sits right in the center of my bed, shiny black eyes glinting under the light. It doesn’t belong here. It doesn’t belong to me.

For a second, my brain refuses to accept what I’m seeing.

The great mood I was just in is long gone, drained from me like the blood was from the last pig I found in my bed.

“Lee, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”