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There was no way any of them had been involved—and if Syn had, that’s one hell of an act he’s putting on.
It also seems like a very weird choice—both in location and design—for matching bestie tattoos. Syn really doesn’t seem to be the type to want a matching tattoo with anyone, much less one practically on his dick.
But crazy as it sounds, it seems too strange to be a coincidence.
Now that the initial panic, drugs, and tequila are wearing away, my thoughts are clearer.
I know I’m on the right track with my initial suspicions and I’m not going anywhere.
Straightening my back, I stare with determination into my own green eyes. “Do your worst, Synclair Keyingham.”
II
Tori
Entering the Elite means I have to move out of my dorm and into one of the exclusive dorms reserved for the society members. The instructions Syn provided didn’t specify which dorm I’d be in, only to report to his house today.
Admittedly, this is something I’m not looking forward to.
My previous room was hardly secure or even private—it’d been broken into on more than one occasion, and Syn had set up a security camera in the hallway to watch my every move—this felt more…
I’m not sure dangerous is the right word, but I certainly feel like I’m venturing into a cave full of sleeping lions.
With the end of midterms last week, everyone must have partied hard last night at the Elite’s event in the church, because even now, the campus is practically dead.
In another life, I may have actually enjoyed being here.
JKU is located in upstate New York, only an hour or so from the city. Now, in the November air, the once green campus is covered in reds, yellows, and oranges, as the trees hang on to the last of their leaves before winter sets in.
Whilst the weather has a chill, walking in the sun is still pleasant. however, the icy fingers of the shadows reach for me often.
Syn, along with Royal and Gemini, live in Denali House, the only house on the campus. According to Penny, it was once the dean’s, but at some point, it was acquired by the Elite for their president and vice presidents to live.
The only moment of hesitation I have is after setting my suitcase onto the porch and spotting the swing at the far end of the building. It looks more like a decoration than functional, but the way it creaks softly in the wind sends me back to middle school.
Up until Cole was convicted, my dad bailed, and the house was repossessed, I’d lived my whole life in the same six-bedroom brownstone on the Upper East Side. Every Christmas, we’d head out to my grandparents in eastern Massachusetts. They lived in a small suburb outside Boston in a big, red-brick house with white trim. They had a porch swing just like this one.
While Cole and I played in the snow with Dad helping us build a snowman, Mom would sit on the bench, wrapped in a blanket, watching.
That seems like a million years ago. And probably not what I should be focusing on now.
I ring the doorbell, and it’s not long before the ornate black door opens.
The last time I was here, one of the Elite’s initiates, Declan, answered.
Today, it’s a man who looks a little older than my dad. He’s wearing a suit, and I’m certain he’s a butler. Because if anyone on this campus is going to forgo the true college experience and hire ‘help’, it’s going to be Synclair Keyingham.
Before I can say hello, he reaches down and picks up my suitcase. “Let me take this.”
As he reaches the base of the stairs, he turns back to me. “Unless you’re planning to leave, please shut the door, Ms. Anderson.”
Without waiting for me to do just that, he turns, but instead of going up the stairs, he continues down the hallway and through a door on the left.
The move has completely thrown me, and as I step inside and close the door behind me, my heart feels like it’s pounding in my throat, right behind the collar I’m still wearing.
Initiates live in exclusive dorms—mini apartment complexes—just a little further past this house. So, why is my suitcase being taken into this house?
At no point had it crossed my mind that I’d be living here. Why would it? Syn hates me. He may have allowed me to join, or at least attempt to pass the initiation, but to live here?
