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Laughing harder, I turn to Gemini, only to find him looking at me like I’m the crazy one.
But he’s not the one who’ll let his intrusive thoughts take life, and now he has a person—a nobody—to take those thoughts out on.
Still smiling, I turn back to her. “If you want a safe word, you can have one. A one-time only safe word. You can even choose it, although, as Gemini says, you need to make sure it’s not something that will come up in context.”
“You’re really going to let me have a safe word and be able to use it?” she asks in disbelief.
“Yes.” It’s Royal who answers.
I turn to find him glaring at me like he’s daring me to say otherwise.
“Unless you don’t—”
“Dinosaur,” she blurts out.
I raise my eyebrows at that one.
“And you’re going to honor that?” There’s hope in her voice.
What is supposed to come out of my mouth is, ‘I guess we’ll have to find out when the time comes,’ but that isn’t even close to what I say.
“Yes.”
IV
Tori
“Then, if you’ve decided you’re staying, I’ll take you to your room.”
Syn pushes his chair out and stands. As usual, he’s dressed impeccably. Even though it’s a Sunday evening, he’s still wearing semi-formal clothing: dark pants and a dark green shirt with the first few buttons opened, revealing some of his upper chest.
His clothing fits him so perfectly that I have no doubt it’s all tailor-made to fit his long, lean body. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him in something casual, but at this point, it would probably look strange on him anyway.
I just can’t decide if he looks more like a little boy playing dress-up or a pompous ass. Particularly next to Royal, in his tight jeans, or Gemini in his black hoodie and ripped jeans.
Although Royal and Gemini remain seated, I follow Syn’s lead, picking up my bag and coat as I stand.
The act of Syn showing me to my room seems to have some significance that I’m not even sure I want to go into, especially since Royal and Gemini don’t come with us when I follow Syn out the door. With large strides, not caring how or if I’m keeping up, Syn leads me a little further down the hall to another stairway.
This one goes down.
The interior designer who worked on this place went wild with the monochrome theme, even in the basement. Underground, there’s a whole other level that’s been decorated so consistently with upstairs, that it’s only missing windows alluding to this even being the basement level.
The first door we pass is made entirely of glass, and behind it, there’s a gym. James Keyingham University has a basketball team, and to the south of the campus, by the main gates, is the stadium. There’s also a sports center with a fully equipped gym, but clearly, at least one of these three doesn’t want to work out with other people.
The next two doors are wooden and closed. At the end of the hall, is an archway.
Only, when Syn steps through and moves to the side, I realize it’s a room with no door.
The room is small—about the same size as the one in my mom’s apartment back in New Jersey—but the problem isn’t the lack of space.
It’s the lack of anything.
The floor, like in the hall, is white marble. The walls are the same slate gray. While there is, miraculously, a window, it’s a slit at the top of the wall. Big enough for some natural light to get in, but if it did open, it’s not big enough for me to climb through.
Although given the lack of a door, no one seems worried about me trying to escape.
Underneath the window, pushed against the wall, is a metal table and matching chair—both a stark contrast to the one I’d been sitting in upstairs.
