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Even though I know what his response is going to be, I turn back to Syn. “I know you think my brother and I somehow manage to share the same body, but even prison cells have a bed.”
“But you do.” With a grin, which is positively evil, Syn steps to the side.
Behind him, on the floor, is a bed.
A dog bed.
Admittedly, it’s probably big enough for a Great Dane to sleep in, but it’s still a dog bed, nonetheless. And while the base is somewhat padded, there are no blankets.
“In this house, pets are not allowed on furniture, unless permitted by their owners. If you don’t like it, you can leave.” He cocks his head, looking me up and down. “Though your chance to do so without breaking the terms of your contract have long since passed…”
“You’re an asshole,” I hiss at him.
He raises a hand and waves his index finger from side to side. “Sir. You are an asshole, sir.” When I just glare at him, he smiles. “Your clothes will be provided to you every evening for the following day.”
Then he turns and leaves.
I stand there, staring at the empty doorway, long after his footsteps have faded.
My body is as still as a statue, but inside my head, my thoughts are whirring around so fast that I feel like each one is a mosquito swarming around me. The thoughts I take care of first, plucking out of the swarm and squashing them before they can latch into me, are the ones yelling to get out.
Despite my attempts to convince him otherwise, Syn hates me.
In his mind, I’m sure he sees me as Cole’s proxy, which means everything he wants to do to my brother, he’s going to take out on me.
The sound of my phone vibrating in my pocket brings me back to reality, and I hoist my bag further up my shoulder so I’m able to reach into the pocket of the coat draped over my arm.
It’s a message from Penny.
Before replying, I move over to the table so I can set my bag down on top of it, and hand my coat over the back of the chair. Then I open her message.
Penny: You OK? Who’d you get roomed with?
I glance around the room—not because I think someone is watching, but to make sure I’ve not been hallucinating my current situation—and then I stare at the keyboard on my phone. I’m not sure what my answer is to that. I’m not not OK. But I’m also hardly in 5-Star accommodations.
If I told Penny what was going on, I’m sure she’d be breaking down the door, because if this was her, and if I found out she’d been given a dog bed to sleep in, I’d do the same thing.
But I don’t want to lie.
Ever since Cole was arrested, it’s felt like everything is a lie. Lies piled upon lies. Some are small, and some are so big, I feel like I’m being crushed by them.
I don’t want to add more of that to my life.
Tori: I’m not in dorms. I’m staying in Denali House.
Penny: Denali House? Syn’s house???
Tori: Yeah… But, if there was ever going to be any evidence of anything, it’s going to be here. Yay me?
Her first response was instant, but nothing comes for the second. I’m not complaining, because at least there’s no questions that I can’t answer. But I’m also certain she’s crafting some kind of response.
I slip the phone into the back pocket of my jeans, and then I turn around. From this angle, the room looks no better, but fight mode is kicking in.
Even before I went to Syn to ask him to let me initiate into the Elite, I knew without a shadow of a doubt, that if he agreed, this wasn’t going to be easy. But from the moment he announced to the college who I was, my life had hardly been a picnic. Hell, it had sucked since Cole was arrested.
The contract, the NDA, everything Syn had said and done up until now—everything has been cleverly worded to suggest that, ultimately, he wasn’t going to be satisfied until things were even.
Do I think he’s capable of killing me?
