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Chapter 7
Astrid
I lie on my bed, recuperating from Tuesday night.
Roni starts to spend time in our room when I’m there. But she ignores me as if I’m a ghost she refuses to believe in. I want to talk to her, but our reasoning isn’t in sync. She believes wholeheartedly that I had something to do with Terri and Charlotte.
“You know what? You can have the fucking room.”
She starts a little, not expecting a burst of anger when I finally speak to her.
Roni watches me peripherally as I toss my tablet onto the bed and grab my keys off my desk. Her lips move a little, like she might say something, but I don’t have any patience to hear it. Restraint prevents me from slamming the fucking door when I leave. I march down to Charlotte’s room and rap on her door. There’s movement inside, so I wait for an answer. Once you see sex shit, it can’t be unseen.
Charlotte looks startled, but then a welcoming smile stretches her plump lips.
“It’s time we had a sisterly talk,” I tell her, pushing past the half-open door. I stop as if I stepped on ice and gawk at Bryce lying on her bed.
I can’t tell if they were doing anything. Outside of class, Bryce is lax with his anal-retentive grooming. His shirttail is out, and the hems on his jeans are frayed. His shoes are thrown on the floor by his socks. Bryce sits up slowly, watching me the same way a cat watches a person it doesn’t trust.
I face Charlotte. “Where’s Terri?” I ask her.
Charlotte laughs her phony laugh—a deflection when she doesn’t want to deal with an awkward situation. Charlotte doesn’t answer and sits at her desk, so I keep talking.
“What’s he doing here?” I point at Bryce and wait for an explanation.
“You have to excuse my sister. She doesn’t understand that boys and girls can just be friends.”
“He looks comfortable in your bed.”
Charlotte breaks our gaze, looking at her desk. She picks up her phone, swiping her finger across the screen, and holds it up to me. It’s a picture of her and Terri taken somewhere off-campus. Charlotte clutches onto his arm, but Terri, in a navy suit, stands solemnly as if he’s about to announce some tragic news.
“We went to Boston for the weekend to my…our cousin’s home in Brookline. You’d like Jessica. She’s finishing up her masters at B.U.” Charlotte stretches her arm out until I have to take her phone.
“He looks miserable,” I reply.
Charlotte shoots a nasty look at Bryce when he laughs. He gets up from her bed and stands next to me, too close, as if he’s actually interested in her photo. Bryce swipes his finger on the screen, and more shots appear of Charlotte beaming at the camera while Terri looks shell-shocked. One of the photos makes me cringe as Terri is caught yawning before he can cover his wide-open mouth.
“He looks like an undertaker, Charlotte.” Bryce casually drapes his arm over my shoulder. “Are you sure you were at a party?”
My body stiffens, and Charlotte stares hatefully at us. I step forward, handing her phone back to her. Bryce’s arm drops off me. I turn and lean against her desk, so he can’t stand next to me. Bryce has no right to touch me in any way unless I say so. That’s my first rule—none of them can touch me unless I want them to.
Charlotte smiles painfully at the picture on the phone. “The more time he spends with new people, the more he warms up.”
“Have you slept with him yet?” Bryce smirks. “I bet he can’t last a minute even with that monster cock.”
Charlotte levels an icy gaze on him. “He beats you by thirty seconds.”
My jaw almost drops, but I pretend to cough instead. I’m pretty sure Charlotte is a virgin but maybe not. The first night we hung out together after curfew, she wasn’t dressed in flowing white. Her skirt was tight, and her leather jacket was red.
“Are you leaving soon?” I ask Bryce without kindness. “I want to talk to my sister.”
Bryce looks down his nose at me. “We have to talk, Astrid. It’s overdue.” Charlotte can get away with a rude remark, but he’s not letting me slide so easily.
My body loses heat as I stare at him. Of course, he wants to talk about the Pit. I knew I wasn’t getting away with that stunt, but what can I say to him? You pissed me off, you screwed my friends, and payback is a bitch? I should never have taken him first. Bryce acts as if I’m his pet that needs discipline.
“Charlotte and I have to talk first.” My voice is cold, but his eyes are colder.
Bryce walks over to the bed and lies down again. He has no intention of walking out the door. Fine. Let him listen to our business; he knows it anyway.
