She’s putting on a brave face, she’s still threatening us and flirting, but it’s so different from before.
It’s different even from when she’d told me about the scholarship and when she’d goaded me into fucking Blaze’s face.
She’s…
Fragile.
Not like one of Blaze’s dahlias, which would wilt beneath a touch, but like an explosive, capable of taking everything in the vicinity down with her.
“She gets like that sometimes,” River says. “And can you blame her? After everything she’s been through this past month alone, is it any wonder she’s depressed?”
“Gets like what?” Blaze asks. “Do we have to worry about more than random decapitations?”
“I think Zayden was her first,” River says, and the fact that he doesn’t sound certain is telling. “But now that she’s been let off the leash, there’s no telling what she’s willing to do to get back at the people making her feel this way.”
I set my beer aside. “I don’t think telling her the truth about Rachel is going to make her feel ‘better,’” I say. “So what the hell do we do?”
And why do I care?
“Help her?” Blaze suggests. He shrugs at my glare. “What? She wants revenge for what happened to Rachel. That seems like the fastest way to get her out of that funk. If I had access to all the files, I might be able to figure out who Zayden delivered her to.”
“There’s also Samantha,” River says.
“Who’s Samantha?” I ask.
“Her roommate, who went missing.” River grimaces. “She’s pretty sure Samantha’s already dead, but she was so disinterested about it.”
That doesn’t sound like Pandora at all. The Pandora I know is strong, fierce, savage — and completely unwilling to accept anything like that.
River must catch the look on my face because he nods. “Yeah. That’s what I thought, too. Zayden apparently took her somewhere, but she didn’t know where.”
Blaze starts laughing. “So she killed her best lead? Good job, Pandora.”
“It’s not funny,” I snap at Blaze. “That means she’s going to go rogue the second she gets any useful information, and we won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.” I pause, then ask, “What are the chances the roommate is still alive?”
I’m not sure I like the odds.
“I told you, they don’t usually get killed!” Blaze hisses. “If Zayden went through the proper channels, she’ll be either at a… well, we call them warehouses. Or there was a specific buyer in mind.”
Blaze doesn’t react when both River and I glare at him.
“That’s one of the perks of joining Kappa Alpha,” Blaze says. “Connections. Power. Anything you desire. You just have to show loyalty and open doors for your fellow brothers.” The smile he turns on me is nasty. “I would have made sure you got everything you ever wanted too, Asch. Whether you stayed here or transferred out.”
I don’t know what to say to that.
“And if he wanted a woman?” River asks in my stead. “Would you just have delivered one to his doorstep?”
“Why not?” Blaze props his legs up onto the coffee table. “But that’s a moot point. I’m not delivering Pandora to anyone. And I know she’s the only woman Asch wants now.”
“I don’t want a random woman,” I agree. “And I’d never want Pandora against?—”
Against her will.
Can I even say that? Do I have the right to say that after what I participated in? I hadn’t fucked her, but does that really make a difference?
I make a frustrated sound. The supposed perks of Kappa Alpha don’t matter now.
“If you find out who the buyer was, can we get her back? Or is she gone forever?” I ask.
