Frat guys.
Tate is in one corner, lifting weights. My hand grips the strap of my backpack tightly.
I have ideas on how to punish him, but that’ll have to wait until after I’m done with River.
River is attacking the punching bag. The sweat glistens on his bare arms, and he’s so, so hot like that. It’ll be good to see him even sweatier later.
Nobody pays much attention to me as I walk closer to River. I sit down on the same bench with his gym bag—and his water bottle, sitting right there with its little sippy straw because boxers are basically babies.
Okay, because they’re not supposed to drink too much at once and throw it all up after one good punch to the gut.
But still.
I pick up the water bottle, uncap it, and quickly dump the powder I brought along inside. I close it again and swirl it all around before setting the bottle back where it had been.
Then I get up and leave.
Like Uncle Slayer taught me, people really don’t pay attention to you if you act like you belong. I leave the training room, satisfied with myself.
I nearly bump into somebody.
“Oops, sorry,” the guy says. He’s tall and muscular, with bleached hair and a wolf tattoo on his throat. He furrows his brow when he sees me. “Pandora?”
My smile freezes in place. “Yeah. Um, Fenrir… Winters?”
He’s the son of another organized crime leader in New Bristol. I’m sure I met him a few times at parties or events. He’s the cousin Anastasia was going to see while she was here.
“Yeah.” He stares at me. “Thanks for putting Stasya up. My place would have been too cramped for her.” He glances past me. “Were you looking for River?”
“No,” I say immediately. “I mean, I wasavoidingRiver. Bad luck that he’s in there. Don’t tell him I was here, okay? I’ll do my lifting some other time.”
Shit. Fenrir had better not ruin everything.
Fenrir folds his arms over himself. “Avoiding him? Why?”
“Why?” I repeat, confused. Shouldn’t that have been enough? Everybody already knows. “Because of… the things.”
“The things?” Fenrir sighs and shakes his head. “This is some Chaos crap, isn’t it? I fucking hate those douchebags. River’s too good for them.”
Is he? Is he really too good for them?
He played along. Blaze said jump; River didn’t even bother to ask how high.
“Yeah. Chaos crap.” I step around him. “Anyway. Maybe I’ll see you around.” I jog away, down toward the locker rooms.
I duck into the women’s locker rooms and sit down on a bench, breathing heavily.
Okay. That wasn’t a complete disaster.
It’s good to know that not everybody on campus is a complete gossip. Anastasia must not have told him about all the shit we found on the devices either.
I dig my nails into my arms. The sweater prevents me from actually scratching myself.
Fenrir might mess up my plans, though. River was supposed to walk to his car on his own. He’d have been easy prey that way. If Fenrir keeps River occupied, the drug might hit his system too soon, or too late, or… crap.
I pull out my phone.
Pandora
