19
ASCH
No matter how long I stare at the homework, the words don’t start making any sense.
This is easy stuff, basic fundamentals of economics, and there’s no reason I should be having so much trouble with it.
But I can’t focus, and the letters seem to swim together in front of my eyes.
I’ve just tapped over to my messaging app to see if I have anything new when I hear a firm, insistent knock on the front door.
Weird.
Blaze and River wouldn’t sound like that, and neither would Pandora.
So who’s there?
Sighing, I haul myself to my feet and head to the living room. I unlock and open the door, expecting some sort of door-to-door salesman.
“We aren’t int—” I stop abruptly when I recognize the man in front of me as the new head of the fraternity, Ezio. “Blaze isn’t here,” I tell him.
Ezio nods. “I know. I actually wanted to talk to you.”
I don’t have anything to say to him.
I eye him, but I take a step back to allow him to enter the house. I gesture to the couch. “Have a seat,” I tell him. I don’t bother asking if he wants a drink. I’m not prolonging this visit any more than necessary. I cross over to the armchair, perching on the edge of it. “What do you need, Ezio?”
Ezio doesn’t bother to sit down. “Frankly? I want to know where Zayden is. Blaze is being vague. I went to check out Zayden’s hotel room, but of course that’s been cleared out. His stuff that got recovered from the frat house has long since been dumped.” He fixes his eyes on me. “If you’ve got any idea where he might have gone, if you’recoveringfor him…”
“I have no idea,” I reply, fighting off the waves of unease. “Zayden hated me. He wouldn’t have told me shit before up and leaving.”
“But you’re close to Blaze. Did you overhear him talking with Blaze about anything?” Ezio crosses his arms. “This is a serious matter. Zayden’s father is an important family friend.”
“No,” I tell him. “Have you talked to Blaze? I’m sure he can tell you something.”
“Blaze says Zayden ran off and he has no idea where he went.” Ezio’s eyes bore into me. “Maybe you were more observant than Blaze. At this point, I’ll take any clue.”
“Sorry,” I say, “but I don’t know where he is. I don’t have any clues.” My heart is pounding, but I ignore my anxiety. I’m not technically lying. I don’t know where most of Zayden is.
I only know that he’s never coming back.
“Hmm.” Ezio gets closer to me. “You aren’t concerned about him? It’s been almost a month since he disappeared. That’s a long time for anyone to drop off the face of the earth. No texts, no social media posts, no ATM withdrawals… Disappearing is hard even for an adult. How did Zayden manage?”
“No, I’m not concerned,” I reply bluntly. “He and I weren’t friends. If he wanted to bail, he did a good job. I don’t know whatyou expect me to say, Ezio. If I knew anything, I’d tell you, but I don’t.”
Fuck.
There’s no way he’s going to believe me.
But what am I supposed to tell him? The truth?
I should. Pandora has ruined my life.
That doesn’t mean I can tell Ezio that she had something to do with his disappearance.
Ezio lets out a sigh. “Yeah. If you don’t know, you don’t know.” He holds up his phone. “Let me give you my number though, in case you do remember something. Zayden’s parents are getting worried.”
“It took them a month to ‘get’ worried?” I can’t stop myself from asking. “Wow. Guess they’re going for the parent of the year award.” I take my phone out, putting his number into my phone. “I’ll let you know if he shows up.”
