Anyway, are any of them without sin? They all joined the Kappa Assholes knowing it would give them free pussy, and if anyone had any issue with Declan raping Carly, they hadn’t shown it.
I use my phone to look up Peyton’s socials, and I’m not surprised to see that he’s friends with Keegan. Unlike the other frat douches though, the rest of his account is locked down.
Really? He doesn’t want strangers spying on his private life?
I huff and go over to Keegan’s account. He hasn’t posted in a while—shocker—but as I scroll, I find pics of him with Peyton, and a woman who looks a lot like Peyton.
Wait. Is Keegan dating Peyton’s sister?
Who in their right mind lets one of these frat douchebags date their sister? Peyton, that’s just not cool.
I’m still scrolling when somebody walks up to my spot on the bench. I glance up and smile when I see that it’s River.
“Hey!” I say, getting up. “You finished your exam?”
“Yeah. It was easier than I thought it’d be,” he says, wrappingan arm around me and pulling me close so he can kiss me. “How’d biochem go?”
I shrug. “Fine? I didn’t feel like chopping off Professor Richter’s fingers when I was done, so that means I’ll probably pass.”
“I think it’s frowned upon to chop off your professor’s fingers anyway, so that’s probably a good thing,” River says dryly. “You want to come hang out for a little while? Blaze and Asch should be done with their exams too.”
“Sure!” I snuggle closer to him. “It’s so cold, you need to warm me up!”
He wraps an arm around me. “Then let’s head out,” he says. “My car will be freezing, but the house is warm. Too warm, honestly. I don’t know why Blaze keeps it like a?—”
He stops talking, his body going tense.
Sauna, I think he was going to say.
“Anyway,” he says before I can comment, “let’s get out of here.”
I take his hand and follow him to his car. We wait while it warms up.
My eyes keep being drawn to his missing finger. My charm is in my jeans pocket, but I can’t reach it under my coat.
The finger is dripping blood again.
He should get that bandaged.
I blink a few times to shake the image away. Shit.
If I go home with him now, will I accidentally cut off another finger? Not that I cut off the first one. Really, that was barely even my fault.
“We deserve new stuff,” I say out of the blue.
“New stuff?” River repeats. “What kind of new stuff?”
“Stuff! Retail therapy! We survived our exams, it’s almost Christmas. Oh, hell, I haven’t even bought presents for anyone. I haven’t even thought about presents!” I’m glad I remembered now, and not three days before Christmas. I reach out to rub River’s hand. “Yep, that’s what we need to do. If I don’t have presents for everybody, somebodywill cry. Probably Papa.”
“Your Papa is not going to cry,” River says, rolling his eyes. “I don’t think he’s even capable of crying.” He backs out of his parking spot. “So, to Harmony? It’s going to be crowded with everyone who has the same idea as you, you know.”
“It’ll be less crowded than in New Bristol,” I point out. “And Papa does cry! Like the time?—”
I cut myself off. No, I shouldn’t tell River about that time.
I’d been really young when I’d seen him cry, but that moment never left me. After Mel had been born, and Mama couldn’t leave her bed for months. I’d snuck into her room, hoping to sleep next to her, but Papa was already there, crying silently.
I’d left before he noticed me.
