I stop and turn around to shout in his face, “Because she would kill me. And unlike you, I don’t have a death wish.”
He raises his brow. “Why would she ever kill you?”
“Because we’re her playthings now. She’ll do whatever she wants, when she wants, and if I take away any of her fun, she’ll end it all,” I hiss, hoping no one else hears this awkward convo as we head toward the gates of Spine Ridge University.
“Nonsense.”
“Whatever you say, pretty boy,” I growl as I keep on walking.
“You’re just mad you’re that beauty’s boy toy now, and you wanna take it out on me.”
“Go write about it in your little book,” I retort.
“Ouch. No need to hurt the poet, Xavier.”
“You haven’t been hurt enough.”
“Don’t worry, boy toy, I’ll keep your filthy little secret … for her sake.”
I throw him a maddening look. “Stop calling me that.”
He smirks. “Why? It suits you just as well as pretty boy suits me.”
I snort. “You’re dumb as fuck if you think that was meant as a compliment.”
“I know, but I choose to ignore your blatant taunts and focus on the positive side. Keeps me from languishing.”
He’s insufferable. “Why are you still following me?”
He lifts his gaze high in a snooty manner. “I’m not. We just happen to be walking in the same direction.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I don’t know what she sees in you.”
“Likewise. Though I reckon things will be much easier for both of us if you’d just give in.”
I ignore him and storm out the gates to head down the long-winded road with a rock wall on one side and a sprawling forest on the other. We’re not the only students walking downthe mountain on foot as curiosity takes hold. Everyone wants to know exactly what the police found, and the lower we get, the more the crowd begins to gather.
Police cars are blocking people from driving up and down the road, but they can’t stop students from approaching the area through the forest, so I sneak off the road and into the woods, with Orion tailing right behind me.
Near the clearing, a bunch of vans and equipment are setting up. People walk about with cameras, taking measurements and collecting evidence, while the body Sunny left in the chair remains clearly visible in the light of day.
I swallow away the lump in my throat as I peek beyond the trees. Orion approaches from behind.
“Shhh,” I hiss as his foot snaps a twig. “Stop making so much noise. They’re gonna spot us.”
“You really think they care about a bunch of snooping students while they have a body on their hands?”
I peer through the foliage and push some branches aside to get a better view, but another student accidentally trips on a rock, and the cops glare in our direction.
Shit.
Atreus
In the middleof an ongoing investigation, several of my men stop to stare at the woods beyond, and I follow their gaze, only to be thoroughly disappointed.
Of course, those devils at the Spine Ridge University would find a way to meddle in affairs they have no stake in just to see who got hurt. Bunch of vultures.
“Get out, show’s over,” one of my men yells.
