Page 130 of Vexatious Queen

Unknown: Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,

You froze when friends were in the thick.

Glass like rain, the room went red,

The fight fell quiet under dread.

Hands went still, your courage thin,

I saw the fear crawl under your skin.

Jump now, Snowflake, don’t be slow,

I’m closer than you’ll ever know.

“What the fuck…”

I stomped over to the now-missing door and stared out into the night, scanning the darkness beyond the parking lot, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Nash?”

“Yeah, man?” He looked over, smiling.

“We got a problem.”

FEBRUARY 14 – SATURDAY 8:13 PM

Ren

Iwas so sick of this bullshit.

Before I was even born, there were people manipulating my life and terrorizing my family. Now, it seemed to be one person after the other who held a grudge or wanted to use me for their own gain. I really didn’t know what angle this texter was playing, but it didn’t matter. It boiled down to the same shit, different day.

“I still think it has to be Sabastian,” Blake said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

Setting my fork down, I stared at Blake.

“What would Sabastian have to gain from sending the text? And are we saying he is an accomplished stalker now?”

I was annoyed. But more with the situation than everyone tossing out likely suspects.

“He’s Christov’s son. He could be doing it for his father,” Blake argued.

“I know that none of you like Sabastian, but I’m telling you this is not him,” I said, shaking my head. “He is dealing with his own demons and what our parents did to us. He is not looking to torture me. And I’m pretty sure Christov hit Sabastian the other day, so I doubt he is following us around and sending weird texts for his dad.”

Nash handed me back my phone.

“But it does have to be someone from school. Who else would know the nicknames you have for me?”

“As much as I want to blame Sabastian for this one,” Nash said, putting his hand on my thigh. “I agree with Ren, it’s not him.”

Nash had been far too agreeable with me lately, and that was more unsettling than the text.

“And none of the guards outside saw anyone,” Theo asked.

Liam shook his head.

“They said no one else pulled in the parking lot, other than the Lost Souls, and the strip mall across the way had the wrong vantage point. Plus, Ren never walked outside.