Page 502 of Lessons in Cruelty

I cross my arms over my chest, not just to cover up my stiff nipples—I got a serious jump scare—but also in case he thinks I’m giving him any positive signals.

“Haven.”

“Frat bro,” I reply, just as matter-of-factly.

“Girls aren’t allowed up here.”

I snort-laugh. “What are you, five?”

When I try to push past him, he either doesn’t realize that he’s filling up just enough of the doorway to block me, or he purposefully doesn’t make way.

“Does Kai know you’re here?”

“Wh—of course, you...” I almost call him a name, but damn this guy is all kinds of freaky up close.

And what is that smell? Some kind of medicated antiperspirant? Who’d use that and not cover it up with cologne?

Only other explanation is that he works in a morgue. Nowhere near the corpses, of course, because he’d do things to them.

“Someone get hurt?” he says, eyes now glued to the first aid kit. There’s such an intense gleam in his eyes that the hackles on the back of my neck give him a standing ovation.

“You, if you don’t get out of my way,” I say, trying not to breathe through my nose, really not wanting to breathe through my mouth. Smelling is one thing, but tasting?

Fuck this. I’m outta here.

I twist, sidling past him and brushing up against way too much of his body. But at least I’m free.

Don’t know why, but I keep expecting him to grab me as I stagger down the hall, my injured foot propped up on its heel, arms pistoning for balance.

I shudder when I glance back over my shoulder and he’s still standing there, watching me.

Why did I leave Kai’s room wearing so little clothing? I tug at the hem of the jersey he gave me last night as I open his door and slip inside. I stand there for a few seconds, listening intently.

Like I could actually hear footsteps on that thick carpet.

Dropping the first aid kit on the corner of the bed, I give sleeping Kai a quick glare. Could he not have picked a less creepy guy to trail me? I did not need to be on that guy’s radar.

I want nothing more than to climb back into bed. It was warm and safe in there. Maybe I could even catch some more zzz’s before the alarm. But my stiff body is begging for movement, so I hobble around Kai’s room, trying to stretch out while avoiding stepping on my bandaged foot.

How the hell am I supposed to spend all day on my feet with an injury like this? The alternative, of course, is calling Milo hours before my first shift to tell him I can’t make it.

Not gonna happen.

I’ll just take the painkillers Melissa gave me for my cramps. One should be enough to take the edge off without tranquilizing me like it did the other day. Hopefully, it’s still on my nightstand—I can collect it when I go back to GAZ this morning to get dressed for my shift.

The view out Kai’s window is gorgeous. The top of the campus building peeks out between the trees, framed by the distant hills that border Agony Hollow.

But pretty soon I’m bored with the view, so I do another circuit of his spacious room.

His bookshelf catches my eye. It’s got a handful of sports medals and trophies on it. Some textbooks. A few non-fiction titles with douchey names like Zero to One, The Game, and Forty-Eight Laws of Power.

I purse my lips when I spot the Lucifer Effect he took from me that day in the library.

Hope you get a late fine, asshole.

But what makes me pause is the odd-thing-out.

More specifically, an envelope-shaped thing.