Page 64 of The Unravelings

My ears ring.

“Excuse me?” I yelp, mostly to myself.

Wilder stiffens beside me.

My gaze snaps to the professor as he stands tall, eyeing the three of us closely with a menacing smirk lining his lips.

This has to be a test. He’s doing this on purpose to torture us. Torture me. I want to protest and beg for different partners, and I’m about to, but I’m cut off.

“Excuse me, sir. I don’t think…” Mack is cut off when the teacher growls and glares at him.

“Those are your partners, Mr. Owens. There’s no one else to pair you with. Now, shoo.” The professor waves a hand. “Your partners are not exchangeable! You are not allowed to switch on your own. If you do, your grades will automatically be zero, and you’ll fail the semester and have to see me again next year for the credit.”

“It’s their blood on your hands. I’ll let Franco know about this,” Mack grunts unhappily.

The professor snorts. “By all means, tell your gangster father about your newest class project. See if I care.” He shrugs nonchalantly, not looking the least bit perturbed by Mack’s scowl and huff. “It’s for school. You can manage not to murder your partners for a few weeks, right?”

Mack huffs again, leaning down to grab his stuff. A dark cloud passes over his features when he sets his sights on us and bares his gritted teeth.

Yeah, Daddy Franco won’t be able to save you from this, asshole.

“Great. The biggest baby on the planet has to be my fucking partner,” Wilder grunts. “This should be fucking miserable.”

My stomach flips as I try to school my features into a blank expression. Don’t let them see you rattled. Mack settles in the chair beside me with a loud huff, slamming all his belongings on the desk in front of him, and making a damn scene. Such a drama king, I swear.

“Isn’t this fucking cozy?” Mack quips, leaning forward to stare between Wilder and me. “How’s this for a good fucking time?” Mack rolls his eyes.

“Just do the fucking project, Macklyn, and quit your bitching,” Wilder grumbles, leaning forward. “The quicker we get this over with, the quicker I don’t have to look at your stupid fucking face anymore.”

The teacher eyes the silent class with a gleam in his eyes before saying, “Good! Now that you’ve all moved, this project will require after-class meetings. The library has private study booths available. The quad is available. Your bedrooms are available. Work together. You’re all paired together for a reason. Different majors offer different insights into the cases you’re trying to solve. Get a good grade. But work together. Got it?”

Oh, he enjoys the power he has over us.

“Wonderful. The remainder of the class will be for coordinating your schedules and collecting phone numbers. And looking over case files in your folders.”

With that, he comes to each group and hands out folders. Some are thin, but others are thick with evidence.

Mack grits his teeth when our folder lands on my desk with a thud. It’s so damn thick; there must be a million witness statements and pieces of evidence. I swear my mouth waters when I reach for it.

“You gonna come in your pants, Oli?” Mack quips, leaning back to look me over with a mocking glare.

My gaze whips to him. “Only in your dreams, asshole.”

A smirk pulls at the edge of his lips.

“Let’s just work together for fuck’s sake. No reason to make this difficult,” Wilder hisses. “We’re stuck doing this together. Might as well.”

“What?” Mack barks out. “I am not working with you two assholes. Give me the files. I actually need a good grade to graduate and then move on to med school.” He reaches for the papers, but I pull them away with a scowl.

“Fuck no,” I retort, holding the file from his grasp. “Group project. This depends on all of us. Besides, I don’t fucking trust you not to fuck us over.” I raise my chin defiantly.

“Oh, yeah? How would I fuck you two over? I need the grade as much as you two idiots do. And seeing as I’m the smartest⁠—”

Wilder scoffs. “Yeah. You think you’re so damn smart because you’re going to be a doctor, but you’re a goddamn idiot. You always have been.”

Tension flares between the two of them, and I’m stuck in the fucking middle of their bloody brother battle.

Big guy in the sky, why do you hate me so much? It had to be him? And Wilder? This is going to be a bloodbath by the fucking time we’re done.