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Ben chews on his lip, staring blankly ahead of him. “The Gallery, they saw something we didn’t. I mean think about it, this whole place is probably crawling with cameras and microphones. They probably heard or saw something, something too small for us to notice. Hell, there could be cameras in our fucking room.”
I scrub my chin in thought, and glance up at the corners of our dorm, trying to spot cameras or microphones I didn’t see before. “Do you think Vaughn is banging Bianca?”
Ben puffs out a breath through his lips. “Not sure yet. Their interactions have been limited from our vantage point, but it’s obvious he is favoring her. That much we know for sure. It’s the reason why that escapes me.”
I push myself off the bed, taking up Ben’s place pacing the dorm. “We need answers. There are too many questions, Ben.”
Ben’s eyes light up and he pushes himself up to sit, looking almost hilarious in the small pajamas we’re forced to wear. “You know what that means… It’s time to explore.”
I nod once. “Mmhmm. Let’s learn what secrets Bitterwood has been keeping. Come on.”
Walking over to the door, I press my ear against it and just listen for a minute. It’s late, and I expect everyone to be asleep but you can never be too careful.
“Anything?” Ben asks and I shake my head.
“Nothing. Let’s go.” With my fingers wrapped around the door’s handle, I half expect it to be locked as I turn it, but it opens with a click. I sneak it open ever so slightly and look around through the small crack. Seeing nothing but an empty hall and closed doors, I pull it open farther and stick my head out. “It’s empty.”
“Wait.” Ben grabs my shoulder, trying to haul me back into the room. “Doesn’t this seem…offto you?”
He’s right, but I’m not going to question it.
I want answers, fuck the consequences.
I step out on bare feet, trying to keep my movements quiet, when I hear footsteps of guards.
Ben sneaks out behind me and tugs me in the opposite direction towards the communal showers. Erotic sounds echo softly down the hallway and we glance at each other, quickening our steps. Pausing just outside the shower, still lingering in the shadows, we peek inside.
“Fuck me,” Ben whispers, eyes fixed on the two women fucking each other under a cascading shower. One is a student, her white blouse plastered to a set of perky boobs. Her back is pressed to the tile and her arms are cuffed over the shower head, stretching her body. On their knees in front of her is a female guard still in full gear, with her face hidden under the student’s skirt, one of the girl’s legs draped over her shoulder.
By the loud moans and gasps of pleasure, it’s clear someone was hungry for dinner. I have half a mind to join them, but Ben brings me back to my senses. “We need to keep moving.”
“Right.” Forcing myself to abandon the bathroom, Ben and I step carefully down the hallway. He turns sharply, seeming to have a destination in sight. “Where are we going?”
Ben presses his back to the wall and peers carefully around a corner before moving down a flight of stairs. “Back to Windsor’s office.”
I jog after him, confused. “Why go where we’ve already been?”
“For two reasons,” he whispers. “First, because we have already been there, meaning we know how to get to and from it quickly. Secondly, we might have been inside but it’s not like we had an opportunity to search it. If Windsor is hiding a sex torture chamber in his office, can you imagine what else we might find?”
“Good point. This is why you’re the brains.”
Ben turns to look at me, a seriousness in his eyes. “I’m the brawn, too, Cash. Remember that.”
Before I can reply, he moves off the wall, scurrying down the familiar hallway of closed, wooden doors. He stops before one, pressing his ear against it. “I think this is it.”
I glance behind us to make sure we’ve not been followed and keep my voice low. “How can you tell?”
Ben points to the floor. “Blood stains. Probably from Remington.”
Remington's blood gives me pause, and I start searching the halls. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this. There are cameras everywhere, remember?”
But Ben won’t be discouraged. “You’ve got questions, and the answers are inside. Fuck the consequences.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Ben?” I joke, but inside I’m concerned. Not because Ben is wholesome deep down, but he’s always been a better man than me, and I don’t want that to change.
Ben depresses the handle and grins, finding the door unlocked. “I’ve always been good at adapting to the situation I’m in. This is no different. Here, there’s no time to be soft, to be considerate of others, or the ramifications of our decisions. Here, there is only time to act, and quickly at that. If not, we might pay the price with our lives during the next game.”
With that, he pushes open the door. I supposed I should be more suspicious—this is much too easy to be unplanned. The dead eyes watching from dozens of decapitated animal heads are oppressive. As much of an asshole as I am, I still think hunting for sport like this has no purpose. You want to hunt for food—fine, eat your kill—but to slay something as regal as an elephant just to mount its head on your wall, and you’ve reached a level of depravity I’ve not even begun to understand.
