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“No. You came here to finish your high school education, graduate and begin your life. We all did. But there’s more to life than writing papers and maintaining your GPA, Voss. Don’t you want to have a littlefun?”She throws up her hands, laughing, and I can see it written all over her: she really believes what she’s saying. There’s really nothing wrong with this as far as she’s concerned.
“Sebastian knows I was here,” I say tiredly. “He saw me plenty of times. I’m going to fucking bed.”
She doesn’t try to stop me this time. As I turn and walk away, the crowd cheers, and I know why: Sebastian has Ash on her back, and he’s inside her.
6
SORRELL
I don’tlike it here. The air is too clean, the sky too grey. The clouds hang too low, hovering just above the tree line, blotting out the mountains on the other side of the lake. I stare at the view out of the window, resenting the sheer greenery of it all, missing the mayhem of Los Angeles, while at the same time not seeing any of it at all.
Theo, standing by that fire.
Those dark, impenetrable eyes.
For fuck’s sake, Voss. Get a grip of yourself.
I shake my head, erasing the images from last night’s party from my mind. I am sick, and twisted, and broken. I’ve never despised anyone as much as I despise Theo, but both times when I’ve been in his presence, something bizarre takes place inside my body. The way my stomach rolls. The way my palms feel clammy. Fuck, the way my heart starts beating out of my chest like a frantic kick drum. I can’t account for any of it. My reactions to him have nothing to do with how much I hate him. That’s not what I’m experiencing when I’m in his presence, and it feels so fuckingwrong.
I shouldn’t be thinking about Theo like that. The only time I should even allow him to enter my thoughts is while I’m plotting his demise, but…
The cruel tilt of his mouth when he stood there, smirking at me.
The way the muscles in his throat worked as he drank from that tequila bottle…
The pressure of his hand on my arm, when he stopped me from walking away…
The smell of him, flooding my senses—mint and bergamot. The faintest hint of leather…
Goddamnit.
Lord have mercy, I amsofucked up.
Shaking my head, I hold my cell to my ear, listening to the purr of the ringtone, chewing on the inside of my cheek. I’ve been dreading this call, but it has to be made. I’m supposed to check in with Ruth every night at eight, but there’s no way I can make it through an entire day with all of this shit playing on my mind. Theo told me to ask her about Henry. Though I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of doing exactly as he ordered me to, I also need to know what the hell is going on here and I need to knownow.
I came to Toussaint thinking that I held all of the cards, when the truth of the matter is that Ruth sent me into the lion’s den, unarmed and ill-prepared. If there’s any kind of connection between Theo and Ruth, then that is vital information that I have to know. If and when anything happens to him, I’m going to be the very first suspect on the police’s list if there’s absolutely anything at all in Theo’s past to connect him to Ruth.
The phone rings out.
I hang up and call again, and this time the line doesn’t even ring; it goes straight to voicemail.
Great. She’s screening my calls now.
What does that mean? Does she know I’ve spoken with Theo again, and that I’m pissed as hell about the mission she’s sent me on? She can’t know. And yet something niggles in the back of my head, eating away at me. She sounded so weird on the phone last night. Abrupt and angry, even for her. Setting the phone down on my nightstand, I pack my bag for the day, grabbing the books I’ll need for class.
‘Better hurry up, Voss,’Fake Rachel singsongs in my ear.“You’re gonna be late.”
“Iknow,” I bite back. “If I hadn’t been thinking about whatyouwould have told me to do last night, I would never have gone with those girls, and I wouldn’t even be tired right now.” I’m still stewing on thoughts of Ruth and Theo when I hurry out of my room… directly into the path of one of the girls from last night. Thank holy merciful fuck that it isn’t Mel. It’s the pretty blonde, Noelani. I didn’t pay too much attention to her last night, but she looks like an old friend I used to have back in Los Angeles. Sun-bleached hair. Bright blue eyes. Almond-shaped eyes. Freckles across the bridge of her nose. It’s uncanny, really. I find myself liking this girl, even though I know nothing about her. She smiles at me, giving me a friendly grin as I pull up short, stopping myself from running into her.
“Hey,” she says. “You too, huh?”
“Me too?”
“Slept through your alarm? I swear I snoozed it once, and here I am, three seconds away from getting a demerit.” Her tie-dye shirt is rumpled. Beneath her eyes, dark shadows lurk beneath poorly blended foundation. Now that I’m getting a closer look at her, she looks like she just rolled out of bed.
“I take it you stayed for the show last night?” I’m teasing her. At the same time, I’m also repulsed by the idea that she chose to stay and witness the display Sebastian and Ash put on.
She blinks at me a couple of times, as if she’s trying to figure out what the hell I’m talking about, but then her expression darkens. She studies me with a look I can only call curious. “Yeah. Right. Last night. The party. You left right before everything kicked off, didn’t you?” Her brow creases.
