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“They’re still open for another hour or so,” she said, nodding in the direction of the dining hall. “I’m gonna duck in and get some hot chocolate or something. You wanna come?”
I hesitated. I didn’t really want to go with her. I was exhausted and feeling grimy from all the travel, and all I wanted was to take a hot shower and fall into bed. Besides, I knew Frank. If anyone she knew was in the dining hall, they’d end up talking and it would take forever to get her out of there. But at the same time, I’d promised Devan…
“This isn’t a hard question,” she said, raising a brow at me. “Coming or going?”
I could practically see the dorms from here. It wouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to get back. Devan was being ridiculous.
“Going,” I told her. “Thanks for the invite though.”
She nodded. “See you in the room then.”
I waved as we split up, and a second later she was out of sight. I picked up my pace again, blowing out a breath as the cold breeze leeched under my coat and made me shiver. What a strange and fucked-up day. Just an extension of this whole strange and fucked-up weekend, really, and I was over it. I wanted things to go back to the way they’d been—was that really only last week?—when I wasn’t jumping at shadows and wondering how on earth I happened to be involved in whatever the hell I seemed to be involved in. All I knew was I wanted a shower. Scalding hot, with scented shampoo, and then the softness of my bed.
I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even hear the footsteps coming toward me until they were practically on top of me. They stopped abruptly only steps away, and I glanced up in surprise only to find Drew standing there at the edge of the path. He was staring at me as if I were the one who had surprised him.
“S’cuse me,” I mumbled, moving to the side to step wide around him. I’d been doing a great job of avoiding him whenever possible and ignoring him when avoidance wasn’t possible, and he’d seemed content to let me do it. I didn’t think we’d spoken a single word to each other since his threat a couple of weeks earlier. I’d hoped we could keep it up til graduation, so I was surprised when he spoke to me.
“Camilla,” he said, his voice sounding a little hoarse.
I was almost past him, and I stiffened when he spoke, stopping and glancing up warily, but bracing myself to run if he tried anything.
“What happened to your arm?” he asked. There was an odd note in his voice, something I couldn’t quite identify, and I looked at him directly, but we weren’t under a lamppost and his face in the semi-darkness gave nothing away.
“I fell off a ladder at my aunt’s house over break,” I told him, figuring I should stick with one story since it seemed I was likely to get this question a lot. I expected that to be the end of it, but if anything, his gaze sharpened. He didn’t speak though, just watched me with a disconcerting intensity that made my skin crawl.
After a minute he cleared his throat and said, “Oh yeah? Sorry to hear it. Where did you go over break, anyway?”
It was the strangest thing, like he was trying to be friendly, or ask normal questions, but it came off like some kind of creepy automaton pretending to be human. The urge rose in me to ask if he had a problem, antagonize him in some way, but I pushed it down. I’d learned that lesson.
“Chicago,” I told him. It seemed like the safer story. His gaze was locked on me, I could tell that much in the half-light of the path, and I saw his eye twitch. That was enough. My creep factor was on high alert.
“I’ve gotta go. Nora’s waiting for me,” I told him. I didn’t wait for an answer or even any acknowledgment that he’d heard me, I just spun and took off down the path at a fast walk. It took everything in me not to look over my shoulder. When I didn’t hear footsteps behind me I let out a long, relieved breath.
I did go back to the room, but only long enough to say hi to Nora and to grab a change of clothes and my books for the following day. It seemed my hot shower and exhausted sleep were going to have to wait a bit longer. Instead, I sent a text.
Camilla: Hey, are you guys still up? Can I come over?
The answer was almost immediate.
Devan: I’ll be waiting at the back door.
37
In fact, Devan wasn’t at the back door to his dorm, but Micah was, and he took my free hand in his as he snuck me into the building and up the stairs.
When we reached the suite, not only were all the guys still up, but they actually seemed to have been waiting for me. It was only then that I remembered Devan had said, “I’ll see you later,” when he’d left the auditorium, and I suddenly wondered if they had expected me to come back over when I was done rather than return to my own room. Huh. I’d have to ask, but I had a more pressing question first.
Micah took my coat and bag and I sank down to the floor between Devan and Garrett, who had books spread out like they’d been working on homework, but were now watching me warily as if they could sense the tension in my body.
I fastened my gaze on Garrett. He was wearing pajama pants but no shirt, and it took no small effort to keep my eyes trained on his face. Even then, the sight of smooth skin and rock hard abs filled my peripheral vision—not to mention it seemed Micah wasn’t the only one with tattoos—and I had to force myself to stay on task. I cleared my throat. “Is there any reason I should be concerned that Drew Zoellner is a threat to me?”
I caught Devan raising his eyebrows out of the corner of my eye and amended my statement. “Other than the obvious. I mean, I know he already explicitly threatened me, but that was to keep me from reporting him for abuse and violence. Is there any other reason I should be concerned about him?”
Garrett’s expression grew unreadable. “No, there shouldn’t be. Why? Did something happen?”
“There shouldn’t be?” I echoed. “That’s not the most convincing way you could have worded that.”
He glared. “Just answer the question. Did something happen?”
