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“That’s not your call,” Kai growls, glaring at me.
“It’s exactly my call. This ismylife.Mystalker. I appreciate that Hadley was trying to help by getting you involved and bringing me here, but she’s only put all of you at risk. Our best chance is if I sneak out without being seen tonight. In a couple of days, he’ll discover I’m no longer here, and hopefully when he realizes none of you know where I am, he will leave you alone.”
“And what about you?” I can tell Kai is only indulging me. He has no intention of letting me simply disappear into the night.
“I have some spare cash,” I say, shrugging a shoulder and totally making this up on the fly. “And I’m sure you know how to get a fake ID? I could travel under an alias.”
“And what happens when this psycho catches up to you, and you have no one around to protect you?”
Scowling, I snap, “The point is that hewon’tcatch me. I just have to stay low, keep my head down.” Even as I say it, I know it’s far-fetched, and honestly, the thought of going out there on my own and facing this stalker by myself should he find me is absolutely terrifying. It’s not what I want to do, but I know I can’t continue to stay here and endanger any of them.
A scoff behind me has me whirling around to glare at Wilder. Of course, he has something to say now. He’s been far too quiet. “I doubt you’ll get very far.”
“Well, thank goodness I don’t give a crap what you think.”
Rolling his eyes at my attitude, he holds up a photograph for me to look at. It’s a different one than the last one he showed me. In this one, Wilder is at a party on campus. I grit my teeth as I glare daggers at the girl curled up against his chest, his arm slung over her shoulder as he dangles a beer between his fingers.
“You at a party. Wow. What a surprise.” My voice drips with sarcasm, earning me a hard stare from him.
“This party was two weeks ago.” He waits until his words sink in. “Only a couple of nights after you arrived here.”
“Are you sure?” Kai barks, moving to snatch the photo from Wilder’s outstretched hand.
“Yup.” He pops the “p,” displaying as much attitude as I did a second ago. Leveling me with a deliberately blank expression, he says, “I remember because I intentionally went out with the aim of forgetting all about you.”
Kai whirls on him. “Yeah, and in the process, you could have talked about Emilia to anyone, and you’d have been too drunk to even remember.”
It only lasts a second, but I catch it when Wilder’s carefully placed mask slips, and the reality of what he may have done hits him. By the time Hawk speaks in his defense, he’s already concealed the little blip of emotion he let spill.
“He didn’t. I’m not in that photo, but I was there that night, keeping an eye on him.”
“And what about all the other nights when you were here, and he was alone on campus?” Kai continues to berate. “Did you go to any parties alone where you got drunk? Or talk to any of your frat buddies?”
“No,” Wilder growls, glaring furiously at Kai. “I wouldn’t have done that.”
Stepping up to him until the two of them are chest to chest, Kai delivers his final blow, “But you can’t be certain. You don’t know for sure that you never mentioned her, and therein lies the problem.”
Wilder shoves Kai in the chest, pushing him back a step. “What problem? What the hell does it matter how he found her? He knows she’s here, so what the fuck are we going to do about it?”
“Youaren’t going to do anything. Why don’t you go back to pretending she doesn’t exist and let me and Hawk handle the situation.” Kai shakes his head in disappointment. “The less you know, the better.”
“Fuck that shit!” Wilder yells, but before he can continue, Kai once again steps up to him. They’re both the same height, but Kai straightens his spine, giving him an extra half an inch.
“What? You suddenly give a shit? Or are you just trying to protect your own ass?”
Wilder snarls, but before things can escalate, I place a hand on both of their arms. “Stop.” Neither one of them looks at me or acknowledges my presence. “Please, stop. There’s enough to deal with without you two at each other’s throats.”
“Emilia’s right,” Hawk states, backing me up. “Wilder, you’re either in or out, but if you’re in, there are no more parties or getting drunk or hiding out at the frat house.”
“Like hell, I’m going to let myself get wasted when there’s some vindictive psycho on the loose who wants to scratch my eyes out.” Wilder tries to make light of the situation, but when both Hawk and Kai continue to stare at him, waiting for a serious response, he sighs and rolls his eyes, his shoulders dropping as he lets go of some of the tension. “Fine, I’m in.”
Stepping back, Kai nods in acknowledgment before pinning me with a grave stare. “And you’re not fucking going anywhere either.”
Chapter20
EMILIA
The rest of the day is spent in heated arguments. The only thing everyone seems to be able to agree on is that things need to change, but with every idea suggested, someone points out a fatal flaw that sends us back to the drawing board.
