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I back up another step, moving closer to the four boys watching. “What you didn’t realize, Cohen, is that I’ve always had a target on my back. You just couldn’t see it before.”
I spin on my heel and stride back to the assholes that put the target there in the first place, away from someone who I thought had my back. If for no other reason than that, it’s his job. Hardin folds me into a hug as soon as I reach them, holding me close. “Fuck him, love. He doesn’t have to understand.”
I allow myself to sink into his embrace for a moment. Only a moment though, before I’m pulling away from him, smoothing my hair back and then carefully putting distance between all of us.
I may be working to forgive them, I may be willing to overlook some things. But Cohen is right. Public opinion is going to be that the reason they’ve suddenly stood up and claimed me as theirs, as being protected by them, is going to be that I’m sleeping with all of them. The reputation I garnered in the last six months of a slut through their machinations is going to be solidified.
Is this all just some elaborate prank? Not the witchcraft, I’m not foolish enough to think that they’re faking that, but is this still a way to destroy me? What if Fielder’s dad changed his mind, and he didn’t want me to just leave SSU, but that he wanted me to be obliterated? My reputation in tatters? My life ruined? What if the plan now is to break me into such tiny pieces that I’ll never be able to to put myself together, that I’ll never be able to have the life that I want?
They proved once that they will do horrible things to get me out of school. Is it such a stretch that they would befriend me, make me want them, make mecravethem, trust them, in order to pull the rug out from under me later?
No. No, it’s not.
They are ruthless.
I shake my head again. “I don’t think I can do this.”
Gideon’s head snaps in the direction that I know Cohen is still standing. “I’m going to kill him.”
I’m still backing away from them, trying to put more space between us. “I don’t think I can trust you,” I mutter. Gideon looks back at me. They’re all looking at me. All of them have varying degrees of hurt and resignation on their faces.
Ezra reaches out, his fingertips brushing against the sleeve of my sweater. “What can we do?”
I shake my head again. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do, Ezra. No matter what you do, I’m going to have this thought in the back of my head that you have an ulterior motive, that it is all some elaborate ploy in order to destroy me later.”
They don’t say anything. Which is probably a good thing, because anything they do say will feel like a lie to me right now. I’m far enough away from them now that I can flee from them without fear of them grabbing me. They know it too. “I’m going to go grab something from the cafeteria,” I mutter. “I’ll see you later.”
I hurry away from them, feeling their gazes on me as I go. I can’t help but glance back at them one last time. Ezra, Hardin and Gideon are watching me, but Fielder is looking at Cohen, a crease between his brows, like the security guard is a puzzle he can’t work out.
Cohen just landed himself on the Consequences shit list. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before he’s fired and off the island. As I hurry toward Putnam, I wonder briefly if that should make me feel sorry for him, but then I think of how quick he was to call me a whore, and I find I can’t bring myself to be.
Ten
Monday morning I awake with that same feeling of excitement and anticipation that I had on my first day here at Seven Stars. But this time there’s a lot of trepidation filtered in, too. More than the first day at a new school jitters I’d had before.
No, now everyone knows who I am, and they’ve all formed negative opinions on me. And they aren’t afraid to share them.
“Should we wait for the guys?” Merritt asks anxiously as we step into the hall. I snort out a laugh in response.
I haven’t told Merritt what happened yesterday. Not about how I now doubted everything. I know she would just try to make me feel better about the situation. I know she would have my back, but I can’t help but feel that on some level, she’s more loyal to the coven than me.
I can’t even blame her for that. But I don’t want to lose the one friend I have here, so I kept my mouth closed when I crept in from the library late last night and found her and Ben canoodling on the couch.
I just tossed them a wave and disappeared into my filming room to storyboard ideas for upcoming videos.
Now, I shake my head. “Nah, I’m going to have to navigate Seven Stars without them at some point.” I start for the elevator. “We’ll be fine. They’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.” I link my arm through hers as the elevator doors open. “I’m starving. After your nocturnal activities, you must be, too.”
Merritt blushes and looks at me out of the side of her eye. “You know Ben and I haven’t actually… We haven’t gone all the way.”
“Really? I heard Ben sneaking out this morning.” The elevator begins its descent and I lean against the wall, eying her.
She shakes her head. “He fell asleep on the couch. Looked so damn peaceful I didn’t want to wake him.”
I hum in my throat as the conveyance slows. “Must be nice to have your boyfriend so close, though.”
We step into the first-floor hall. “Yeah, this whole living in the boys’ dorm is definitely…”
She trails off, her eyes taking in the hall before us. All the boys on the first floor are leaning against their doors, eyes focused on us. They don’t say anything, just stare at us. I shift uncomfortably, and Merritt tucks her chin into her chest like she’s trying to hide.
