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The smell of the delicious goodness had my mouth salivating despite the small speckles of nausea still lingering around in my gut. Overall, I felt better, a lot better than I did when I’d first woken up. That drink Brian made me worked wonders.
I approached the line first, grabbing a small bowl of broccoli-cheddar soup and some saltine crackers, deciding it would be better for me to start off with something light. If I didn’t get sick, I’d go back for more later. I waited for Sky to finish loading her tray and then together we stalked over to where Brian was sitting.
Sky I trusted, but a part of me couldn’t help but feel disconcerted over her boy toy knowing about the little snippet from my past, or anything personal about me for that matter. I only just met the guy last night. Heseemedlike a decent guy, and I could plainly tell he was crazy about Sky. He did help me out, and yes, I was grateful for it, but one good deed didn’t establish any level of trust with me. I wanted to express my concerns to Sky about it, but the thought of offending her after what she and Brian did for me last night made me reel it back. Sky was really my only friend here and my paranoia wasn’t worth possibly damaging our friendship.
“Hey, you guys made it,” Brian said, popping a kiss on the side of Sky’s head. To me, he said, “You feeling any better?”
“Much. Thanks.”
“Oh, what’s that you’re reading?” Sky leaned over to inspect Brian’s phone, a gasp fleeing her. “Oh my god! Another one?”
“Yeah. Third one in just a matter of days. I’ve been keeping track of the news to see if they’ve narrowed down any leads, but so far there’s nothing.”
I had no idea what the hell they were talking about, nor did I really care, so I continued to crunch up my saltines and drop them in my soup. The spoon barely made it to my mouth before Sky turned to me and said, “Samara, have you heard about this?”
Sighing, I dropped my spoon in the bowl. “Heard about what?”
“Three teenagers around our age went missing recently.”
“Sorry, but no. I don’t really keep up with the news like that.”
I finally took my first bite of soup, my eyes rolling back at the heavenly taste. Oh yeah. I was definitely going back for seconds. Fuck, maybe thirds if my stomach cooperated.
“It has to be the gangs, right?” Sky asked, her worried eyes darting between me and Brian. “I mean, I know it’s not uncommon for kids to turn up missing, but with the Valley’s reputation, what else could it be?”
“I think you’re right,” her boyfriend agreed.
“And I think you two are blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. It’s like Sky said, teenagers turn up missing all the time. Nine times out of ten they ran off with a boyfriend or a girlfriend.”
“I really don’t think that’s the case here,” Brian replied. “All three victims are girls who disappeared within barely a day or two from each other, with zero witnesses or any proof to validate what happened to them. It’s like they’d somehow vanished without a trace.”
“Except for the most recent girl,” Sky rushed to add. From the corner of my eye, I saw her eyes skimming down an article on Brian’s phone. “She disappeared from Crenshaw High. They found her purse and all its contents scattered by her car in the school parking lot. Her phone too.”
I coughed, her words making me damn near choke to death on my soup.
“Jesus, Samara, are you okay?”
No. I most definitely wasnotokay. Crenshaw High was the school I’d attended before all that horrible shit went down and I’d gotten shot. It was a little over thirty minutes away from the academy, closer to the downtown side of the Valley. And ironically enough, it just so happened to fall right inside Outlaw territory.
Damien’s fucking territory.
“Fine,” I heaved through a painful, fumbled breath. “Just swallowed wrong is all. I-uh, think I’m gonna grab some more soup to take back to the dorm and maybe take a nap.”
Sky stared up at me as I got to my feet, frowning. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m still feeling a little queasy and I’d rather not risk puking all over the place while people are in here trying to eat. Catch you later?”
“Of course. Get some rest. You know how to reach me if you need me.”
Chapter 18
Samara
Rushingbacktomyroom to play detective was the last fucking thing I should be doing right now. My brain kept screaming at me to let it go, that I had way more important shit to worry about other than some missing teenagers. But I couldn’t, or it was more like my heart refused. One missing girl wasn’t that big of a red flag. Two was just a simple coincidence. But three missing teenage girls? That indicates a pattern. And knowing that one of them had up and vanished at my old high school—in Outlaw territory for that matter—I couldn’t help but wonder about the other two girls and their last known whereabouts before they’d been taken.
It would’ve been better for me to ask Sky and Brian about it. Hell, that’s what I should’ve done, seeing as how they were more familiar with the topic than I was. Knowing me though, it was unlikely that I’d react coolly if the answers turned out to be ones I wouldn’t like hearing. I damn sure didn’t need those two questioning me if I ended up losing control. As unfortunate as it was, this was something I had no choice but to uncover on my own.
I made it to my dorm, quickly placing the giant bowls of to-go soup on the floor long enough for me to fetch the spare key Sky had given me from out my back pocket. After unlocking the door, I swiped up my food, kicked the door shut behind me, then rushed to deposit the soup on the kitchen counter before racing down my side of the dorm to my bedroom.
