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“No clue,” I lie, swinging my leg over the bench and getting to my feet, so I can have some privacy without Lev peering over my shoulder. “Be right back.”
There’s only one reason my dad would text me. It’s normal for my mom to check in from time to time because she’s that kind of mother, but my dad rarely reaches out.
Yesterday, he called to let me know a couple of men, who worked for the late governor, went missing in this vicinity and told me to keep an eye out for anything suspicious around campus. My first thought was Ridge, since he’s working an assignment on the governor’s death. I’m still not certain he had nothing to do with it, but the information I gather will aid me in finding out the truth.
Dad: Bodies found. Foul play suspected. Any word around campus?
I immediately text him back.
Me: Damn. That sucks. Haven’t heard anything. I’ll do a little digging of my own. Do they have any connection to The Blue Bloods?
Dad: No connection to The Society, aside from being employed by Sebastian Saint. There’s something suspicious about this case and we need to figure it out before law enforcement digs too deep into it.
He’s right. If a member of The Society had anything to do with this, we need to know who, and why. I don’t condone murder and don’t agree that members should get off scot-free, but I know when something like this happens, and it involves one of our members, there is almost always a reason. Even if it isn’t a justifiable one.
Me: Keep me updated.
Dad: Be safe, son.
My dad, who is an Elder in The Society, and also the superior of The Guardians, is adamant that I take over his role one day. I’ve always been highly intuitive with a keen sense of justice. However, my idea of justice is not the same as everyone else’s. Karma always spins the wheel. Just because someone doesn’t get caught, doesn’t mean they won’t pay. And sometimes, that's even worse.
I stick my phone in the pocket of my jacket and head back over to Lev. But he’s gone. My eyes skim the courtyard in search of him, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
Being the decent human being that I am, I gather up all the trash on the table and toss it in the bin beside the door before going back into the main building.
I’ve only got two more classes left today, and it just so happens that my next one is with Riley. It wasn’t until Ridge told me she, too, is a Guardian that I really took an interest in the girl and switched to this class three weeks into the semester. It’s not that I’m into her…much. But I do think it’s a good idea to keep her under my thumb when Ridge is thinking with his dick instead of his brain. We’ve got a lot to lose if he fucks this assignment up, and I’d also hate to see him expose the girl and ruin her life, too.
In some ways, Riley and I are alike. We’re both weaving our way through a new position, while trying not to disappoint The Guardians above us. Chances are, she doesn’t know I’m one of them, too. I shouldn’t even know she is. But now that I do, I constantly find my eyes wandering to hers.
Maybe it’s because my dad instilled it in my brain that I have to marry a Guardian one day. He’s adamant that our family maintains the bloodlines. All of my paternal ancestors are Guardians. It’s not a rule by any means; my dad is just stuck in the ways of the past.
Sometimes I wish I’d seen her first or had the option to take the assignment Ridge was given. Other times, I’m reminded of what she did. My father would never approve if he knew she was behind the governor's death. I'm also not sure I’d have been as generous as Ridge. Guardians have duties to uphold and unless I fall head over heels for Riley, the way Ridge has, I’m not sure I’d risk it all to protect her.
Nah. Riley’s not the girl for me, though. She’s on Ridge’s radar. Although, she is hot as fuck.
I shake away the thoughts as I enter my psychology class. I’m surprised when I don’t see Riley front and center. She’s usually here before I am. Wonder if she and her friend ditched the rest of their classes today. That would mean Ridge did, too. It’s not often Riley goes anywhere without Ridge following.
I know Ridge is fucked up. Everyone who knows him knows he’s fucked up. Hell, so is Lev. I’m surrounded by emotionally fucked-up friends. Yet, I keep myself surrounded by them because they’re the truest friends anyone could ask for. We’d do damn near anything for each other. Wehavedone pretty much everything for each other.
But when Riley walks in through the door just before Professor Atkins closes it, her blonde hair flowing behind her, cheeks cherry red like she ran just to get here in time, I question how loyal I really am—to my father, to The Society, and to my friends.
CHAPTER10
LEV
Everyone who knows me will tell you I feel nothing. That I’m an empty shell of a human who just exists in their world. What they don’t know is that I feel everything. I feel it all at once.
Swimming in an ocean of endless emotions. Slowly drowning, or at least hoping I will because the emotions inside me are doused in black, pulling me under into the darkest depths.
I don’t know what I feel, but it’s something. As I try to sort through the sensations surfacing in my body like molten lava, anger is the one I always fall back on. It’s the only emotion I recognize. An old friend that’s always there.
I no longer cry. Rarely laugh. But I know how to be angry—how to hate. I’m an enemy to love.Whatever love is. I’ll never know because I will never understand the feeling, even if it existed inside me. My heartstrings snapped and they’re beyond repair.
I closethe notebook and toss it into the middle of the room.
“Very good, Lev. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“It was fucking torture.”
