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He looks between Celeste and me, and then narrows his eyes on me. “The fact that the background looks like the girl’s locker room in the pool house makes me wonder…” He tilts his head to the side, eyes still on me. “Is this what happened to you last year?”
I look back down at the image of my naked body, not really knowing what to say.
“Is that it, Evelyn?” Celeste says with hurt in her eyes.
I have no words, so I just nod my head.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Evie. Why didn’t you say something? I could have done something! This is the kind of bullshit that the Knights take care of—that I take care of,” Taylor shouts his reprimands, and it triggers my own anger.
I square my shoulders and raise my eye to his.
I’m not a fucking victim.
“Seriously, Taylor,” I sneer. “Thiswasyour precious Psi Kappa Psi brothers. You know, the ones who could have ‘done something’.”
Taylor jerks his head back like I just slapped him. “What?” he whispers, sucking in a breath.
“Yea. The high and mighty assholes you’re so fond of were there. Happy now? You were so excited to be inducted that night. What was I supposed to say?”
Celeste straightens her spine. “How about tell the goddamn truth?!” she shouts.
She places her forehead in both her hands for a minute and turns her head to me. “They did that to you, and I made you be around them. The parties, winter break… Oh, Evie, had I known that they did this to you, I never would have—”
“Don’t, Cele. It’s not your fault,” I assure her.
Taylor snatches his phone from the counter and furiously starts moving his fingers across the screen.
“What are you doing?” I question, squishing my eyebrows together, but he ignores my question.
“Taylor,” I say again.
He looks up from his phone, his eyes blaring with anger. I rarely ever see Taylor upset, but it’s oddly comforting right now.
He blows out a breath, trying to calm down, but his voice is still taut. “Nothing. How about you two get dressed and get off campus for a while?”
“And go where exactly?” Celeste asks, clearly battling her own form of guilt over something that had nothing to do with her.
Taylor comes from around the counter to stand in front of both of us. “How about you two have a spa day. There’s a place downtown that I can get you both in for the day. Massages, facials, whatever you guys want.”
“Taylor, this isn’t—” I try to assure him, too, but he raises one hand to silence me.
“I’m fully aware of that, Eves. I’m not offering out of guilt. I was going to offer it, anyway. I had booked appointments yesterday right after you agreed to come out for the party. The only difference is I was going to go with you, but I have things that I need to deal with here.”
I start to protest, but he raises his hand again. If he keeps doing that, I might have to punch him.
“I promise it’ll be fine. What I have to deal with isn’t about you. It’s about me.” He kisses my forehead and then plants a kiss on Celeste’s forehead, too.
“An Uber will be at the front of the school when you’re ready to go. I’ll see you guys for dinner,” he says and walks out of our dorm.
10
Yesterday’s spa day torture doesn’t even come close to the pure agony of today. I did try to love the full body massage at the place Taylor sent us. But having a stranger touch me… I just couldn’t get my nerves to calm down long enough to actually relax. Celeste thoroughly enjoyed it, so outside of my irrational anxieties, it ended up being a pretty decent day.
Today, however, is a complete pile of shit that no matter how much I prepared, I just wasn’t ready for. The minute hand slowly ticks by on the wall clock in my advanced Latin class as Professor Wessex drones on and on about the beauty of the language.
Walking into class this morning was nothing short of a miracle. It was bad enough to have everyone staring at me everywhere I went as “the girl from the video”, but walking into this class was the icing on the cake.
When I arrived, not only was I pleasantly greeted by a few assholes telling me that I had a hot body and that they’d love to take me for a test drive, but I also had to endure the fact that they were immediately shut down by Caleb.
