“On it,” I lie.
I push my way towards the front door and I leave knowing I’m never coming back to this place. Lesson learned. All sororities may not be like this one, but I think I’ll stick to being solo for now. I don’t fit in there, but hey, that’s the story of my life.
I make the trek back towards my dorm with Kane filling up all my headspace the whole way. Why can’t I get this man out of my head? I worry my bottom lip between my teeth. Maybe I can think of a reason to go back tomorrow. It’s too late now, and I don’t want to chance running into his sister again.
I reach into my pocket to double check the time, but I curse when I can’t find my cell phone. Where would I have left it? I know I had it when we got to that gate. Maybe it fell out when I jumped over the thing. Or maybe I dropped it in Kane’s house. This would give me a reason to go back. Though I’m not sure I have the guts to really do it. Damn it, I don’t have the money to replace my cell phone, so I guess I don’t have a choice. I’m going to have to go back tomorrow.
I fish out the key to my room and try to be quiet in case my roommate is asleep. When I crack open the door I see her sitting up in bed with her glasses perched on her nose as she reads.
“Hey,” she says in a soft voice.
She’s always so soft spoken it makes it hard to get to know her. I’m not surprised she’s got her face in a book. That actually sounds really amazing right now. My mind flashes back to Kane’s library.
“Hi,” I say back as I go to my closet and pull off my stinky beer shirt. I get another one and put it on before flopping down into my bed. “So I went over to the haunted mansion everyone always talks about.”
I watch as Dove’s eyes get big. I had a feeling that might get her attention. I don’t know a ton about my roommate, but I do know she loves mysteries, according to all the books she leaves lying around.
“There was this kickass library inside you would have died over.”
“You went inside?” She sets her book down and turns to face me, giving me her full attention.
“It was some stupid pledge thing.” I throw my hand out and wave dismissively, not wanting to talk about that.
“I told you those girls aren’t nice.” She pushes her glasses up her nose.
“I know. I’m done with it.”
It wasn’t so bad because I got to meet Kane. But that thought only makes me feel crazier. I can’t get him out of my head. The ache is still deep in the pit of my stomach.
“Good.” She nods, loosing some of her dark hair from the messy bun on the top of her head.
“What do you know about that place anyway? The man I met…” I trail off, not sure I want to share too much about him.
“Not much. Just what people say about it. That it’s haunted and the guy who lives there only comes out at night.”
Hmm. I roll over, looking up at the ceiling. “There’s got to be something on that house. I mean, it’s been around for so long. There has to be a history to it.”
“I’m sure if we did some digging we could find out who owns it,” Dove says, and I sit up.
“You think?” I throw my legs over the side of the bed.
“I’m sure. We can go check it out tomorrow at the library. See what we can find.”
“Don’t you have a key to the library?”
Why wait until tomorrow? I know I’m not going to be able to sleep with this weird feeling still in my stomach. I have this need to find out more about Kane.
“I do,” she says hesitantly, but I know she practically lives there. If she isn’t here or in class, that’s where her booty is.
“So we can go now.” I hop up from my bed and grab her hand. “Come on.” She hesitates for a moment, but I can tell she wants to do it. She just doesn’t want to get in trouble is my guess. “Please,” I push.
“Okay,” she finally gives in.
She grabs a hoodie and her keys, and I smile. I can’t remember ever feeling this excited.
Six
Kane
It feels like there’s a burning inside my body that’s growing as time goes by. The separation from Juliet is too much, and I ache to be close to her again. The smell of roses lingers all around me and it’s driving me to the edge of insanity.
“What’s wrong with him?” Ravana asks.