15
Ibrace myself, wipe my hands on my shorts and take a deep breath before slipping my game face back on.
I’d changed back into my clothes before Griff dropped me off, knowing that arriving in men’s sweats would have aroused too many other questions. It’s not that I want to lie about Griff and Hunter as such, it’s that I don’t want to have to answer the millions of questions, at least until I have a better handle on things.
I’d managed to get everything I needed sent to Sugar and left the photos with Griff and Hunter to see if they could identify them. Sugar will run them through the database, but that only works if the girls are in the system. Griff and Hunter might have more luck being local, but only time will tell. They were going to forward the cell phone to Sugar to see if they could get anything else off of it.
I made my way back the same way I left, through the woods.
There is fine rain in the air, a drizzle that looks innocent but manages to soak through to the skin before you realize it. By the time I’m back on campus, I’m ready for another shower and some coffee. Food would be good too. After the burned bacon this morning, I never did have anything to eat, and now I’m starving.
It’s only nine, but it feels so much later than that. Mostly because I’ve been up since 6 a.m. fucking and fighting. I’m exhausted, but at least I have something else to think about instead of dwelling on how I’m failing the girls getting snatched from here.
Thankfully, it’s Saturday, so I don’t have to worry about classes. I can go back to the house to get changed before food. I need to mentally prepare myself before going to the cafeteria.
I open the door and head inside. I note how quiet it is as I close the door and lock it once more. No noise from the gym as I pass it and no cursing from the games room. I jog up the stairs and head to the family bathroom when a hand on my shoulder has my heart leaping into my throat.
I spin around and come face-to-face with a thunderous-looking Luke.
“Where the hell have you been?”
I frown and step back. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a run.”
“You went for a run?” He runs his hands through his hair before dropping them to his sides and squeezing them into tight fists.
“Yeah. Why? What’s wrong?”
He lifts his head and stares at me for so long, I don’t know if he is going to answer.
“A girl went missing last night. I went to the coffee shop this morning for pastries and heard people talking. I didn’t get a name, and then when I came back and realized you were gone, I was worried it might be you.”
I frown at that. There are so many holes in his story that it’s positively breezy.
“How did you know I was gone? I could have been in any of the other rooms. Why think the worst?”
“I wanted to have breakfast with you. I looked everywhere for you, but you were just gone. It never crossed my mind that you were running.”
“So, the first place your brain went to was that I was missing? I don’t understand.”
“I haven’t exactly kept my attraction to you a secret.” He runs his hands through his hair again until it’s sticking up all over the place. He’s agitated as fuck, making me wonder if he has something to do with all this. His reaction is extreme.
“Luke? What’s going on? What does your attraction to me have to do with anything? Why would you think I was missing?”
“Because the last two women he fucked went missing too,” a voice answers from behind him.
I lift my head to see Aslanov leaning against the wall with nothing but a pair of sweatpants on and a cup of coffee in his hand.
“What?” I look at Luke, who looks at his feet.
“Take your shower, Everly. We’ll talk about you sneaking out afterward, but for now, I need to speak to Luke.”
“But—”
He shakes his head at me, his scowl firmly in place. “Shower,” he orders in his headmaster’s voice.
With a sigh, I wait for Luke to step back and then pull the door open to the bathroom and step inside. Closing the door behind me, I press my ear to it, but it’s solid oak, so I can’t hear dick.
With a put-out grumble, I strip off my clothes and turn on the shower. While I wait for the water to heat up and my heart to calm down, I check myself out in the mirror and wince.
I look freshly fucked.
My skin is flushed, my cheeks red from Hunter’s stubble, and there are a variety of finger-shaped bruises on my body, broken up occasionally by the odd bite mark I don’t remember feeling.
My first instinct is to cover the marks, except it makes me feel like a dirty liar. I knew what I was doing when I let Hunter and Griff fuck me. I could have stopped them at any time, but I needed to feel something. I wanted the connection instead of the fakeness that covers everything else I touch. Turns out they gave more, more than I could have possibly dreamed.
If anyone out there suspects I’m fucking others outside of them, shit could hit the fan. But hiding them makes me feel like crap.
“Fuck.”
I climb into the shower and wish I could ask someone what I should do.
I can’t ask any of the Candy girls because they’ll tell me I’m too close and demand I come home. Or worse, they’ll turn up here.
It would have been nice to have one of those cool moms who would let me spill my guts and would give me advice without judgment, but I don’t. Not that I can imagine the coolest mom in the world not having reservations about the eclectic ragtag bunch of fuck buddies I seem to have collected.
I’m in way over my head. I know I am and, thanks to the emotional riptide, the harder I try to swim, the deeper I sink.
I take the world’s quickest shower. Even though I wash and condition my hair, I’m in and out within five minutes. I didn’t bring any clean clothes in, but thankfully someone left a robe on the back of the door. I slip it on, happy that it covers me from neck to ankle.
I toss the clothes in the hamper and brush my teeth before tugging the door open. I head toward the bedrooms and come to a stop when I see Aslanov on the sofa alone, with one of his legs crossed over the other at the knee, his arms spread wide over the back of the couch.
His golden skin is on display, so I look my fill as he gazes out the window, but I know he knows I’m here. He always seems to sense when I enter the room. It’s the same for me. It’s like we’re connected somehow, and a bolt of awareness goes through each of us when the other is nearby.
“Are you waiting for an invitation, Everly?”
“Sorry, I was miles away.”