Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

done it with. But if he picked up, he was still going to be angry. What was she going to say to him?

"Yeah?" A groggy, muffled voice sounded on the other end of the line.

Ariana gripped the phone tightly in her sweaty fist. Daniel's voice. He was in Vermont.

"Hello?" His voice sounded again, stronger this time. It was familiar, almost comforting. Ariana felt a twinge

in her heart. Indecision? Remorse? But then the image of his glowing laptop screen flooded her thoughts. The

image of all the names, the endless

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list of girls. And her name, no different from any other, at the end. She'd been a nothing to him. Just some girl

that he'd counted on screwing by Christmas.

She slammed the phone shut and tossed it on the table next to her. Relief and dread filled her at once.

Daniel wasn't the one stalking her and Thomas. This was a good thing. But now she was back where she

started. The person who had taken that picture had the power to ruin her life. He or she had evidence that she

and Thomas had been on campus when they weren't supposed to be, that they'd been in another student's

room, that they'd been doing things they definitely weren't supposed to be doing. The person who had taken

that picture could destroy her. And she had no idea who that person could be.

Feeling a new wave of adrenaline rush through her, Ariana scooped up the bottle of water and the food and

crouched under the stairs, next to Thomas's body.

"Thomas," she whispered. "Wake up."

She pressed her hands against his chest. His body was limp, motionless under her palms. She tried again,

shaking him more violently this time.

"What the hell?" he yelled, sitting up straight. When he saw Ariana in front of him, he gripped his head with

both hands and sank back onto the floor, wincing in pain. "Your wake-up calls could use a little work."

"How are you feeling?" she asked softly.

"Like somebody took a bat to my head. And my ankle."

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He tested his ankle by pressing his foot into the floor and flinched, his eyes still closed.

"I'm sorry about the timing, but I need you to focus," Ariana said firmly. "I have to show you something."

She removed the folded picture of her and Thomas from her pocket. He had to see the photo-had to know

what was going on.

"What is it?"