Cruel Love (Privilege 6)

Ariana tugged a pair of plastic gloves from a cardboard box on the counter and pulled them on, making sure not to snap the wrists. She lifted the syringe, keeping her back to Lexa. Slowly, she sucked a nice, big pocket of air into the syringe.

“Of course I understand. We can’t have you trying to kill yourself again,” Ariana said.

Lexa exhaled once more and tears seeped out from under her closed eyes. “I just … I couldn’t see any other way out,” she said. “That night I just … I couldn’t imagine making my parents suffer through that scandal. Us possibly ending up in jail. Everything seemed so bleak. I just … I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“I understand,” Ariana said calmly.

She turned around and used the very tip of the syringe to prick the tiny tube carrying the lifeblood into Lexa’s vein. Then, ever so quickly, she pushed down on the plunger, emptying all the air into the tube.

Lexa’s eyes opened, focusing on Ariana’s face as Ariana dropped her hands down to her sides and behind her back, tucking the syringe out of view.

“Thank you, Ana. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Suddenly, Lexa’s eyes went wide. Her mouth dropped open as she gasped out in pain. Her hand fluttered up from the mattress as if reaching for her chest, but there was no time. It sank back against the sheets again, and the line on her heart monitor went flat.

Quickly, Ariana returned the syringe to its proper place, ripped off the gloves, and shoved them into her pockets. Then she lunged for the door, as any surprised, panicked visitor might do under the circumstances. She was just reaching for the handle, when the door flew open, almost taking her down.

“What happened?” a male orderly shouted at her.

“I … I don’t know,” Ariana stuttered, backing herself against the wall as a crash cart came careening through. “She just … one second she was talking and then she gasped and closed her eyes and … is she going to be all right?”

“You need to go, Miss.” A nurse placed her hands on Ariana’s arms and shoved her out the door. Mrs. Greene was just stepping out of the elevator with a cup of coffee and nearly collided with Ariana. Her face went slack and the coffee hit the floor.

“Lexa?” she said tentatively. The she saw what was going on inside the room and screamed. “Lexa!”

Ariana’s friends jumped up and gathered around the doorway of the waiting area, clinging to one another, straining to see what was going on. Jasper stepped forward and pulled Ariana back, away from the commotion.

“What happened?” Soomie asked tearfully. “Ana? What happened?”

Ariana swallowed hard. For the first time in the last several minutes the whole world was in sharp focus. She could see the freckles on Maria’s face, the stubble on Palmer’s chin, the striations in Tahira’s lips. They all looked so frightened. So devastated. So sad.

And she had caused it. This time, it was all down to her.

But what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t let Lexa spill all her secrets. The girl would have ruined everything. She would have trashed the life that Ariana had worked so tirelessly to build. If Kaitlynn’s body were exhumed, it would be about five minutes before the authorities figured out she was actually an escaped convict, then another ten minutes before they realized that Briana Leigh Covington was actually Ariana Osgood. Ariana would have been back in jail before she could blink.

There was no way Ariana could let Lexa do that to her. If Lexa wanted to screw with her own life, that was her business, but Ariana would not let Lexa screw with hers. Not now. Not when she was so close to having every little thing she’d always wanted.

She must die … she must die … she must die …

Both Reed’s and Lexa’s faces swam in Ariana’s vision. Her brain began to prickle and she closed her eyes. For a moment, they were the same person, Lexa’s round chin, Reed’s sharp cheekbones, Lexa’s green eyes, Reed’s split-ended hair.

“Ana?” Jasper was saying. “Ana? Are you all right? Do you need to sit down?”

Ariana shook her head. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “No,” she said, her voice harsh. “No. I’m f—”

Suddenly, the tumult in Lexa’s room died. Silence reigned. The heart monitor was turned off, quieting the incessant tone.

“No!” Lexa’s mother screeched, clinging to the doorjamb as the doctor tried to reach for her. “Noooooooo!”

“Oh my God,” Maria whispered.

Soomie buried her face in Adam’s chest. Palmer let out a strangled cry. Conrad turned around and walked off by himself, his hands over his face. Ariana simply stared. Stared at the doctor’s eyes as he gazed down at Lexa’s grieving mother.

“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly. “She’s gone.”

WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

“Soomie, you’ve been up all night. You have to try to get some sleep,” Maria said soothingly. Ariana stood inside the doorway of Soomie’s single dorm room—the room she’d had to herself ever since her roommate Brigit Rhygstead had died almost two months ago. She had never seen Soomie look quite so disheveled, quite so exhausted, quite so unfocused. She sat in the center of her bed, still wearing the same clothes she’d had on all night and day—skinny jeans, a chunky black cable knit sweater, and low-heeled black boots. The sweater was pulled down over her knees all the way to her ankles, and her knees were shoved up under her chin. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her legs as she rocked forward and back, staring down and to the right at the base of the wall next to her bed.