Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

"It's just a power failure from the storm," he whispered.

He reached for her hand and interlaced his fingers with hers,

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squeezing them so tightly that her knuckles ached. His breath was shallow against her neck.

"At least now he can't see us," he whispered.

Beep, beep, beep.

Ariana's heart stopped. Her phone.

"Hello?" Dean Marcus's voice echoed all around him.

Please don't walk over here. Please don't walk over here. Please, please, please. Ariana closed her numb

fingers over her phone, muting the beeps.

The dean turned from the doorway. He was facing them now, squinting into the darkness. She waited for him

to call their names. Waited for him to tell her that her life was over. That they were both expelled.

But he just sighed and turned away, leaving a jagged path behind him in the snow.

"Oh my God," Ariana sighed, relief flooding her frozen body. "Who the hell is texting you?" Thomas

demanded. Ariana flipped her phone open.

Daniel: Ariana, this is unacceptable. Hope you're ready to beg for forgiveness. WHERE THE HELL ARE

YOU????She turned the phone around to show the screen to Thomas. All at once, her stomach heaved. She

swallowed repeatedly to keep from throwing up. Her skin burned in spite of the cold, and she tried to breathe.

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"What an ass," Thomas said. "Does he not know what's going on out here?"

Ariana groaned. "Don't you get it, Thomas? He knows where I am. He knows what we've been doing. He's

just trying to torture me."

"You don't actually still think that he's here on campus." It wasn't a question, and she didn't answer. "You're

being paranoid, Ariana." But he didn't sound as sure as he once had.

"Am I?" she retorted. "He didn't even acknowledge the message I left him letting him know I was on my

way."

Ariana's nerves crackled beneath her skin, and suddenly she heard her mother's voice on the morning she'd

tried to kill herself.

You never know what people are capable of until they're pushed to their edge, Ariana.Grimacing, Thomas

drew his good knee to his chest. "So? He's clearly a self-centered prick. He's probably just ignoring it."