Vengeance (Private 14)

And then my stomach grumbled. My eyes darted to the clock on my desk and I frowned. Embroiled in our research, I’d lost track of time, and Josh was over twenty minutes late.

“Can I have my phone? I just need to call Josh real quick.”

Ivy’s smile drooped, but she handed the phone over. “Sure.”

It took four rings for Josh to pick up. “Reed, hey,” he whispered.

“Hey,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right. We still on for coffee?”

I was kind of dying to see him, especially now. I wanted to tell him about MT and the helpful info he or she had helped us dig up. Although, knowing Josh, he’d probably tell me to block MT’s number and never think about it again. He was decidedly anti-intrigue. And for good reason, considering our track record.

“You can’t go out now! What about calling Carolina?” Ivy hissed, nudging my arm. I batted her hand away.

“Crap, I’m so sorry,” Josh said. His voice got gradually louder until he was speaking normally. “I totally spaced. Trey got us passes to go off campus for pizza, so I’m not gonna be back for a while.”

My heart thumped extra hard. He’d spaced on our standing date? That was very not like him.

“Um, okay,” I said, trying to sound upbeat. “It’s no big deal. I’ve got a lot to do anyway.”

“You sure?” Josh asked. I heard a horn honk in the background and assumed he was standing outside the pizza place now. But why couldn’t he talk to me in front of Trey? Why had he been whispering when he’d picked up?

“Sure,” I said, forcing a smile. “Call me later?”

“I will,” he said. “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” I replied.

Then the line went dead. I sat and stared at the phone until the screen went dark. I had this hot, roiling feeling in my gut. Something had been off with that phone call.

“He’s not coming?” Ivy asked.

“Apparently not,” I replied.

“Good. That means we can call Carolina now!”

She snatched the phone out of my hand and leaned toward the computer to reopen Carolina’s file and get her cell number—far more efficient than filling out the cable TV station’s online form. I rolled my eyes, but got up to give her more space. My heart felt heavy and twisted in knots thanks to Josh’s careless disregard of our date, but I told myself it was actually a good thing. Now I could get right on this Billings problem. Really, his sudden and unexpected thoughtlessness was a blessing in disguise.

Right?

THE POWER

“I was so excited when I hung up the phone with you, you have no idea,” Carolina Grant gushed as she walked at an inhuman speed from the parking circle, down the pathway between Bradwell and Pemberly, and toward the quad. Her crew scurried after her—one woman with a headset and an iPad, a guy with a smallish camera, and another toting a ridiculously large microphone over her head. “I haven’t been back here since . . . oh my God, I’m too embarrassed to say when I actually graduated, but let’s just say it’s been a long time.”

“Well, I’m glad you could make it on such short notice.” We had only called Carolina last night, and less than eighteen hours later, here she was, ready to get to work and save my butt. I guess Billings connections really did mean something.

Thank you, MT, I thought, somewhat grudgingly. The very idea that I owed my new luck to some freak who felt the need to text me anonymously made my skin prickle.

“So glad,” Ivy echoed, an admiring gleam in her dark eyes.

“I sent you an invite to the ribbon-cutting festivities this weekend, but it came back to me as undeliverable,” I told her. After our phone call the night before, I’d double-checked my guest-list records and discovered the mistake, which, of course, made me feel somehow totally rude and incompetent. “Otherwise you would have known about this sooner.”

“Oh, that happens all the time, since I’m constantly changing my e-mail to avoid crazed fans,” Carolina said, waving a dismissive hand. She stopped short as she emerged onto the open green space at the center of the Easton campus. “Oh. My. God. Nothing has changed!”

She clasped her hands together in front of her chest and I glanced over at Ivy, who had never been a fan of overenthusiasm. Sometimes when she was around Constance I got the awful feeling she was going to haul off and punch the girl in the face just for being her natural bubbly self. Now I expected a good eye roll at the very least, but instead she looked . . . giddy. I guess, like she’d said last night, we all had our things. Then Carolina’s gaze fell on the still dormant construction site and her smile completely disappeared.

“Well. Except for that.” She whipped around and looked at the camera. “Christopher? Can you get a good shot of that? That is where my dorm, Billings, used to be.”

“You got it, CG,” Christopher replied, bringing the camera to his shoulder. “And we’re rolling.”