Black Promises (Blackwoods College)

“She’s here to tutor me.” Jarrod crossed his arms and glared at his friends. “Is that a fucking problem?”

Addler burst out laughing. Jarrod didn’t like that, but he didn’t say anything. The laughter died down, and the boys moved past him.

“Enjoy the nerd session,” Des called out. “Make sure you don’t get kicked off the team. Otherwise, what the hell are you gonna do with yourself?”

Jarrod grunted as they kept on wandering down the path and toward the cafeteria.

I let out a breath. “Some friends. Are they always like that?”

Jarrod didn’t look at me. “Don’t act like you know me, freak. Now come on.” He walked toward the empty classrooms. There were a few night sessions, but only a few.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere private. I have something for you to sign.”

“Sign? What the hell?”

But Jarrod was done talking. I had to almost jog to keep up with his long strides, and I scurried along in his wake like a tiny sea creature swimming after a massive ancient whale.

I noticed the way people looked at him. There were stares of fascination, of fear, of lust, of excitement. He seemed totally unaware of the effect he had on the people around him—but wherever he went, he left an anxious excitement behind.

It was fascinating. When I walked around, people barely looked at me once, let alone stared with their mouths hanging open.

Jarrod was a spectacle. He was famous.

That made doing this with him all the more dangerous.

We entered the Crane building. He took me to the second floor, down a narrow hallway lined with classrooms, and ducked into the final room before the far staircase. “Sit down,” he said.

I took a seat at the table. It’d been set up in a big square.

He shut the door, grabbed a chair, and sat across from me. He unzipped his backpack—it was mostly empty, which wasn’t a surprise, while mine was packed with books and notes—and took out two pieces of paper.

He put them side by side and turned them to face me.

I stared at them, furrowed my brow, then laughed.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s a contract. One copy for you and one for me.”

“Absolutely not.”

He didn’t seem fazed. “We both sign.”

“This sort of shit is how we end up in prison. Are you insane? If we get investigated and we have this floating around—”

“Sign the paper.”

I took a frustrated breath.

The contract was simple. It definitely wasn’t legal or binding in any way, but it was very incriminating.

It said, very simply, Cora Boyle swears to offer her body for one night of carnal pleasure in payment for the murder of Dr. Silver by Jarrod Hale. Jarrod and Cora both swear to never speak of this act to anyone, and will die before they give up their accomplice.

Below that, a space for both of our names, already signed with Jarrod’s tight scrawl.

“He’s not really a doctor.”

Jarrod narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“Dannis Silver. He’s a chiropractor. He’s not a real doctor, even if he goes by Dr. Silver.”

“That’s not important.”

“You want a stupid contract, you should get it right.”

He stared at me, then took a pen from his bag and scribbled out the Dr. on both copies. “Better?”

“Much better. Only I thought we were supposed to trust each other.”

“Fuck trust. Put it on paper.” He jabbed a finger at the table. “We each get a copy. If the other person tries to do something stupid, we’ll have this. Mutually assured destruction.”

“Great idea. Really smart.”

“Worked for the US and the Soviets.”

“I’m shocked you even know that.”

“I’m not as dumb as I seem.” Jarrod's jaw twitched. “Sign the paper if you want to do this.”

I glared at him. I was already losing control of this situation and hated it. Years of meticulous planning thrown off course by one pushy jock.

I grabbed the one from his hand and signed both copies. I shoved it back at him when I finished.

“Happy?”

“Not at all.” He took one copy and put it in his bag.

I took the other. I didn’t know where I’d keep it. I considered burning the damn thing, but if he kept his—

God, he was right. Trust wasn’t going to be easy to come by.

Maybe the contract was a good idea.

Mutually assured destruction.

He leaned back in his chair and studied me.

“All right then, freak. I’m officially a part of this hit. What’s the plan?”

I let out a snort and shoved the paper away in my bag. “You ready to get started already?”

“I don’t see a reason to draw this out. From what I can tell, you’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and I bet you know how you want to do it?”

I nodded slowly. He was so right about that.

I’d fantasized about killing Dr. Silver again and again. When the nights were hard and I was deep in rock bottom, I closed my eyes and pictured stomping on his skull until it snapped like a soft melon.