“What? What does that mean?” Saved her from what? When? Why does that mean he’s loyal to her?
He shakes his head. “Not going there. Don’t even try.”
Damn it. He’s proving no help at all.
He pulls up in front of my building and twists around in his seat to face me.
“I’ll be in touch. And don’t forget to keep your mouth shut unless you want that crackhead bitch to suffer just like...”
Dread pools in my stomach. “Just like what?”
He looks positively gleeful as he answers, “The little surprise I had left for you in the rec center. Enjoy.”
“What does that mean?” He doesn’t answer. Just stares at me, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Ghost! Damn it, tell me what that means!”
“Go look for yourself. I think you might find a weird ass sense of satisfaction from it.”
I highly doubt that, especially if it’s a surprise he’s arranged.
“Ghost…”
“Get the fuck out,” he says with a wave of his hand. “Quit stalling and go see what I left for you.”
I don’t know how to respond, so I just slink out of the Charger without a word. He gives me one last sneer, then takes off into the night. I glance toward my dormitory door, tempted just to go to my room and hide from whatever it is he’s done. But then I start to worry that he might have hurt someone.
What if they found out about Loni and he’s done something to her just to prove a point?
The thought is so terrible and frightening, that I immediately take off running, barely giving thought to what exactly I’ll do if I get to the pool and find something truly awful. I just pray, over and over again, that it’s not Loni. That they haven’t done something to my best friend.
The doors are locked, of course, but I’m still able to slip in with my student ID. I pause once I’m inside, wondering where in the world I’m supposed to look. It occurs to me suddenly, and I feel nauseous as I creep toward the pool. I stop outside the doors to the cavernous space, petrified of what I’m going to find when I step through them.
Just, please for the love of all that is holy, don’t let it be Loni.
Taking a deep breath, I put both hands against the door and push it open. Stepping over the threshold, I gaze around in uncertainty. What am I even looking for? There’s nothing that sticks out immediately, so I move further into the room, the scent of chlorine overwhelming me the closer I get to the pool.
I stop. There’s something in the water.
Not just something. It’s someone.
I tell myself not to go closer. Not to look. I don’t want to know what’s in there, but my feet move as if they have a mind of their own. I inch closer and closer to the edge of the pool, and when I spot the huge mass floating on the surface of the water, I scream.
It’s Jon Eric.
At least … it’s what’s left of him.
I scream again and scramble back.
No, no, no. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening!
I choke down vomit as I pivot and run for the exit, nearly falling on a damp spot on the floor. Just as I reach the door, it opens without me touching the handle and I collide with a tall, solid figure who catches me before I bounce back and onto the floor.
Glancing up, I meet Saint’s narrowed blue-gray gaze.
“What are you doing in here?” he asks in a sharp tone. “Where the hell have you been? I was waiting for you and saw you with that tattooed motherfucker, and … Ellis, what the fuck?”
I can’t speak. Can’t form words. I completely break down right there in front of him, sobbing and clinging to the front of his white t-shirt like it’s the only thing keeping me centered and on the ground. He seems startled, but I can’t stop myself, and slowly, his arms band around me to hold me tight against him. I feel safe like this.
Protected.
Even though I’m not sure anything can protect me from Nora.
“What’s going on?” he demands, his breath fanning the top of my hair. “Tell me.”
I move my head against his chest, my tears wetting the soft fabric of his shirt. I don’t want to say it out loud because it’s too horrible. Too much. Too real.
He slips his hands up to grip my shoulders and leans me back until our gazes link. “Mallory, tell me what’s happened?”
I shake my head. “Please … Saint … we need to get out of here.”
“Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on.”
I still can’t say the words out loud, so instead, I turn and point toward the pool. Saint glowers in the direction I’m pointing, then uncurls the fingers of my other hand from his shirt. I shrink toward the door, but I don’t leave, waiting to see his reaction. He stops at the pool’s edge and I see his shoulders stiffen, though that’s the only response he really has. After a heartbeat of time, he turns back around and slowly walks back to me.
“Saint, I didn’t do anything, I swear,” I blurt out. “I found him like this, it wasn’t—”
He presses a fingertip to my lips.
“I need you to shut up and listen to me, okay?” he says in a low voice. I nod, and he continues, “I’m going to fix this, okay? Right now, I need you to go to my room and don’t leave until I get there. Got it?”
I nod again, though I don’t know how in the hell he expects to fix this mess. I really don’t have much of a choice but to trust him, though, which could come back to bite me in the ass.
“Now get out of here,” he commands, pressing his keys into my palm, and I jump to obey him.
I run out the door and out of the building completely. I don’t stop running until I reach his dorm room and I’m surrounded by his familiar scent. Clutching my head in my hands, I sink to the floor as tears stream down my cheeks.
I’ve seen dead bodies before. I’ve seen people on their backs, drowning in vomit, and people slumped on toilets with needles still hanging from their arms. Death isn’t new to me. Horrific death doesn’t shock me the way it does normal people.
But the sight of Jon Eric’s body floating in a pool with half his skull missing will haunt me until my dying day.
He’d been on his back, and his eyes had stared up at the ceiling, seeing nothing as his mouth hung open in a silent scream. He died because of me. Because he’d hurt me. I didn’t commit the act, but Ghost used him to make a point.
Nora can do whatever she wants at any given moment, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop her.
My stomach lurches, and I stumble to my feet, staggering to Saint’s bathroom to throw up in the toilet. Why does shit like this keep happening to me?
When I’m reduced to painful dry heaves, I begin to sob, my cries accentuated by loud hiccups. I don’t want any of this. The money. Nora. Ghost or Jenn.
I want Carley. I want to go home to Georgia, where the heat is suffocating but the nights quiet. I want to leave Angelview and all its drama behind. Fuck this school. Fuck the people in it.
Dylan.
Laurel.
Rosalind.
Gabe.
Even Liam.
And … Saint. Especially Saint.
I cry harder, realizing how much of a fool I really am because I don’t really mean that. If I left Angelview—if I left Saint—I don’t know that I’d ever be the same.