Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
“Freckles …” Grey repeats as he approaches, and he swipes aside my hair to look at my face. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry you had to see that.”
“Don’t be sorry. Tell me what happened.”
“Apollo can be … intimidating.” I focus on the glass that’s on the counter, the one he just stole from my hand. He put his mouth on it like that water was his to drink. Just like I am his to devour just because of the deal I made.
I sigh out loud. “Someone’s been following me around campus.” I look at Grey. “I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to worry about me.”
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. “Of course, I’m worried.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“It’s okay. I’m not upset. I just want you to be safe.” He pats my back like he knows all the right things to say, and it scares me.
How is he not curious why I have a stalker?
And why doesn’t he want to know what the stalker did or who he is?
Any sane person would continue to ask questions. Why doesn’t he?
I bury my face into his chest, but I can’t shake this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Should we call the police?” he asks.
“No.” Not even a split second of doubt.
He looks at me, and I don’t understand my own visceral reaction.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“I don’t want to blow this out of proportion. I can handle it.” I add a smile.
A fake smile.
Because in my mind, I’m still there, in that room with my stalker, while he does the filthiest things imaginable to my body. And I’m still reeling, still blushing at the thought of that plug now lodged deep inside me.
Fuck.
What am I going to do?
I’m slowly starting to unravel, and I don’t know what to do to keep my mind from veering off into the deep end.
Why don’t I want to tell my boyfriend the truth?
Maybe I’m scared of hurting Grey.
Maybe I’m scared Grey or Apollo could be the stalker.
Or maybe … just maybe … I’m more scared that this insane deal I have might end.
CHAPTER 32
Levi
The next day
When the door to the dean’s office opens, the shouting still hasn’t finished. I’m impressed he stood his ground against my mother. It’s not often someone lives to tell the tale after meeting her.
Dad’s still sitting on that chair in the back of the room, and his eyes connect with mine. He hasn’t moved an inch since their conversation about what happened at the Phantom Society began, but I do know they’re trying to protect me from whatever consequences it might entail.
After Felix was done scolding me for my participation in the fight at the Phantom Society, he told me to exit the room so he could have a more private conversation with my parents. Whatever that means because I could still hear everything.
“He wasn’t the one doing the killing!” Mom shouts.
“He instigated it by putting the target on his back,” Felix retorts.
“What target? The ones you put on him?” she retorts.
“Lana, calm down,” my dad says.
“No, I will not calm down.” She slams her fist down onto the dean’s desk. “Goddammit, Felix. Give us a goddamn break. You know as well as I do that Apollo murdered that kid. Not Levi.”
“There were multiple injured people. And the fight broke out because Levi was there in the first place.”
“He’s a Phantom. He has every right to be there.” She folds her arms. “Unlike your son.”
“I dealt with my son on my own terms. That doesn’t mean your son is off the hook,” Felix says.
“He did nothing!”
“Then tell me why I have to explain to the parents of that dead kid why he died!”
They’re quiet for a second.
“That was Apollo, and you know it.”
“Who was defending your son.”
“Levi’s already been punished enough for his crimes,” Mom says.
“Something happens on this campus again that involves him, and he’s out,” Felix growls back. “End of story.”
She grinds her teeth, then waltzes off, her heels click-clacking on the wood as she marches through the door. I sit up straight when she walks by.
“Don’t do anything stupid, got it?” she says as she leans over to look me dead in the eyes. “Before your dad and I are forced to do something we don’t want to do.”
I know what she means. They’re gonna pull me out of Spine Ridge University if this continues.
Behind us, Dylan, Aspen’s father, walks up the steps to the dean’s office, and the moment she spots him, the entire room loses ten degrees in temperature.
“And stay the hell away from Aspen,” Mom adds.
But that’s just the thing. Aspen is right there, sitting in the seats across from me, staring us both down through the invisible barrier that separates us. Mere feet away, but oceans apart from each other.