I even held my breath as footsteps bounded down the hallway.
“Are you sure it’s okay to blow off the rest of the exams?” Adam said.
“Absolutely. My mom will write scores in for us that will probably be better than what we could have gotten anyway. Being seen taking the first exam is all that was necessary,” a voice belonging to Michael answered. “And when I take over Lineage, there won’t be exams at all. They’re a complete waste of time, in my opinion.”
“Doesn’t every student,” Julian whispered.
I elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him, daring him to make another noise. And when he curled his lips over his teeth to mute his sounds and shut his mouth, I turned my attention to the voices in the hallway that kept growing closer.
“Isn’t that kind of putting the cart before the horse a bit?” Adam asked.
“Careful.” Michael’s voice oozed with malicious intent. “Don’t forget, I’m the one who brought you here.”
“How could I,” Adam said.
There was just enough defiance in his voice to make it sound as though their “friendship” might have a few threads of rivalry running through it as well.
Michael snickered. “So, how come you keep going to Goldshire? You know my mother will be highly pissed off if you end up getting spotted over there.”
“I’m not going to get caught,” Adam said.
I heard him pop the top off a beer. Or, possibly a soda? I don’t know, he seemed like more of a ‘beer in the middle of the day’ kind of guy instead of a ‘Mountain Dew on the go’ kind of guy. And while it seemed a little early in the day, I’d probably turn into a raging alcoholic if I had to share an apartment with Michael too.
Or carried the burdening secret of a murderer still at large.
Michael’s voice took on a fluttering tone. “Is it for Lisette?”
Adam didn’t answer him and my ears perked up at the question.
Then, Michael chuckled. “You can’t have her anyway. Besides, if she were to find out about anything that happened, she’d hate you.”
“Pretty sure she already does hate me,” Adam murmured.
“Good. Then, you need to stay away from her. It’s too risky. And if you ever betray us for some stupid girl, you know that’s going to end badly for all of us, right?”
Adam growled. “Is that a threat?”
“She’s not worth it, Adam, you know that. Be smart.”
I heard the sound of footsteps coming closer as Adam left Michael out in the living room and walked toward his bedroom. There wasn’t much that Julian and I could do besides hope that we weren’t seen and wait for the guys to fall asleep so that we could sneak out. If we could just make it out of the apartment, the chances of us sneaking off campus under the cloak of night were fairly good.
But it only took a second for that entire plan to be shot down, because the first thing Adam did when he came into his room was open the closet.
I almost screamed out of sheer reaction, but I managed to keep it in. It was a ridiculous hope to think that Adam wouldn’t see two sets of legs hanging out from beneath his clothes. If he was startled too, he also did a good job of keeping quiet about it. Perhaps he was more afraid of Michael than he was of whoever could possibly be in his closet. He pushed away the hangers to either side of us and stared at us dead in the face.
To say the look on his face was one of shock would have been a complete understatement.
“What are you doing here?” he asked in a hushed whisper.
“Umm.” I didn’t think that the honest answer was the best thing to say.
“Look,” Julian said to him. “I know you’d probably like nothing better than to rat me out. Hell, I’d do the same thing if someone was in my closet. But from what Lisette has told me, it seems like you care about her, and she could get in a lot of trouble for this.”
“Trouble isn’t the word for it,” Adam said before he looked back at me. “What were you thinking? Didn’t I tell you not to do anything stupid?”
Julian laughed quietly from behind me. “Good luck trying to talk her out of doing anything.”
“Okay guys, thanks for all that,” I whispered. “Now, can we please try to get out of this mess? Adam, can you help us?”
I really hoped that he had temporarily forgotten about the whole “stay the hell away from me” thing and would help Julian and I escape.
“Michael!” Adam shouted.
Great, we’re fucked.
His eyes stayed locked with mine. “Michael, damn it, your mother is texting me again. She says you left you your phone in the exam hall. She seems mad. I don’t think phones are supposed to be allowed in the exam halls, are they?”
I heard Michael make an exaggerated groan from the other room.
“But what if he already has his phone on him?” Julian murmured from behind me.
Adam smiled and pulled two cell phones out of his pocket. I didn’t even ask why he would have stolen Michael’s phone, and I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of there.
“Tell her I’m on my way to get it now,” Michael shouted back at him.
Then, there was the sound of the front door opening and closing.
I never thought I’d be so damn relieved to hear a door open and shut in all my life.
“What happens when he gets there and finds out you lied?” I asked.
Adam shrugged his shoulders and tossed Michael’s phone onto the top of his bed. “I’ll deal with it later,” he said. “Come on; let’s get you out of here.”
“Thanks,” Julian said as he held out his hand to Adam. I was surprised at how polite he was considering how much he hated all the people from Lineage.
And also basically any guy that looked at me.
Adam didn’t return the gesture, though. Instead, he gave me another warning. “If you come here again, you’re on your own.”
Adam walked backwards away from the closet before he turned toward the hallway. He walked out of the room and I knew he was waiting for us to follow him, so I stepped out of the closet. However, my eye caught Michael’s phone still laying on Adam’s bed.
“Don’t,” Julian warned softly.
I swiped Michael’s phone anyway and slipped it into my pocket. After all, if it was worth Adam stealing, then it was definitely worth me stealing.
Adam stayed in front of us to make sure the way was clear until we reached the edge of campus. I still hated him for not telling me who was responsible for my mother’s death; the one thing that meant more to me than anything else. But in a conflicted turn of events, I owed him my thanks for not turning us over to Michael and getting me expelled from Goldshire, which meant I’d be even farther away from discovering the truth.
“Thank you,” I said as Julian and I stepped onto the cobblestones.
“Don’t come back,” Adam said.
Then he turned and walked back to his apartment.
“Charming guy,” Julian said with more than a touch of sarcasm.
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. He helped us escape.”
“Yeah, but we didn’t find anything. I really think you should give up on getting into that campus.”
“Who says we didn’t find anything,” I said as I pulled Michael’s phone out of my pocket.
“You took it from off of the bed?” he asked in astonishment.
Honestly, I think he was a little impressed.
I grinned. “Yep.” I was actually pretty proud of myself for being able to snatch it while the guys were deciding over handshakes. “Now I just need to figure out what his passcode is so that I can open it.”
“I know a guy who can break into any device,” Julian said. “No passcode needed.”
I crooked an eyebrow. “Julian, what exactly have you been up to that has made you such an expert in lock-picking and shady friendships with people who can break into cell phones?”
He laughed. “You’re lucky you have me.”
Actually, I really am
.
And that notion sent me walking off by Julian’s side as I tucked Michael’s phone back into my pocket.
While the smallest part of me wondered if Adam showed me the fact that he had Michael’s phone for a reason.
6
We planned to take the phone to Julian’s friend in a couple of days. It was too important for me to let it out of my sight for even a minute. Two days was the soonest that we'd be able to get it there due to an increasingly ridiculous number of required events on campus. So, in the meantime, I kept Michael’s phone charged, silent, and in my pocket at all times.
One such ridiculous event that required my attendance was the “Assemblage of Comradery,” an absolutely fake and meaningless dinner gathering between the two schools to pretend that the two elite institutions didn’t despise each other and to pose for a picture for the local press that would convince the public all was well between the warring colleges.
I started trying to get out of it as soon as I heard it was announced, but there was no budging with the Dean on this one. He was a complete traditional stickler and relished in any chance he could get to make the school look good in front of Lineage. Therefore, everyone was required to attend, except for Julian. Since he had already graduated, he couldn’t come at all.
“At least there’ll be plenty of cocktails,” he said as he tried to cheer me up about having to go. “They even had a wine fountain brought in last year.”
“I’m going to need a wine fountain in order to stomach having to look at Michael on our campus grounds,” I said.
“Adam will be there too, I’m sure,” he said.
Was that a touch of jealousy I heard in Julian’s voice?
There was no particular dress requirement for the event, so I just put on a black skirt that had pockets where I could keep both my phone and Michael’s, and a gray blouse with an open back. I tied my hair up in a sloppy ponytail out of pure spite. I couldn't believe I had to even go to the stupid event. For dramatic effect, I ran one thin layer of mascara over my lashes.
“There, done,” I announced to Julian, who was sitting on my bed watching me as if he were my own private audience.
“You know you look beautiful without any makeup on anyways,” he said.
“You have to say that,” I called from the bathroom. “You’re my best friend.”
“I don’t have to say it,” Julian said quietly. “I mean it.”
When I got ready to leave my room, Julian gave me a hug and reminded me that he’d be waiting for me here once the event was over so we could hang out and I could tell him about how tedious and awful the dinner had been.
“Be careful,” he said as he kissed the top of my forehead. “And don’t do—”
“Yes, yes, I know…don't do anything stupid.”
I rushed out the door, ready to get this over with and get back to my room so that Julian and I could continue guessing possible passcodes as we waited for the opportunity to have Michael’s phone hacked.
When I got down to the dining hall, there were already a ton of people there. It was uncomfortably strange to see Lineage students and faculty mix with our own. There was a long table set at the head of the room where all the administrators and essential board members from both schools were seated. I saw Michael’s mother there too, and that “dark” part of me that Julian had called-out the other day reared its head. I started to wish that Michael’s mom had been the one to die instead of my own.
When I turned my head to look around the room, I saw Adam walking toward me.
“Hey,” he said as he lifted my hand and kissed the top of my fingers.
“Aren’t we supposed to be enemies?” I asked. I very much still considered him my enemy, not only because he was at Lineage, but also because he was withholding information about my mother’s death. However, I also couldn’t deny the tingle that shivered up my spine when his lips connected with my skin.
“Not tonight,” he answered. “Tonight is the one night of the year that we can act like friends, and everyone will just think we were pretending for the sake of this publicity stunt.”
“What if I actually am only pretending,” I said.
He grinned. “Well then, I guess it doesn’t matter either way, then does it?”
We both sat down at one of the tables together, and a server came over to fill our wine glasses. I still didn’t see this glorious wine fountain Julian spoke of, and in that moment I found myself wishing to be bathing in one.
“How are you coming along with the phone?” he asked.
I had just put the glass to my lips and started to take a sip, nearly spitting it out at the mention.
“You know that I took the phone?” I asked.
“Of course, I do. It would have been a little too obvious for me to just hand it over to you, and I’m not sure how much I trust your friend yet.”
“Who, Julian?”
Adam nodded.
I snickered. “Well, rest assured that feeling is mutual. He doesn’t trust you at all, either.”
“Were you able to get into it?” he asked.
I shook my head and smiled at someone across the table. “No, I have not yet. You don’t happen to know the passcode by any chance, do you?”
“Nah, Michael and I are not that close.”
Again, I wondered about their relationship with each other.
Adam lifted his wine glass toward mine and tilted it so that we could clink the glasses together. “Cheers.”
I mocked his movements. “What are we toasting to?”
“I don’t know, maybe to starting to trust each other a little bit.”
I didn’t really want to toast to that. Luckily, he didn’t get the chance to clink his glass against mine anyway. Michael sat down next to me and threw an arm over my shoulder, prompting me to drop my glass and for Adam to stand up from the table.
“Oh, sit down,” Michael taunted. “It’s not like I’m stealing your woman. She hates you almost as much as she hates me.”
“Doubtful,” I said as I tried to mop up the spilled wine on the table with my napkin.
“I’m flattered,” Michael said sarcastically.
Adam sat down again, but he definitely looked provoked.
“Touch me again, asshole, and I’ll use the salad fork to poke out your beautiful blue eyes,” I snarled as I pushed my chair away from his as far as I had space to go.
“You hear that?” Michael said across the table to Adam. “She thinks my eyes are beautiful.”
“Why are you sitting here?” Adam asked with a sigh.
“Because you’re my friend and friends keep an eye on each other.” The tone in his voice seemed almost predatory. “I just needed to retrieve something.”
“What is it?” Adam asked.
“This.” Michael reached his hand down into the pocket of my skirt before I could stop him. Then he held his phone up in front of my face and dangled it as if it were a prize that I’d just lost.
“How dare you touch me?” I shouted.
If the level of conversation in the room hadn’t been so loud, someone might have been able to hear me make a scene.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Michael said. “If I wanted to touch you, I would have done more than just reach into your pocket. Trust me, Lisette, your doe-eyes are of no interest to me.”
But even as he said it, his stare seemed to linger in my eyes a bit longer than they should have.
“Give it back,” I said.
He chuckled. “Now, why would I do that? It’s my phone.”
I picked up the dinner knife from the table and clenched it in my hand. I heard Adam calmly say my name as if he were trying to talk me down from a ledge.
“What is it that you think you’re going to find on my phone, Lisette?” Michael’s voice got very low, and it was hard for me to hear him. “Do you think you’re going to find out who is responsible for murdering your mother and framing it as a suicide?”
My heart raced inside m
y chest. “What did you just say?”
Michael leaned in close to me and put his mouth by my ear. He reached his hand over my fist and pulled the knife from my fingers. “You heard what I said.” He cocked his head sideways a little so that his lips were touching my earlobe. “Be careful, you won’t like what you find if you go looking too hard.”
When he pulled away from me he got up to leave, taking both the knife and the phone with him. Adam looked so mad that he was shaking, and his knuckles were turning white from his clenched fists.
“We should leave,” he said.
I licked my lips. “No, I should leave.”
I got up from the table and ran all the way back to my room. When I got there, Julian looked up from a book that he had been reading on my bed, and when I saw him, I couldn’t stop the tears from starting to come.
“What happened?” he asked as he rushed over to me in the doorway.
“Michael took the phone.”
There was more to say than just that, but I was too emotionally exhausted to say anything other than the most important thing; the one lead I might have had to figure any of this out was gone. I pulled off my skirt and shirt and grabbed a T-shirt to throw on. I didn’t think twice about undressing in front of Julian. I mean, he’d seen me naked before, although not since my pre-pubescent years. I cried, and he hugged me, and I snuggled against his chest in my soft shirt that was too big and fell off the corners of my shoulders.
“Can you stay here tonight?” I asked.
He kissed the top of my head reassuringly. “Of course, I can. You know all you ever have to do is ask.”
We got into my bed, and he pulled the soft blankets up and over me as I lay against his shoulder. I must have been even more tired than I thought because as soon as his arm wrapped around me, I fell asleep.
And my nightmares were more fruitful than ever as I slept.
7
When I woke up in the morning, I was still curled up against Julian. My hand was lying on his chest with his palm resting on top of it. His arm was still around my shoulder, and my ankles had intertwined with his under the blankets. It was comfortable; Julian was always comfortable. And when we were together, it always felt just right.
Ruined: A Dark Bully Reverse Harem Romance (Beautiful Tyrants Book 1) Page 4