by Tijan
I forced my head to move up and down. Nod. Smile. Make a smart-ass comment and move forward. Forget this slight panic attack had ever happened. Okay, go, Sheldon. I forced another nod, then flashed a grin. I remarked, “So, how does it feel not being the social leper now?” I cringed. The smart-ass comment had been a complete bitch-slap instead. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right.”
She waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. I know what you meant.”
Cripes. It worked. The small panic attack was forgotten, but man. I said again, “I really am sorry. I’m trying to work on what comes out of here sometimes.” Gesturing to my mouth, I added, “And I’m glad I said that comment to you and not the guys. The jokes they would’ve gotten from that one . . .” I shuddered. “No, thank you. Okay. Back to you. Not being the social leper you used to be. How’s the going for you?”
Fuck me.
Mena laughed. “No. I know what you mean. I do.” She lifted one shoulder up, pondering the question. “I don’t know. It’s weird. You guys hate me, well, maybe not you since you’re talking to me, but they do.” She gestured to the stage. Bryce and Corrigan were both acting like they were on a runway, each with fierce expressions and their chests pushed out. Corrigan pursed his lips together in a pout and struck a pose. His hip jutted out to the side, he rested his hand on it, and then he shoved his other hip to the opposite side. Bryce was at the other end of the stage, twirling around in a circle so his dress flew up around him.
I grunted. “Right now, they look like idiots, but yeah, they’re works in progress.”
She reached for more chips. “I get why Bryce didn’t like me before. I wasn’t stable, but I’m better now. I’ve had years of therapy. I’ve proven it over and over to Denton. I wanted to come back out here, be with my brother, and try again. Am I dumb? I want to prove myself.” Her bottom lip started trembling.
My eyes got big, and I sucked in a breath. She was going to start crying next, but I couldn’t blame her. I understood, in a weird way. “Just keep on keeping on. Someone told me one time to keep going, keep fighting, keep surviving. Repeat.” I lifted a shoulder. “Sounds like solid advice.”
I was doing the same damn thing, every day. I’d keep going. I’d keep fighting, and I’d keep surviving. No killer was going to conquer me. A renewed vow of finding who he was and bringing him to justice surged in me. I was going to win. I had to.
“Uh, Sheldon?”
I glanced seeing Mena was wincing from pain. Crap. I had reached out to her shoulder and my hand was digging into her skin. “Sorry.” I released her, then gave her a half-grin. “I got carried away thinking of my own situation.”
She rubbed over the spot where I’d been holding her. “Yeah. Listen, I’d like to help.”
“Help?”
She nodded, more earnest. “I don’t know how. Maybe I can be your eyes and ears on campus. I mean, you guys can’t go anywhere without drawing media attention to you, but I can. No one knows me anymore. I won’t draw any attention and I can keep my ears open. People don’t notice me. I mean, look around.” She waved around the table and she was right. There were five different groups, all positioned by the table, but they weren’t paying us the slightest bit of attention. They were either watching the pageant, or they were talking with their friends. No one was looking at Mena, or me.
I realized that with a start. I hadn’t really focused on it before, but it felt good.
No one gave a damn about me, for once. A corner of my mouth was inching upward. I could actually move around, talk, and not fear a video would be sold to a celebrity gossip channel.
“What about it?”
I was pulled from my thoughts again as Mena asked that question. My hand froze in the air; a chip was halfway to my mouth. “Huh?”
“Can I help? Will you let me?”
She looked so hopeful and determined at the same time. For a second, I couldn’t register anything. This was Mena, and she was right. She had changed. I could see it in her now. Gone was the creepy, mentally unstable girl. She seemed normal. There was a hint of desperation, but I felt a kick in my gut again. She wanted to prove herself, like she had said.
I swallowed tightly. Who was I to deny this to her when I was trying to prove myself, too. I felt my head nodding, and I rasped out, “Sure. Yes. That would help, a lot.”
“Oh, that’s awesome.”
She let out an excited breath as she said those words, and she was beaming.
It probably wasn’t smart of me, but I felt myself melting even more around Mena. All the bullshit from high school had been so long ago. Like she said, she’d been paying her dues for a long time now. Besides, we both remained friends with Grace. Before she went to the dark side of sororities, Grace was a good judge. I used to trust her.
Thinking back on those days, I asked suddenly, “Do you miss her?”
The beaming dimmed. It was a sudden switch, and it happened so fast that I was startled by it. Her face became emotionless, then her head lowered. “Yes.” She sounded wistful again.
“Me too.”
“She was good to me.”
My throat swelled up. “Me too.”
We shared a look. Mena wasn’t emotionless. I was wrong. She was full of emotion, but she put a mask on. It wasn’t a masquerade mask, but a guarded wall. I understood her, and I felt an odd camaraderie with her then.
“I’m sorry if I was bitch to you in high school.”
Mena laughed softly. “You weren’t, actually. You were one of the few who weren’t. Thank you.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I gave up on you. I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve fought harder for you, for Bryce and Corrigan to accept you—”
She touched my arm. “Stop. I knew the rules for you guys. I had to earn their respect, and there were opportunities. I knew all I had to do was stand-up to them, and they would accept me, but I didn’t. I wasn’t strong back then, and that was the other rule to be in your group. You had to have such strength, all three of you did. I didn’t. That’s the truth. I wasn’t ready to fight to be in your group.”
“You shouldn’t have had to fight.”
“But I would’ve. I saw what happened. Girls tried to use you to get to them. I know why you had such a hard exterior. I do. I get it. I just didn’t have the extra skin you did.” Her head lifted up. “But I do now. I’ve worked hard, with therapy and the right meds. I’m strong and stable. I can be your friend now. I know it.”
I was starting to grin at her when Denton joined our group. He threw an arm around each of our shoulders and breathed on us. “Hey, sexy ladies.” After winking at me, he lifted his arm and wrapped it around his sister. Picking her up, he squeezed her hard. “I love my little sister. Sheldon, have I told you how much I love her?”
Mena gasped and her cheeks reddened. Patting his arm, she said, that beaming expression was coming back, “I love you, too, brother.”
He set her back down and ruffled her hair. “Did you guys see that I won? Seems everyone likes the mermaid look.” He flicked some of his hair off his shoulder and batted those naturally long eyelashes at me. “Maybe I’ll try this role in a movie. Oscar-worthy.”
“Hey.” Corrigan and Bryce both came over.
Their gazes went to Mena, and as one, kept them there.
Her gaze slowly lowered back to the floor, and I frowned. Enough was enough. I stood in front of her, blocking her from their view. My hand found my hip and I raised my chin. “Stop it. She’s in our camp, whether you want her there or not. You’re just being mean now.”
Both held varying degrees of contempt, but Corrigan was the first to relent. He muttered, “Whatever, but we’re going.”
“Wait. Now? I haven’t found anything out.”
“Carolina and the girls are going to keep asking around. My brothers, too. If there’s a rumor going around, they’ll hear it.”
I wasn’t sure about that.
Corrigan gentled his tone, “Sheldon, I mean it. Y
ou can’t force the asshole out of hiding.”
“We’re thinking we should bait him,” Bryce added.
“Bait? Isn’t that what this party is for?”
“It’s not enough. Everyone thinks you’re hiding somewhere or locked up.”
“I am.”
Bryce said, “Come on. You know what I mean. Let’s head back to the house and have a planning session. Figure a way to draw this psycho out of hiding.”
“Sounds good to me.” Denton still had one arm around Mena’s shoulders. He started flicking her ear and she elbowed him in the side. When he did it again, she swatted at his hand instead. He kept going.
He met my gaze then and gave me a tiny grin. I could see he felt bad about what he had said at the pool. I lifted a shoulder in response. They were family.
My gaze went to Corrigan and Bryce.
Families go through hard times. It was unavoidable.
“What about Ritt?”
I frowned, not recognizing the fraternity brother that had come up to our group. He directed that question to Corrigan, and I caught up. Corrigan had signaled to him we were going. He said, “What about him?”
The brother lifted his phone up, a deep frown under his lipstick. “He’s not answering his phone.”
Corrigan cursed. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
He groaned. “I told him to lay off the booze.”
Denton waved a hand, getting their attention. “If you need to stay, that’s fine. We can wait around. I’m sure,” he glanced to me, “Zorro would be A-Okay with that.”
I perked up.
“No.” Corrigan shook his head, a hard glint in his eyes. “You guys go. Start the planning. I’ll take care of this and get back as soon as possible.”
“You sure?”
I offered, “We can totally stay.” I recognized the girl who had called me a bitch on the front lawn. There was a group that I wouldn’t mind messing with, maybe ask why she was so adamant I was a bitch. “I’ve not ruffled any feathers tonight.”
“No.” Corrigan shot me a dark look. “Go. I mean it. I want you to stay safe.” He spoke over me to Bryce, “I’ll be back in a few. Take her.”
Bryce’s hand came to my arm and he pulled me toward him. “I will.” He turned, guiding me in front of him, and he said to Denton, “Can you call your driver to come get us?”
Denton nodded. As he pulled his phone out, he was guiding Mena in front of him, weaving through the crowd to the front door. My time was coming to an end. Digging my heels in, Bryce simply adjusted his hold. His arm went around my waist, and he picked me up, carrying me tucked under his arm. My hands flew back, knocking into people, and I tried to keep my feet from doing the same. Clutching to his shoulder, I gasped, “Bryce!”
He apologized to the people I hit, but kept going forward. He was bound and determined. So I pressed my lips shut and let myself be carried out. I was starting to realize whichever one was with me was going to act as a bodyguard from now on—no, a babysitter— but I couldn’t blame them. Images of Corrigan bleeding on the floor flashed in my head. The killer could hurt them, too.
“Bryce,” I said.
He was ducking around a group of girls, all tipsy and giggling. “Yeah?”
“I’m worried about Corrigan.”
He met my gaze. I bit my lip, wondering if there would be jealousy, but he only nodded. “I know. Me too, but he’ll be fine for the night. After this, none of us will go out alone again.”
“We should wait.”
“No, Sheldon.”
Denton and Mena were waiting on the curb, and I heard Denton saying, “Okay. Thank you.”
Bryce set me down, but I stayed close to him. My hands were on his biceps. I said in a low voice, “We should wait.”
His hands lingered on my hips. “I feel weird, too. We need to get you home. I’ll come back for him, if you want me to.”
Did I?
I was torn at that idea, letting Bryce go off on his own. My eyebrows furrowed forward, and I frowned. Then I sighed. “You stay with Corrigan, and I’ll go home with Denton and Mena.”
“You sure?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Okay.” He turned to Denton. “You okay with that plan?”
“Yeah. Are you sober?”
Bryce nodded. “I am. I can drive the car home.”
“Okay.” Denton took a set of keys out of his pocket. “I was just going to have my other driver come back for it, but here. Once you and Corrigan get back to the Alpha Mu house, just drive her home. Be safe.”
Bryce took the keys. “Thanks. I will.” His eyes met mine and a silent goodbye passed between us. As he left, heading back for the house, I said under my breath, “Be safe.”
Corrigan had a weird feeling. Bryce did too, and it must’ve been infectious. I pressed the palm of my hand to my stomach because I was feeling it, too.
Something was off, something we weren’t thinking about.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
We were pulling into Denton’s house when we saw the flare from the cops’ sirens. Two cars were behind us. They parked beside our car, and I was out before anyone else. My heart was in my throat. The drive to Denton’s house was thirty minutes. Something could’ve happened to Bryce or Corrigan.
When Officer Patterson got out of the second squad car, I went over to her. “Sheila?”
There were lines of exhaustion around her mouth and bags under her eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. There were strands that had fallen out. I sucked in my breath. Something had happened.
No, no. Not Bryce. Not Corrigan.
She held a hand up. “Before you jump to conclusions, we’re here looking for Bryce Scout.”
My heart started to pound. “He’s missing?”
She frowned. “He’s not with you?”
I glanced to the first squad car. The two detectives who had taken over my case were questioning Denton and Mena. The guy was studying Denton’s dress with an eyebrow twitch. Then the woman glanced over to us. Catching my gaze, she broke off and headed for us. As she stopped in front of me, her hand pushed back her coat and rested on her hip. Her badge and gun were there.
She looked at Sheila. “Scout?”
Sheila shook her head. “I just asked. Sheldon.” She held her hand up to get my attention. “We really need to see Bryce. Where is he?”
This wasn’t making sense. I pressed a hand to my forehead, feeling a headache forming. “You’re looking for Bryce? Did something happen to him?” Maybe he’d been taken? My anxiety kicked up a notch. “Did the killer take him?” My voice was a hoarse whisper at the end.
I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t lose either of them.
She started rubbing between her eyes, the bridge of her nose. “Wait a minute here. So, you’re saying Bryce isn’t here?”
“Isn’t he why you’re here?”
The two shared a look, and the other detective raised an eyebrow. “Are you worried about him, Sheldon?”
I gritted my teeth. She hadn’t earned the right to use my first name. “It’s Jeneve to you.” My tone was frosty.
Her other eyebrow matched the other, both raised high now. “Hold on. Putting aside your winning personality, like always, you’re saying Scout isn’t here?” She leaned closer, growing more serious. “Should we be looking for him?”
“Aren’t you right now? And what about Corrigan? They were together.” My chest started hurting. I could feel a panic attack coming on. “We just left them. Nothing bad could’ve happened since then.”
Could it?
“Okay.” Sheila held both her hands up. “I’m figuring this out. Sheldon, we’re looking for Bryce because we have to ask him some questions. To our knowledge, nothing has happened to him. Or are you telling us differently? Should we be searching for them?”
None of this was making sense. “Why are you here if nothing’s happened to them?”
“Because—” Sheila started to answer.
The other female defective cut in, “We can’t say.”
Fuck the headache. This officer was a whole new type of headache. I glowered at her. “Well then.” I folded my arms over my chest. “I can’t say either.”
The male detective yelled from the other car, “We got what we needed!” He waved his phone in the air. “Scout was just leaving some fraternity house. Officers have detained him for questioning.”
I could feel the female mocking me before she called back, “Is he being cooperative?”
“He is. He’s just confused.”
“Let’s head out then.” She whirled her fingers in the air, making a circling motion.
“Wait a minute. Was Corrigan with him? Is he okay, too?”
But they weren’t replying to me. As they all started for their cars, I grabbed Sheila’s arm. “Wait. He’s okay? Nothing happened to him?”
She gave me the slightest of warm smiles. Her tone was gentle. “He’s okay, Sheldon.” She patted my arm. “I’ll inquire about Corrigan, but we weren’t here out of any concern for them. We just need Bryce to answer a couple of questions.”
“Oh.” Then what the hell was happening? “What’s happened?”
“I can’t say anything, but trust me. In a fucked-up way, this might be good news for you.”
Huh? So many questions were racing through me as I stood there and watched both cars pull out of the driveway.
The same helpless feeling that had been plaguing me weighed heavily once again. I felt like an elephant was trying to sit on my chest.
“Sheldon,” Denton called from the front steps. He sounded wary. “Come in. The guy told me before they left that Corrigan’s going to the station with Bryce, then I’m sure they’ll head back when they can.”
That something that is off was still with me. I couldn’t shake it, and I wondered if this was the beginning of an impending doom.
“Sheldon.” Denton still waited. I hadn’t moved. When I still didn’t move, he said, “I’m closing the gate. You can stay out here all you want. I’ll wait here.”
I glanced back to see that he had settled down on the ground, leaning back against the wall. He rested his head back and closed his eyes. There was no Mena so I assumed she had gone inside, but I didn’t care.